101 Lesson 4 – Major Chords in the Box
Mar 16, 2009 Beginner - 911 for 101
We are now going to learn how to play the three major chords for the key of D. This is really quite simple, so don’t be intimidated by the technicalities if you don’t understand it. If you’ll give it a shot, it’ll make sense.
If you have not learned any music theory, the following paragraphs might not make much sense. I will do my best to make it simple, and you can try your hardest to understand. If you just cannot, please do not give up. Just jump right down to the illustrations and try it out. You may get farther than you think just by doing it before you fully know it!
The Chord Defined
The actual definition of a chord is “two or more notes played or sung simultaneously.” The hammer dulcimer is played with only two percussive objects, which may be chop sticks or pencils if you forget your hammers… So technically, only a two note chord is practical in most circumstances. For this reason, when two notes are struck simultaneously, it is typically referenced as an interval (3rd, 4th, etc.).
A chord on the hammer dulcimer would generally be considered three or more notes played by an arpeggio. An arpeggio is the notes of a chord played in succession rather than simultaneously.
For the sake of simplicity, when referencing a chord it will be understood that an arpeggio will be utilized to play it. This understanding is common for many instruments, not just the hammer dulcimer.
Three Major Chords
Within each key there are three major chords. In order to play them on the hammer dulcimer, you do not have to know the notes that make up the chord.
A Box and a Triangle
Instead, you just need to learn the chord’s shapes and how each shape sounds. And when playing inside the box, a three-note chord will look like a type of triangle when visualized…Just look at the illustrations.
Practice these chords and don’t get caught up trying to memorize the placement of the individual note names of the chord. Once again, learn to associate each shape with the sound and “feel” that they generate.
I’ve included two names for the three major chords for the key of D. First, their position (which is for you if you’re an ear musician), and second, their name (for those who know just enough of music theory to be dangerous).
Position 1
Position 2
Position 3
Yes, I know this is an A chord that starts on an E, and the previous two chords started on their root. This is a beginners lesson and we’re playing in the box, remember? You can start it on an A, but you’ll have to play outside of Box 1 in order to do that. We’ll cover all of that later!
Tags: beginner, Hammer Dulcimer Lessons
101 Lesson 3 – The “key” to the box (Instructional Video)
Mar 15, 2009 Beginner - 911 for 101
So far, I’ve introduced you to the box concept and how you can build box 1 and box 2. Now, I’m going to show you the “key” to the box, meaning how you can use the box to play in multiple keys.
NOTES
I will show you how to play in the three native major keys of the hammer dulcimer. There are absolutely more keys you can play in, but these are the three most common major keys. They are D, G, and C.
To begin, you must know what the notes are for each marker on the bass bridge. They are (from bottom to top), D, G, C, F, and Bb. Memorize and internalize these. You must know them as an anchor reference point in order to know which key you’re playing in.
Now, look at the illustration below. Orange is the key of D that I already introduced you to. Blue is the key of G and red is the key of C. Do you see how box 1 and box 2 repeat themselves exactly?
The only difference is the starting point. The key of D starts on the bass bridge D marker. The key of G starts on the bass bridge G marker. And the key of C starts on the bass bridge C marker. See the redundancy?
(Note: Due to size variations, your instrument may not include all of the notes for the 2nd box of the key of C)
Simple isn’t it? You don’t have to memorize the appropriate sharps or flats in order to play in a different key (although that knowledge certainly wouldn’t hurt you)!
Also–get this. I have in three lessons introduced you to almost all of the notes on a typical hammer dulcimer, unless you have a huge 17/17/5/4 dulcimer or something like that!
Tags: beginner, Hammer Dulcimer Lessons
101 Lesson 2 – Building on the Box (Instructional Video)
Mar 10, 2009 Beginner - 911 for 101
In this lesson, we are going to build on the box that we created in the first lesson, and make a second box.
NOTES
We ended the previous lesson playing a 1 octave scale in a box. This box is “copied” and continued on the treble bridge of the dulcimer. The illustration below explains this easier than I could using words.
However, there are two points that I should communicate with language. First, you don’t play on the right side of the bass bridge, only the left. Second, you can play on both sides of the treble bridge. The bridge is placed at the fifth interval of it’s strings. This causes the strings on the treble bridge to produce two notes (depending on which side of the bridge they are struck) that are one fifth apart.
Now, watch the movie, review the illustration, and play that scale in the second box.
Tags: beginner, Hammer Dulcimer Lessons, scale
101 Lesson 1 – Learning “The Box” concept (Instructional Video)
Mar 10, 2009 Beginner - 911 for 101
I’m this first lesson for 911 for 101, let it be known that I’m not going to get into the fundamentals of music theory. If you’re going to benefit from this blog, a basic, working knowledge of music will be needed. If you’ve never learned music theory before, other resources on the Internet are available..
I’m going to show you a concept called “the box” that will help you to easily play a scale. Understanding the box will give you a good foundation to build on.
You’ll notice on your dulcimer that there are markers every 4th course. They are your guide to let you know where the notes are. Without them, it would be guesswork to know which note each course
is.The markers also enable us to draw imaginary patterns or shapes that assist in remembering keys, scales, and chords. And we will use them to make the box.
THE BOX
Remember in kindergarten when you had to connect the numbered dots on a piece of paper in order to draw a certain shape or picture? This time, you’ll use your imagination to connect the markers, forming the shape of a box..
(To know where the subsequent illustrations are located on your instrument, the “D” marker to the bottom right is the first marker on the bottom right bridge of your dulcimer. This bridge is called the bass bridge. Depending on your make and model, you may have some strings below this D, so don’t get confused.)
This is a picutre of what you should visualize in your mind, We have “connected the dots” of each marker in order to draw a box. Now, pretend that this box is a container. All of the notes contained within the box comprise the key of D. The D on the bass bridge and the D on the treble bridge are exactly one octave apart. With this concept, we can now easily play the scale.
PLAYING A SCALE
In the illustration below, the numbers are the sequence in which you strike the strings in order to play a standard diatonic 8 note scale. Start at number 1 (the D marker on the bass bridge) and strike the strings in sequence until you reach number 8 (the D marker on the treble bridge).
The L means that you should play that string with your left hand, and the R means that you should play that string with your right hand. Make sure you use the correct hands! This is important for proper technique!
You have succesfully learned the concept of the box as well as played your first scale.
Tags: beginner, Hammer Dulcimer Lessons
911 for 101
Mar 8, 2009 Beginner - 911 for 101
It seems that this type of phone call has repeated itself many times throughout my life. In one way or another, I’ll hear this: “HELLLLLLLLLLP! I just bought this instrument for $1200 and don’t know what I’m doing!”
Well, I’ll be more than glad to be your emergency assistance dulcimer guy. This new category is setup to teach you the 101 basics for when you feel that frustration of not knowing what you’re doing and reach that state of emergency.
More will come soon. Just keep checking back.
Once again, if you have questions that you would like to see added to this category or anywhere else on this blog, please let me know! joshua@joshuamessick.com.
Tags: basics, beginner, fundamentals