Monday, January 25, 2010

Finger Picks



Lately I've noticed that I keep saying, "lately I've been playing with..." So I was wondering what else I should say, maybe "Amazing New Dumb Dulcimer Discovery"? No. "Dumb Dumbs Dulcimer Dwindlings," (It's amazing what you can think of at night.) I guess I will just have to stick with, "lately I've been playing with..."

So here it goes again. Lately I have been playing with finger picks. The other day I was looking through a bag of stuff and found a set of finger picks. I really hadn't before then played with them because I thought just fingers had a better sound, and I still do think that just finger picking is prettier. And although metal finger picks are not soft and pretty, you can do a lot with them that is a lot harder to do without them, and some of the extra noise is good for train songs (like the one in the video above) or bass songs.

Nathaniel

Friday, January 15, 2010

Somthing I Enjoy

Something that I have really been enjoying lately is the Dulcimerica Video Podcast hosted by Bing Futch. It is very neat to be able to look at clips from festivals that I have or haven't been to. For the one's I haven't been to, it's almost like going to a little piece of a concert. So here is a link to the Youtube channel, if you want to watch.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

New Tunings

Lately I have been playing in a couple different keys, mainly DGD but also some in AFA - which are both very neat. I think DAD has a great sound, and you can do a lot with it, but when you just play in DAD you are limiting yourself a lot. Other tunings are very cool sounding and when you get the hang of them they are just as easy as DAD. A good way to start playing in different keys is to play with your capo. Then you can tune down a step to CGC. Then play with other keys and see what you like to play in and what you don't. Don't be afraid of tuning. I promise your dulcimer will not die.

Nathaniel