Picture yourself sitting around a nicely burning campfire. You shove a protruding stick back into the fire, only to discover that it is already burning under-neath and that you have just fried your hand. Your motor senses take over and you start flopping your hand wildly from side to side, up and down, while blowing on it. Notice how the action comes from the wrist.

Great. That's exactly what we want, an up-and-down flopping motion that's very loose at the wrist. It's all in the wrist...Loosen it up...Let it move easily...almost of its own accord. If you can't seem to immediately get it, you're probably trying too hard. Just flop your hand back and forth. Your body knows what to do. Let it happen. If you still can't seem to get it, go on a picnic, and when you find a stick protruding from the fire...

Keep up this side to side flopping motion. Bring your fingers together. Okay. . . now slow it down a bit. Look at what you're doing, watch your hand, and analyze it.

Now pick up your dulcimer and hold it sideways like a guitar. Get comfortable with it, and then strum.

Down-up/down-up/down-up/down-up/down-up . . . and so on. Holding the instrument and strumming may prove a bit awkward at first. Tap your toe each time your hand strums the downbeat. Your toe will be raised for the upbeat. If you really get into it, whomp your whole foot on the floor; but whatever you do, try to keep your down-up strum at an even, non-jerky pace...nice and even, very fluid. All this is the beginning technique for rhythmic strumming. The dulcimer is a very rhythmic instrument, and we're laying the foundation for your playing. The speed at which you are strumming determines the tempo - no matter how fast or slow it is or whether you are in the process of increasing or diminishing that speed, each one of the divisions (down/ up) within the tempo is a beat.

Now lay your left hand on top of the dulcimer near the area around the nut, and with your forefinger or middle finger lightly cross all of the strings just to the right and parallel to the nut. Don't depress the strings, just lay your finger on top of them. This will uniformly mute the strings so that you can better hear your strumming. Holding the pick in your right hand, strum the strings, crossing them perpendicularly about four to six inches from the bridge.

Find a tempo you can keep constant (no matter how slow) and a strum you find easy. It makes sense to practice the basic down-up strum because this strum is the essential aspect of dulcimer playing. Vary it when you want to and practice other strum patterns - like playing all downstrokes and then all up-strokes:

down/down/down/down - up/up/up/up

down/down/down/down - up/up/up/up . . .

You might want to try something like:
down/down/down/up/ down
down/down/down/up/down
Strum down three times, up once, and down once again,
with the third downstroke and the one upstroke each taking half as
long as each of the other three strokes: 1, 2, 3-&, 4.
Count it out loud.

Get used to the pick hitting the strings. How tightly you hold the pick makes a difference in how much "pick drag" you receive from the strings. Carry a pick with you wherever you go and practice your strumming on the side of a book,table, your leg - anything at all. The purpose now is to strengthen your wrist, get used to the pick, and strike the strings (or any other surface) uniformly and at an even rate. Do this strumming awhile, keeping the strings muted.

Concentrate on your speed and beats. Don't go too fast, keep it steady and even, and look at your right hand because, right now, that's where it's happening. Now we're going to hear what those strings really sound like. Using the down/down/down - up/down strum sequence, strum the strings, and on the one upstroke, quickly lift the index finger of your left hand which has been muting the strings. Lift this finger only on the upstroke, and get your finger back down to mute the strings in time for the next beat. (It may be like rubbing your stomach and patting your head for the first time.) Timing and the development of ear-hand coordination are important elements of playing music.

Experiment with this. The more you strum and practice the up- and downstrokes, the more you will develop your rhythmic sense. You can make up your own combinations of up and down. . .but keep your rhythms even and maintain a tempo that is reasonable. And remember - watch your hand when you practice. Be aware. By now you probably have a sound like:

down/down/down/"twang"/down.    

Try lifting your finger on different beats. Or reverse the process: Strum with the strings open and mute whichever beats you want. Either way, notice the emphasis or accent you are giving. Try increasing the force with which you strike the strings on that upbeat without lifting your finger. It's the same effect, but with a little different tone.Speaking of tone, that's another way to accent. Tone refers to the quality of the sound. We started playing four to six inches up from the bridge, but if you strum closer to the bridge, the tone sharpens until finally, when you are playing almost on top of the bridge itself, you get a very metallic "twanging" sound. The strings are more rigid there and resist vibrating to their fullest capacity.In strumming, what we're striving for is a lateral swinging motion of the arm and wrist that uses the different sound colors produced by strumming anywhere from right on the bridge to four to six inches up from the bridge, where the tone is very blended and mellow. You probably won't be using this lateral strumming technique immediately, but you might begin exploring the variety of subtle sound colors you can achieve.

Additional tonal quality and string emphasis can be added by changing the angle at which you strike the strings. If you roll your hand slightly toward you as you strum, you get treble (unison string) emphasis; if you roll your hand away from you, emphasizing the bass string, the bass becomes dominant. When using this wrist-roll technique, you bisect the plane of the strings from about a 30-degree angle either way and accent whichever string you want.

Practice your strumming . . . it's the only way you'll be able to play with a fluidity that will be a part of your music. You first lay down a basic strum. So it does not become boring or monotonous, vary it with different techniques:

- how fast or slow you strum
- which beats you select for accentuation
- how tightly you hold the pick
- how strongly you strike the strings
- where you strum along the fretboard
- the angle at which you strike the strings
- when you mute and un-mute the strings