There are pretty well established methods on how to tune and play the guitar, ukulele, and other stringed instruments. Back in the year 1900 this was also true for the mountain dulcimer, but now the feeling I hear from frustrated dulcimer first timers is that there are too many people shouting out too many variations. I know this (for reasons you’ll see later in this article), as I have been buying used dulcimers from people who wanted to learn to play, and gave up. I was near the edge of that same abyss, as well. Why?
We should first come honestly to the point that many sellers of the mountain dulcimer claim, “anyone can learn it,” and that one doesn’t need to know how to read music. Admittedly, I bought into that when I acquired my first dulcimer. Not knowing much about music, other than listening to it, is a hurdle; but once one has a dulcimer in their lap, the situation gets a bit more complicated, and buyer’s remorse hangs in the balance with the potential for that pretty sound that hooked us in the first place.
Next, here are the choices one has to make before getting too deep into learning.
- Tuning: DAA, DAD, CGC and a few sneaking in with EAG! Where to start?
- Hitting the first note? Should we strum, pluck, pick, or, as some say, just claw hammer?
- And the classic 1990 argument that still plagues newbies 35 years later: Noter or No?
Follow the last question with
- Should a beginner learn to play chord & key style?
- Or stick to the old time double melody string with drone and go from there?
Oh! And in case you didn’t know - there are three string, four string and even five string mountain dulcimer configurations. The modern arguments are
- What’s better - three strings or four?
- And if ‘YES!’ to four strings – equidistant set, up or traditional?
Keep in mind that your basic four string dulcimer can become a three string – and someone will try to talk you into changing one to the other.
My frustration is somewhat historical, but similar to those I have recently been buying used dulcimers from. I fell in love with the dulcimer sound as a kid visiting Tennessee in the mid-1970s, and then purchased a Tennessee dulcimer in the late 1980s – only to find life got in the way of learning to play the instrument (with a noter I might add, as nobody said to do it differently).
Fast forward to 2025. Coping with my wife’s request that I consider retiring in a few years, I decided that taking up fishing again would be a good transition activity, especially in summer. However my brain yearned for Appalachian music, and western New York winters are long, so why not take up the mountain dulcimer again as well? Should be easy - right?
The difference between the 1980s and 2026 is the internet and YouTube. With no offense intended to dulcimer celebrities such as Bing Futch, Jessica Comeau, Stephen Seifert, BanjoLemonade, Steve Eulberg, Dulcibard, Benjamin Esh, Brett Ridgeway and other great players and YouTube teachers, watch a handful of these videos and you will likely be driven to dusting your dulcimer unless you can commit serious loyalty to just one of these method providers. They all sound great and make it look easy, but the recommended playing variations are endless. What if you choose the wrong one? The time investment seems hideous if incorrect. This is one of the biggest issues I hear of.
The other troublesome thing to be said about learning this instrument is there are very few face to face dulcimer music teachers left, let alone players. None in my area that I know of. I think my wife thought I was crazy when I told her the instrument I was considering. She plays upright bass in the Church string band – so she knows ‘unusual.’ Friends and relatives go blurry eyed if the Appalachian mountain dulcimer is even mentioned. Thankfully, actress Amanda Seyfried went viral doing Joni Mitchell’s “California” on “Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show” on a mountain dulcimer in March 2025. Some friends and family get it now – the dulcimer can be a very beautiful instrument.
If I was confused by all the online player tutorials, perhaps I might turn to the luthiers and dulcimer builders themselves. They should have a grasp, or so I thought, on the best way to start. This strategy started me off with a bit of a warning. John Calkin, a wonderful writer for the American Lutherie Guild, wrote, “There's a good reason why dulcimers get no respect. They are most often judged by their worst players. No one faced with a no-talent, beginner guitarist says, “That instrument isn’t worth a damn.” But when confronted by someone trying to strum the dulcimer and warble through “Amazing Grace,” that’s exactly the attitude that most of us (Luthiers) adopt — “That instrument isn’t worth my time.”
“Thanks John, no pressure,” I thought to myself, but I will add that John comes to defend the mountain dulcimer in his article, and talks about the tradition of construction as well as the potential of the instrument, and highlights the talents of players past. Ironically, most of them pre-YouTube.
To overcome the procrastination battle cry, “Where should I start,” I decided that knowing more about the history of the instrument (or “tradition,” as John Calkin described it) would lead me to the best way to play the instrument – especially when it came to re-creating the Appalachian mountain sound I experienced in Tennessee and loved so much.
