Great Plains Dulcimer Alliance

1. I was really pumped by the message Stephen Seifert posted on FB January 1, 2020. Good words/tips to abide by. Let’s look at each one. 2. Strumming – move your hand back and forth, but don’t always hit the strings. Learn to make this automatic. I met David Haas at the New Mexico Festival and he had us moving our whole arm back and forth. 3. Keep your instrument in tune with an electronic tuner. Nobody wants to hear a dulcimer playing out of tune. Need I say more. So, you h

So, the impetus for this article comes from an observation and conversation with an old guitar player. Now, you might ask was that a conversation with a guitar player who was old or guitar player who played old guitars? The answer is, “Yes". What caught my attention was the obvious amount of “schmutz” on his guitar. (In the world of woodworkers’ “schmutz” is just another word grime, dirt, or foreign stuff; it's just more fun to say “schmutz.”) Anyway, this schmutz was ever