Chiff and Fipple Forums

Many dulcimer players forgo the capo and just get more dulcimers and keep them tuned differently.

That's true about having extra Dulcimers. I see a lot of performers do that. I played at a jam yesterday. I was the only dulcimer player. They played a lot of C tunes. I could chord tuned DAD with the 1 1/2 fret. This dulcimer was new. I wanted to try it out on C tunes. Next time I'll take an extra dulcimer tuned CGC. I'm no "musician" They started playing in E and Bflat. That's when I go get coffee or head to the mens room! But it was fun stretching myself.

I'm a little late to the discussion, but as a couple of others have pointed out the solution is quite simple. From D-A-d tuning, just lower the middle string to G. You end up with D-G-d tuning. Your major scale begins at the third fret of the melody string just like Ionian tuning. This tuning is sometimes called reverse Ionian tuning by dulcimer players.

In the last year I built three 30" scale dulcimers. A Galax with equal temp scale for bagpipe tuning cccc. And two just intonated for ioanian and aeolian tuning. The long scale together with light strings let's me go between C gg down to A ee... If you haven't played in just intonation before, you don't know what your missing... Robert...

Hi,i played and made few dulcimers just manly for myself sa few people.....annyway most 3double stringed dulcimers are tuned DAD its good for most music tuning it into gdg style sounds good but it depends on what KEY and what situation your in.
Love the dulcimer ☺
Jay pickford (uilleann pipe/flute/scottiah small pipe and border pipe maker.