This path was truly wonderful. It was traveling back in time, one maker-player at a time. I took in information from the humble but extremely talented Mike Clemmer, who started his shop in Tennessee back in 1996, and layered that with Warren May’s lessons and approach. Mr. May started making dulcimers in Kentucky back in 1972. Next, thanks to the research and archival work of John McCutcheon, I was deep into I.D. Stamper (1907-1986) who, as a young man, learned the art of making and playing mountain dulcimers back in the 1920s from his Uncle Ed Thomas. Ed Thomas of Bath, Kentucky was considered to be the originator of the modern form of the Appalachian Dulcimer, and after decades of traveling the region, selling and playing his instruments, his notoriety was hard earned and legendary to music historians. Uncle Ed passed away in 1933, but lived long enough to pass some of his knowledge to Stamper. This had me back almost 100 years, but I was looking for closure on technique, so more clues were needed.
The information I could find pre-1880 looked suspect, until by chance I acquired a book by Wilfried Ulrich from Norden Germany, “The Story of the Hummel (German Scheitholt)” dated 2011. This one resource allowed my curiosity to flow back over 400 years to numerous countries and scores of instrument types. This was what I’d been searching for! I would’ve titled the book, “The 500 Year Evolution of the Mountain Dulcimer.” The research, and then recreation, of historical instruments discovered by Mr. Ulrich is simply amazing. It is rare that such a scholarly work is accomplished in one lifetime, yet Wilfried, who built his first dulcimer in 1978, took the steps to become a Master Luthier, and graduated in 2006.
In June 2025 I met with Wilfried Ulrich while on a business trip to Germany. He was kind enough to show me the historical evolution and “playing basics” of the hummel (the mountain dulcimer ancestor) first hand. To make his point, he took great joy in playing Louisiana style Cajun music on a mountain dulcimer he had made in his shop.
During that June visit, I pushed Wilfried Ulrich to address the newbie conundrums: with so many people teaching how to play the dulcimer and hummel on internet videos, newcomers are being discouraged how to start. Many luthiers, however, are now suggesting that beginners focus on learning to play just the melody strings, often with a noter, just as the instruments were originally designed. “Play the way they did one hundred years ago…”
“What is your suggestion for new players in the best way to learn the hummel or dulcimer?” I asked Wilfried. His response was wonderful - on the instrument itself , he plays finger dancing style (as he did with the Cajun tune he just had played) but he added, “There are many people without knowledge of musical notes, but they have early children songs in their brain. With this I begin a playing course. I know that people are laughing at me but I force them to find the necessary frets with their index finger. I know that they were stumbling somewhere in the middle of the tune but with the old pedagogical requirement “with eyes, heart and hand” they will get the melody. Then we speed up the pace. Next step is that half of the group has to play the different three accompanying chords. At the end all were proud smiling about that simple children song. Then we can speed up!“
On the trip home to the USA, while reviewing my notes and re-watching numerous videos of all the dulcimer luthiers I could find on film, I realized that Wilfried Ulrich had something in common with I.D. Stamper, Warren May and Mike Clemmer. They were all basically playing – strumming with a pick, and only working the melody strings – allowing for the harmonious drone strings to add to the sound. Simply put: Melody‐Drone style. Yes, here and there I saw some variations on this, some used a noter (I.D. Stamper as did Wilfried Ulrich – depending on the instrument), some used their fingers instead of a noter (aka Finger Dancing) – a traditional playing technique using one or more fingers to play the melody on the melody string(s) only, allowing the other strings to drone. All in all, there it was: the traditional style and the traditional sound. It was the simplest way of playing to be sure - but to start with an instrument’s historically intended way to play, as it was designed, is a comforting place for a beginner.
For a lot of people, that may be enough! For others, experience, practice, and adventure can lead to the enjoyment of added playing complexity. For now there is something special and motivating in being part of an ongoing tradition. Thank you to all those luthiers.
Some mountain dulcimer terminology:
DRONES ‐ the strings which are not fretted but allowed to sound open with UNCHANGING notes
NOTER ‐ a stick or rigid object used to press down the string INSTEAD of using the finger. It is usually slid up and down the melody string(s).
MELODY‐DRONE style (aka Finger Dancing) – a traditional playing technique using one or more fingers to play the melody on the melody string(s) only, allowing all other strings to drone.
CHORD‐MELODY ‐ A modern playing style using multiple fingers of the left hand to form chords for each note of the melody, fretting various strings on the dulcimer.
EQUIDISTANT - A four-string dulcimer with the strings evenly distributed across the neck