Three Fingers

This technique is essentially the same as the two-finger picking, except that the middle finger is used for the bass string and the index finger for the middle string. By using all three fingers, you smooth out the rhythm a great deal.

Experiment playing with all three fingers (with or without finger picks) making up different picking sequences, and adapting them to melodies. It might be a good idea to start with some of the simple songs with which you began strumming, and see how these songs lend themselves to finger-pickin'. You also might want to take a look at Earl Scrugg's or some other bluegrass banjo instruction book for some further ideas on finger-pickin'.

Whole-hand or Claw Hammer

This is essentially a traditional banjo style we have adapted to dulcimer playing. The hand doesn't move very much, and is more or less frozen into the position of the three finger picking style. Brush your hand down across the strings with the fingernails of the four fingers. After the hand (as a unit) has passed the strings in a short arc, the thumb quickly flicks the strings on the upstroke as the entire hand moves up to its original position to begin another pass.

The technique gives you a "trotting" sound. You are sort of bouncing on your thumb as it darts in and out, producing a "bump-ditty-bump-ditty" effect. This is basically a banjo style often called, "frailing". You might do well to ask an old-time banjo player to show you this in more detail.

Semi-Flamenco

This style has similarities to both banjo and Flamenco guitar techniques. The hand is held as for the Claw Hammer, except that the thumb does nothing but act as a launching pad from which the index finger springs. It's like knocking something off a table with a flick of your index finger-- the thumb and index finger are held in the "OK" position, and the rest of the fingers merely follow the index finger. You can alter this technique a little by flicking the thumb backward against the melody strings after each launching of the four fingers. The thumb kicks back and sounds the unisons after the first pass with the other fingers.

A Bit Like Spanish or CIassical Style Guitar

Brace your thumb against the side of the fretboard, and with your middle and index fingers, pick back on the strings toward the thumb. Try to keep your fingers extended and move them as if they were two little legs plucking the strings. Try to play the strings individually as much as possible, without sounding them all together,

Flamenco	Spanish

Pinching (Plucking)

To pinch the strings, wedge your fingers between any of the strings with a short, straight downward stroke. Then, on pulling up and away, you pinch the strings with the thumb and forefinger to voice them. This plucking technique produces a very delicate quiet sound... something like a harpsichord. It works well for slower music in which the instrument is only occasionally accompanying the voice.

-- a 25 years later note-- The Joe Breskin variation on this is quite a far cry from the "gentile sownd of the dulcimore". A guitar player, Joe uses this technique but pulls the strings out so far they snap quite forcefully back onto the fretboard. The sound is very electrifying and can be used well to accent single notes or passages regardless of the tempo of the music..

Pinching	Breskin Snap

BEATING, SCRAPING, BANGING,
& OTHER SPECIALTY STYLES

Beat, scrape, or bang on the strings with whatever catches your imagination. You can use the noter, the flat of your hand, the side of a ripple-edged coin, a pencil, a violin bow...anything at all.

In the Appalachians some old-timers still play with a fiddle bow. If you use a bow, it is best to lay the instrument flat on your lap in Appalachian style and bow with the right hand, but we've heard of people holding the dulcimer vertically and using a bow, too-- so do what you will.

You may be able to find a bow in a pawn shop or, of course, at a music store. Get some rosin (a resinous material fiddlers rub on their bows) to help your bow vibrate the strings better. This is truly a technique that is nearly lost to antiquity. The only time we actually saw a person doing it was an eighty-year-old Längspil player in the back country of Iceland!