Strumsticks

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 4:05 pm

I saw one played last night for the first time ever. It looked like an easy way to get started in stringed instruments--sort of like the string equivalent to a whistle. The demonstrator had a audience member who didn't play guitar or anything come up and play the frets while he strummed and it sounded good.

missy · Post by **missy** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:40 pm

ohhhh - Walden - Glauber's asking me about dulcimer playing! He has NO IDEA what he is about to start!!!

Seriously, Glauber - there is one thing to ALWAYS remember about dulcimer playing - there is NO wrong way to play it! You can play "traditional" style with a noter (basically a wooden dowel stick) and a quill, or with your finger only on the melody string and a pick strumming across all the strings and letting the others drone, or using fingers to form chords across all three strings. You can strum it, or flat pick it, or finger pick it.

Walden had a good idea about checking out www.everythingdulcimer.com . You'll get a lot of info by just reading the articles, FAQs page, and discussion pages. Plus a great group of people, and a few names you may "recognize".
If you want to hear some NON-traditional playing on dulcimer, check out the MP3's on our website. Tom plays the "regular" voiced dulcimer, while I do all the lower bass sounds.
http://www.strothers.com/mp3's.htm

If you'd like one of Dave's dulcimers, however, there's going to be a slight wait. He had a FANTASTIC weekend at a nearby festival, and sold all but 4 of his inventory. He also has a major festival coming up in two weeks, so he's going to be busy with that. But ANY of his instruments is worth the wait.

Missy

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 5:48 pm

glauber wrote:Darnit, Missy, i may have to buy one of these now!

Does it come with all that's needed, or would one still need to buy the dojinger that's used to fret the notes? Is it played with a guitar pick?

If you don't want to fret the notes with your fingers (which IMHO gices you better contol) you can use a short bit of dowel or the traditional turkey or goose quill. The quill looks sorta cool in action but can get a bit clumsy.

chas · Post by **chas** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:23 pm

OutOfBreath wrote:I haven't owned one, but I've played around with some. They are basically a bodiless dulcimer. They are louder than you'd expect, but probably not as loud as you'd like.

I've never bought one because I just can't bring myself to pay the asking price for something that's basically a single stick of wood and some frets. I guess I'm just cheap

The ones I've played have had small soundboxes -- the sound has been amazingly loud for something that appears not to have a soundbox.

You can usually find a decent (not fancy, but decent) MD on eBay for about what you'll pay for a new Strumstick (unless you have a lot cheaper source for them than I've seen).

If you're really looking to cut corners until you decide if you like the instrument, do a google search and see if anyone is still making the cardboard student dulcimers.

But the attraction to a strumstick is the portability, not the price. A cardboard dulcimer is not going to fare well on a camping trip, especially if it rains. The dulcimer is another instrument like the whistle, although an order of magnitude more expensive -- most serious players (check out the collection Missy listed awhile back) have a number of dulcimers tuned to different keynotes and modes. We also tend to have different instruments with different timbres -- bright, full, dark. A well-made strumstick is bright, but not that full.

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Tue Jun 29, 2004 10:21 pm

Thanks for all the comments!

-Brett

OutOfBreath · Post by **OutOfBreath** » Wed Jun 30, 2004 7:58 am

chas wrote:
OutOfBreath wrote:I haven't owned one, but I've played around with some. They are basically a bodiless dulcimer. They are louder than you'd expect, but probably not as loud as you'd like.

I've never bought one because I just can't bring myself to pay the asking price for something that's basically a single stick of wood and some frets. I guess I'm just cheap
The ones I've played have had small soundboxes -- the sound has been amazingly loud for something that appears not to have a soundbox.

Thought that was what I said...

Also, volume is only half the story. As someone else pointed out they don't have much bass response at all. Thus the balance between melody and drone strings is much different than on any other dulcimer I've played. It's not a bad sound but if you are thinking of it as a dulcimer, then it sounds like a kind of crummy dulcimer, at least to me. It's similar to the way a Martin backpacker guitar doesn't really sound like a guitar. Oh, it plays like a guitar, but it doesn't really sound like one.

most serious players (check out the collection Missy listed awhile back) have a number of dulcimers tuned to different keynotes and modes. We also tend to have different instruments with different timbres -- bright, full, dark. A well-made strumstick is bright, but not that full.

Tell me about it. I'm not even a serious player and until recently I had three. Right now I'm down to one, but always keeping one eye out for another