Spiced with humor, Anne Dodsons Field Guide to the Mountain Dulcimer, Book 1 is a beautifully structured and organized guide, taking the beginning student step-by-step through a well-planned sequence of lessons. Friendly and encouraging, Book 1 covers tips on buying and maintaining the instrument, left and right hand techniques, chords, and accompaniment. Exercises, lots of fun tunes to play, and downloadable audio files to support the written instruction all make Field Guide to the Mountain Dulcimer, Book I a lasting resource.

ISBN 9781513455037.

This treasury of beloved classical music favorites is specially arranged for hammered dulcimers by master dulcimer performer and teacher, Dr. Mark Alan Wade. A splendid compilation of familiar pieces, each one is painstakingly edited to preserve the composers imagination and spirit while distilled into dulcimer reductions playable with only two hammers. Enjoy playing favorites like Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring, Fur Elise, Clair de lune, and many more cherished titles by celebrated composers including Vivaldi, Telemann, Schubert, Mozart, Boccherini, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens, Faure, Schumann, Brahms, Satie, Haydn and more! Each gem is set in dulcimer-friendly keys fitting within a chromatic 16/15 range with the melody clearly displayed in the upper voice for intermediate players, and with the supportive chords and countermelodies in the lower voice for more advanced players. Guitar chords are added above the melodies whenever appropriate to allow you to embellish with your own chord patterns, if preferred. With 51 pieces, 12 duets, 36 composers, and a range of musical eras spanning 285 years, this book is a compendium to enjoy for a lifetime! Reference recordings of each piece are available online, created electronically with life-like Steinway grand piano samples. This digital audio is rhythmically perfect and expressively performed with authentic interpretations that are appropriate for each era. For real audio recordings, check out my album, Serenade!

ISBN 9781619119352.

Put some aloha into your playing with Hawaiian & Polynesian Music for Appalachian Dulcimer! More than just a repertoire collection of classic Pacific island melodies, this book includes the history and background stories of the individual tunes and a brief language pronunciation guide. In addition, the author provides humorous and insightful observations on interpretation, fingerstyle technique, and Hawaiian slack-key guitar style as applied to the mountain dulcimer. Written in standard notation and tablature for the 3-course dulcimer with the 6+ or 6 1/2 fret, these fingerstyle arrangements are for intermediate to advanced mountain dulcimer players who are looking for a challenge and want to try something new. These arrangements sound best played fingerstyle, and make use of polyphony, harmonics, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and the sweet chords beloved by Island musicians.Some selections like aAloha aOea are instantly recognizable, while others such as aWehiwehi aOea or aPauoa Liko ka Lehuaa may be unfamiliar outside of Hawaii. Includes access to online audio of all 22 examples and melodies in DAD, CGC and DGD tunings. To help the student master these arrangements, the author provides detailed performance notes for each tune. Includes access to online audio.

ISBN 9781619118041.

Anne Dodson's Field Guide to the Mountain Dulcimer, Book 2 continues from Field Guide to the Mountain Dulcimer, Book 1 (MB30608M), introducing two subsequent levels: aBranching Outa and aYou Take the Driveras Seata. These additional levels will improve your understanding of the fretboard and allow more seasoned players to create their own arrangements. Inside you will find extensive exercises and lots of original tunes with accompanying audio tracks. Fun, relaxed and encouraging instruction is at the heart of Anne Dodsonas approach in this series. Book 2 offers more tunes in DAD tuning, but also introduces DGD and DAC tunings. Includes access to online audio.

ISBN 9781619118881.

Melodies on the mountain dulcimer are wonderful. In this book, weall explore how to decorate melodies with chords to add variety and creativity to your playing in DAD and DAA tunings. Lessons begin with simple chords and show you when and how to progress. In addition, weall study how to play backup chords on our dulcimers for accompaniment in gatherings and jam sessions. Includes access to online audio.

ISBN 9781619119833.

Traditional English folk music is presented here arranged for the mountain dulcimer. These selections depict the trials and tribulations of everyday life, including: courtship, marriage, work, crime, lost love, changing of seasons, songs of children and songs songs for sailors. There are also examples of the old ballads. Includes access to online audio.

This American folk song was made popular by The Animals in 1964. It is arranged for solo mountain dulcimer in 1-5-8 or DAD tuning. The arrangement requires a capo and a 1 fret. It is best suited to the upper intermediate level player with a working knowledge of three finger chords and chord melody style of playing. The primary challenge will be mastering the triplets that make up the rhythm of the song. Listening to the short audio sample included here will help to understand the rhythm.

Two pages. Tablature and guitar accompaniment chords are included.

ISBN 9781610651790. Getting Into Hammered Dulcimer is designed as a 'crash course' for hammered dulcimer enthusiasts of ALL experience levels. The fourteen song titles, in standard notation, offer a variety of styles and are presented in the following format; 1. Basic Melody, 2. Embellished/Variation and 3. Back-up Chords/Accompaniment.Additional topics include layout of the hammered dulcimer, tips for tuning, basic theory, major/relative minor scales, chords charts, and playing modulations. The companion audio is recorded to offer three tracks for each selection; 1. Basic melody, 2. Embellished Melody/Variation and 3. Back-up accompaniment. Access to downloadable audio online.

ISBN 9781609747145. Madeline MacNeil's performances are characterized by her effortless vocals and impeccable mountain and hammered dulcimer playing. In this book she reveals some of the secrets of her success with the mountain dulcimer. Early on, she reminds the reader that the dulcimer is not a toy or a stringed kazoo but a serious, expressive musical instrument capable of stretching as far as the imagination. She endorses both playing by ear and learning to read standard notation. In easily-understood language she manages to explore some very complex, even esoteric concepts, making this a particularly valuable book for the beginning instrumentalists. You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer is simply a great fundamental book. Twelve intensive lessons in 95 pages with arrangements in both DAA and DAD tuning. Standard notation and tablature. Illustrated with photographs and drawings. Now with online Audio and Video download available.

ISBN 9781610656740. This book is designed to help fretted dulcimer players at all levels grow in their technical abilities by developing strength, precision, control and flexibility in both the right and left hands. Acquiring a solid technical foundation provides a base upon which to build strong musicianship, enabling one to play more satisfying music regardless of style. Explore flatpicking, fingerpicking, slurs, chords, strumming, left hand precision and placement, right hand strength and control, volume, tone, articulation, and more using both dulcimer tablature and standard music notation. In this book, Mike has used ideas drawn from classical guitar study plus years of teaching dulcimer to develop exercises that will inspire and challenge players at all levels. The tunes and exercises are in the common dulcimer tuning of D-A-D, with a few exceptions. Some exercises are included for the four-string and five-string dulcimers, and a 6 fret is required. The accompanying online audio download demonstrates key exercises and most of the tunes in the book.

ISBN 9781610653916. An exciting collection of music for the hammered dulcimer as heard on Maggie Sansone's acclaimed recording A Celtic Fair. America's premier hammered dulcimer recording artist and player, Maggie has created a perfect collection for all levels of playing, including both a beginning "melody-only" version and challenging intermediate versions with variations, ornaments, flams and bass runs. Two early music pieces included present the melody and a version for duet and quartet with bass line. The music is drawn from jigs, reels and airs from Ireland, Scotland and Brittany, France and Renaissance dance manuscripts. The sheet music is presented as the basic melody with chords and many of the tunes include a variety of advanced techniques (ornamentation, flams, rolls, use of bass lines, use of unusual modes and scales and interesting chord substitution) to add spice to the arrangements and challenge the player to reach towards the next level of advanced performance. Audio download available online.