Odds and Ends Of Technique

The techniques we are going to discuss are only a few of the many that can conceivably be used on the dulcimer; however, we hope to describe them in a way that not only will be clear but that will also prompt you to think of your own ways of playing.

HAMMERING ON AND PULLING OFF

If while using the two-finger technique with your left hand, you bring your index finger down sharply and forcefully onto the strings, the action of quickly driving the string down to the fretboard will cause the tone to voice even before the rhythm hand catches that particular note with a strum. Think of your finger as a hammer hitting the string and recoiling as quickly as possible.

For "pulling off," you "twang" the string with the left hand, that is, after applying the pressure on the string to make the note, you then pull your finger off the string and toward you.

You can practice both these techniques by playing melodies with the left hand alone. The only vibration the strings will receive is hammering and pulling off. A "riff" we practice is the phrase before the cannons fire in Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." This nine-note phrase can be played completely by hammering on and pulling off with the fingers of the left hand.

TRIPLETS

When you play a triplet series, you are squeezing three notes into one beat. To play triplets, you can use the ring finger as a base. First hammer onto the fretboard with the ring finger, and then follow it in quick succession onto the next frets with the middle finger and then the forefinger. Reversing the process, have all of these fingers on the fretboard, each covering an individual note. Starting with the forefinger, pull each of them off in rapid succession.

This can take a little practice.

WAVERS AND QUAVERS (TREMOLO)

When you are playing a note and want to "schmaltz" it up a bit to make it sound romantic, melancholic or forlorn, all you have to do is move your finger back and forth quickly on the spot where you are depressing the string(s). Don't change the position of your finger; rather, just move it quickly from side to side as if you were pressing and gluing something there. Remember not to letup on the pressure.

INDIVIDUAL STRING PLAYING

So far you have been playing only the first two strings, the unisons. You already know that the bass string is tuned an octave below your unisons, so you should have no trouble applying the fretting techniques you have learned to the fourth string. The only thing you may have to learn to do is arch your fingers a little more so that you don't dampen the other strings as you reach over them. Try playing on the bass string if you haven't already done so.

In the Mixolydian mode the middle string is tuned to a fifth of the melody strings. To play a simple scale on the middle string, start at the third fret (the first, half-tone fret) and play the scale up to the octave, which should be on the tenth fret. You'll notice that this scale doesn't have the "odd" sounding seventh tone. As a matter of fact, it's the standard fixed scheme of the lonian mode.

In the Mixolydian, the seventh tone of the first octave (the note we find to be so minor) is not a "true" seventh; instead, it's a sharpened sixth (or, enharmonically, a flatted 7th.) In the lonian, it is a true or natural seventh; however, if, while playing in the Mixolydian, you use the seventh tone of the middle string's first octave (found on the tenth fret) you will be "breaking" the modality of the Mixolydian, and this natural seventh will sound out of place when strummed. It's like having the "extra fret" we spoke about in the section on tuning.

You can play melodies on the middle string, but the tune may not stand out over the drone of the unisons and the bass. By lessening the arch of your left hand fingers and allowing them to lightly touch the unisons, you can effectively dampen the unisons whenever you don't want them overpowering the quiet middle string.

Nonetheless, the effect is very mellow, and has a certain subtlety. The middle string also makes it possible for you to play the ever-popular "shave-and-a-haircut, two-bits" ending.

By separately fretting each of the unisons on frets one fret-space apart, you can play minor thirds. To do this, push the inside string (second string) away from you with your middle finger to widen the gap between it and the first string. With your index finger, pull the outside unison string toward you. If you are depressing each of these strings on two different frets, one space apart, you should get the desired sound.

HARMONICS

These are the bell-like tones you produce when you rest your finger ever-so-lightly across the strings at points which divide the string length into equal portions. The distance from the nut to the bridge should be exactly twice as long as the distance from the nut to where your eighth tone, or first octave note, is.

Without depressing the strings, lay your forefinger across the strings over the first octave fret. You should be touching so lightly that you can barely feel the strings. Now, strum rapidly and very briskly with the pick, and as you do, quickly lift your finger off the strings. You should have produced a bell-tone, a chime. If you didn't, try it again...and again. It is there, and you'll get it shortly.

This first harmonic, the strongest of all the harmonic notes, is at the midpoint of the instrument. There is only one harmonic of this particular tone; the other harmonics come in sets of two. What you find at half the distance between the nut and the first harmonic, you will also find at the same distance between the first harmonic and the bridge. Thus, your second harmonics are found over both the fourth and eleventh frets.

The third harmonics are over the second and sixteenth frets. Actually, there is a harmonic tone over each fret, if it has been placed accurately; however, these can be difficult to find and hard to hear once you have found them. Harmonics make good endings, bringing the rhythm and melody to a quick close. They can also be used as accents within rhythms.