To avoid entering a stage of mumbo jumbo, let's make sure we're all talking about the same thing at the same time. Don't be baffled by unfamiliar terms, because we will use them in context, and as we go along you'll find they will all fall readily into place.

Our teaching technique is based on the four-string diatonic scale (eight-note) dulcimer like the one in the nomenclature illustration. We'll start with tuning. And in order to tune, we'd better find out which string is which and how to restring in case one breaks.

Place your dulcimer on your lap, with the head of the instrument to your left. (If you are left-handed, we apologize, but you'll have to reverse everything from here on in. However, you may be used to doing this.)

Your dulcimer may not look anything like the one in the nomenclature illustration, but in general, it will have the same parts. Your dulcimer may have more frets, a differently shaped headstock (peg-head), smaller sound holes, a different kind of bridge, and no strap peg. But it does have strings, and we'll number the strings, number 1 being closest to you, lightest to thickest.

We call the first two strings either the "unison" or "melody" strings and number them 1 and 2. The middle string is number 3, and the bass or octave string, numbered 4, is on the bottom. If you have a dulcimer strung in another manner, it would be best to standardize to this string arrangement for the purposes of this book.

Common four-String arrangment

Some four-string dulcimers are strung equidistantly. You can make a set of unisons by bringing the second string closer to the first. Using a pocket knife or fine-toothed saw, simply cut an additional groove on the nut and bridge, imitating the slant and depth of the other cuts. Then reposition the string.

Another string arrangement you might try some-time places the unisons between the middle string (3), which moves over to the first position, and the bass. We've seen this arrangement on a number of three- and four-string dulcimers coming from the Ozarks and Vermont.

Remember that a three-string dulcimer is like a four-string, except that it has only one melody string. If your melody string is not on the outside closest to you, move it and then you'll have a first, a third, and a fourth string. If you have a five-string dulcimer, you have various options, depending on how your five strings are arranged. If you have two unisons, fine. The other three strings may then be arranged any way you wish or left as is. The extra string (designated by an asterisk in the illustration) is another melody string that drones along with the middle and bass string. You can keep it on the instrument, move it near the bass string, or take it off. This five-string arrangement is prevalent in the eastern Tennessee/Great Smoky Mountains area of Appalachia, as is the violin-shaped dulcimer.

The six-string dulcimer, also known as the church dulcimer because of its fuller tone, and its use in small country churches, is found throughout Appalachia. The middle and bass strings are doubled. If you happen to have a six-string dulcimer, you can leave the additional strings on. In the beginning you will have more strings to tune correctly, and the increased "pick drag" caused by these additional strings makes it somewhat more difficult to explore fast tempos, but do what you will.

Not very often, but sometimes, you will come across a six-string dulcimer strung like a twelve-string guitar. Instead of two identical middle and bass strings, it will have a lighter-gauge string strung to a pitch an octave higher than the string it is duplicating. This is more or less a customized sound - some-thing you may want to get into later on.If you have a lute dulcimer, the first three to six strings may be in any of the combinations mentioned previously. You'll have to adjust accordingly. We suggest you remove the additional strings while learning to play because they tend to sustain the sound and hinder the development of a rhythmic playing style. Then again, for playing slower, more traditional music, the lute dulcimer is very rich and is the favorite of John Jacob Niles, a well-known dulcimer player and folk-song collector.

You can always return to stringing the dulcimer in whatever way you found it. If you want, and think it won't play too many games with your head, you can keep it in its original stringing arrangement and adapt our instructions as you go along. But really, the extra grooves and standard stringing will not only make the book easier to follow, but will increase the versatility of your instrument.

So now we know which string is which. But what about the strings themselves?

We'll begin tuning by using a standard type and gauge of string. Later you can customize your instrument to the pitch of your voice, with the help of the String Tone Tolerance Chart and Range and Tuning Guide in the back of this book. But for now we'll use five-string-banjo strings - two firsts, one second, and a fourth. If you buy them by the gauge, we recommend two .010's, a .012, and a .024. The fourth string (bass string) comes in wound and unwound varieties - you want the wound.

Furthermore, depending upon what kind of tail piece and string attachment system you have, you can get either "ball-end" or "loop-end" strings. So check this out before you trot off and purchase strings with the wrong kind of end.

Remove your old strings. They may be new, but you never know, and most probably the ones that come with your instrument will be "dead, oh so dead", and will have a sound like spit hitting a cast-iron frying pan. You may as well learn how to change your strings now so when one breaks you'll know how to deal with the situation.

There is really only one truly efficient technique for putting strings on an instrument; however, there are at least three schools of thought on this matter. Some people are aghast at the thought of cutting off a string's excess length. They wind the string onto the tuning peg in a way that allows the excess length to dangle hither and yon, thereby preserving, as it were, the string's "soul" - while providing a convenient place to jam their filter cigarettes while playing. We call this the "Rock 'n' Roll String Syndrome." The second group also believes in a string's soul. They either wind the string completely onto the tuning peg (not very practical), or they wind the string around the peg several times and curl the excess length into a little circle (like it was when it came from the package) which clutters up the peg-head.

In our minds the simplest procedure is the most practical: wind the string once, twice, three times around the peg, and snip!

It makes no difference whether you have mechanical or friction peg tuners - the process is the same for both. When stringing an instrument, you might find needlenose pliers useful. Remember also that when you are finished stringing you will probably have to readjust your bridge if it is movable.

Take the string out of the package and carefully uncurl it. Watch out for little knots or binds. Just loosen the curl and straighten it out to its full length. Start with the first unison string, then the bass, then the second unison, and finally the middle. If you remove one string at a time and replace it, you will minimize the chances of your bridge falling off or moving out of adjustment.

Okay. Insert the plain end of the string through the eye of the tuning peg and pull some of the string length through. Then attach the loop end to the tailpiece. If you have ball-end strings, pull the string through the eye of the peg until the ball end jams up against the tailpiece.