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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on March 23, 2010 at 9:57am

You can repeat the pattern above the octave if you like...sometimes it's nice to be able to play up the 'dusty end' of the fretboard.

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on March 23, 2010 at 4:05pm

yes, more notes to play

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on March 24, 2010 at 1:59am

Now days I ONLY use the dulcimer scale on my slider guitars.
The reason I do it this way is it makes teaching folks how to play a slider easier.As I attempt to show how its done I notice that people tend to greatly ( overshoot) when they try sliding.They tend to strum and then slide the bar much too fast for the speed their playing , going too far up and neck and back down both.
This frustrates them and they lose confidence in their ability to learn.
So by "dropping" a few frets it makes it simpler ( I think) for them to count frets for positioning.
The less frets their having to count, the more they can concentrate on the music itself.
At least thats my theory,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I also find that once they relax a bit , they can go high up on the neck and grab those super high notes with more confidence ,smoothing out their playing,,,,,,,and ,,, thats my theory, too LOL
I really enjoy watching somebody thats never touched a cigarbox guitar, or maybe any other musical instrument pick up a slide grab that very basic of blues riffs and drag it into a riff that they never thought they could do. And all in 2 minutes of playing.They usually say something with a HUGE grin on their face like "WOW! I DID IT! FAR OUT!"

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on March 24, 2010 at 2:31am

The extra octave up there is especially important when you tune it 1 5 5, like D A A or G D D. Then your tonic/home note is up there on the 4th fret and you'll need those extra frets up at the top for sure.

Mountain/lap dulcimers even go into a 3rd octave -- but only a note or two or three. I used to think they were just silly,, but now they are coming in quite handy the more I play.

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Permalink Reply by Alan Roberts on March 24, 2010 at 4:27am

Roger Martin said:

Now days I ONLY use the dulcimer scale on my slider guitars.
The reason I do it this way is it makes teaching folks how to play a slider easier."

Wow. I think you just bumped "Build a long-neck dulcimer" to the top of my to-do list. What scale do you use? Long? Short?

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on March 24, 2010 at 7:02am

I am making a pair for the kids, 6 and 10 yo. The short one is a 13" scale and the other is 17'. The longer scale has a longer box and the short one, 13" has a deeper box.
I will use a 6 pack of strings and use 3 strings per CBG to enhance the sizes.
As Roger mentioned the dulcimer scale should be easy and fun to play. Also it will be the same for me to play on thre "kids" instruments to have a go at slide.
Thanks for the help, each fret board has room for just a few more frets, due to the box sizes, so it should work out just great and llok more finished with a few frets down neat the box.
Cheers Ron.

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