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Post by Dick Glasgow on Aug 28, 2007 16:21:00 GMT 1
Hello Alastair & welcome to the Dulcimer Player's Forum.
We are all delighted that you are now a member and we look forward to your contributions to the discussions here.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself, your music & your Dulcimers.
Then, why not hop over to our Where are you? poll and click on your own area!
Cheers
'Ptarmigan'
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alastair
Dulci-Tambourin (10 - 20 Posts)
Posts: 11
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Post by alastair on Aug 28, 2007 20:44:49 GMT 1
In response to the invitation to make a first post I'll start by saying that my name's Alastair and I've owned a mountain dulcimer all of two weeks! It's a 4-string tuned to DAdd and was made in Italy by a firm called Musikalas (anyone heard of them? If you speak Italian - I don't - you can goole their name and see their site) Already I'm wondering if I need to get a 6+ fret added! At the moment I'm still working out which songs/tunes I can play easily with this tuning and exploring what tuning works best for ceilidh tunes in the key of G (tips welcome)!
Can I ask folk about their favourite 'beginners' tunes? At the moment I'm working on 'Lark in the clear air' having familiarised myself with some of the simple US standards (great for building confidence.
cheers
Alastair
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Post by Dick Glasgow on Aug 28, 2007 20:49:11 GMT 1
Hello Alastair,
I just wanted to say that it's kind of fitting that our 50th member, your good self, is a beginner, because one of the main objectives of this Forum is to encourage beginners, so I hope all the kind hearted, generous Mountain Dulcimer playing members here, offer you all the help you need. 
Cheers
Dick |
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alastair
Dulci-Tambourin (10 - 20 Posts)
Posts: 11
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Post by alastair on Aug 30, 2007 22:49:27 GMT 1
Looks like this messageboard software has some quirks and ideosynchracies - I made three quick postings when my membership was accepted yesterday - but whilst I see them and can access them from some screens, other routes thro the software show me as having made no postings. The 'cleaner' screens in a darker shade of blue are ok thut those which display in a ligher shade seem not to pick up my messages. One for the sysop>
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alastair
Dulci-Tambourin (10 - 20 Posts)
Posts: 11
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Post by alastair on Aug 30, 2007 23:00:40 GMT 1
Can I use the privilege of a newbie to ask a question which others with more musical knowledge will see as straightforward? Many of the tunes I pay on guitar in the key of G and I'd welcome advice on the best way to tune my dulcimer so that I can play along with that elusive F#!
I'm still getting my head around all the Mixolydian and Ionic mode stuff but would welcome any shortcuts!
Wearing a different musical hat I play (not very good) rhythm guitar alongside fiddles, mandolin and the occasional banjo, autoharp and bass guitar and would like to bring my dulcimer into the mix. We're all relative novices so I need to make it easy for my friends!
Any advice welcome!
Alastair
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otfiddler
Dulci-Psaltery (0 - 10 Posts)
Posts: 5
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Post by otfiddler on Sept 3, 2007 17:10:38 GMT 1
Hi Alistair!!
Actually, I do speak Italian, but unfortunately Musikalia's site was down that day..
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alastair
Dulci-Tambourin (10 - 20 Posts)
Posts: 11
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Post by alastair on Sept 3, 2007 23:53:32 GMT 1
Hi Otfiddler and all
Having read your post I tried the musikalias site again - and it may be that it was down because ther were hyping it. There's now an English language version up.
SLightly scary! One one hand "unusual and hard to find stringed musical instruments from all over the world" is clearly a great site and I feel smug that I picked up my instrument at a discount on it's recommended retail price.
Looks like I may have got a better instrument than I deserve - but at the same time, I'm losing strings at a rate of knots by tuning to DAA rather than DAD. Wrong gague or wrong octave?
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