Hunting Buffalo

About the Lessons

1.	D-A-G Tuning	In this lesson, Steve teaches us how to play a minor mode gapped-scale tune in 4 different tunings. First Steve teaches us how to play it D minor, using the D-A-G tuning, sometimes called the Dorian tuning.
2.	D-A-C Tuning	For this arrangement, Steve is still playing in the D minor key, but he changes his tuning to D-A-C.
3.	D-A-A Tuning Capo 1	In this version, Steve tunes the dulcimer to the familiar D-A-A tuning, but puts a capo on the first fret (Capo 1= EBB) which changes the tune to the key of E minor in the Dorian mode.
4.	D-A-d Tuning Capo 1	For his final variation, Steve tunes the dulcimer to D-A-d, puts a wooden capo on the first fret, (Capo 1=EBe), and plays in the Aeolian mode in E minor.

Video Lessons

Tablature

Animations

Extras

It is not clear exactly who the composer of this tune is. Mike Seeger plays a version learned from Jimmy Driftwood (1907-1998, born John Morris of Timbo, Arkansas), who got the tune from his two fiddler uncles who lived in the Indian territory for years.

The founding folk of America lived out in the rural areas and played these tunes we like to practice at home with their family and in small gatherings with their neighbors. They have been handed down from generation to generation still intact for the most part.
MP3 rhythm back-up tracks