I hope you have enjoyed knowing interesting facts and history about famous people who have played the mountain dulcimer. Here is another one I found on Jim Varney, written by David Bennett. For those of you who remember the character "Ernest P. Worrell" from back in the 80's in a series of television commercials, and later in a television series (Hey Vern, It's Ernest!) as well as several movies you might get a kick out of this information I stumbled across by accident. By chance I ran across a YouTube video of Jim Varney playing a mountain dulcimer on Chevy Chase Show in 1993. Varney's dulcimer history is pretty bad but still interesting to see him play nevertheless. It starts at about th
The excitement of the GPDA list of tunes may quickly turn to an overwhelming source of frustration for new members. As long-term GPDA members, trust that most of us have been there. Like many other goals, learning the music is best approached in a consistent, systematic way that doesn't lead to burnout. Here are some suggestions from long-time club members to help you on your way... Getting the rhythm Music readers and former high school band members have a bit of a head start in issues of rhythm, but many of us struggle with this concept to some degree. If you struggle with this concept you should probably use a metronome while practicing at home to avoid getting the incorrect pattern in yo
