Carla Maxwell Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 (edited) Looks like we need to start the conversation about chromatic dulcimers! Mine is a baritone built by Bob Magowan in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2008. I love playing it! Here's a picture and a sound clip of my improvisation on it (2008). I play tunes on it, too, and I enjoy its lower voice as a change from what I hear when I play a standard dulcimer. Baritone Dulcimer Improvisation Link Edited February 9, 2020 by Carla Maxwell Changed download file to link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyinguy Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 Great looking (and sounding) dulcimer Carla! I have been considering both a chromatic and a baritone to increase versatility. I play in the praise team at my church, and the song leader is always wanting to perform at least one song in a key that does not work well on a dulcimer. I think this combination would give me a lot more options. It also gives me an excuse to buy another dulcimer! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted March 16, 2020 Share Posted March 16, 2020 The nice thing about a chromatic is you can play chords in any key. All that is required is learning the chord patterns in your tuning. Using a 1-3-5 tuning, a capo, or 4 equidistant strings, can help. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyinguy Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 Absolutely! I have been playing a resonator guitar, which is has 1-3-5 tuning, and can find most of the chord shapes I need by just hanging out over the fret for the root chord. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolina Rockman Posted April 3, 2020 Share Posted April 3, 2020 I have had a chromatic dulcimer for many years and it is not played much. If you have a dulcimer with a 1½ fret and you can bend strings to get half-notes, you will be able to play in the following keys: D, Bm, G, Em, Am, Dm, some F, Some C, some A. My experience is that when a string bend is required in a song, there are usually only 1 or two notes that need a bend. Both baritone and bass dulcimers are in my opinion ensemble instruments. Yes, you can play a lead solo. They tend to be overwhelming, even when finger-picked. At our club jams, we usually have 8 or more people and my baritone/bass is still pretty loud so as to drown out the other players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deborah Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 I have a chromatic dulcimer built by David McKinney of Modern Mountain Dulcimers. I keep it tuned to DAE. I prefer this tuning because the chord shapes are very compact and work well for my small hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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