Description: The Appalachian dulcimer or "lap dulcimer" is a member of the plucked-zither family. It is related to the French Eppinet, the Swedish Hummel, Norwegian Langleik, Icelandic Langspiel and the Hungarian Citera. In the United States the roots of the Appalachian dulcimer were established by the Scotch-Irish, English and German Settlers in Pennsylvania during 1720 to 1770. Traditionally the Appalachian dulcimer is used to play, old time, folk and ballads. In recent times many musicians continue to write music or interpret songs on the Appalachian dulcimer.

Playing Techniques: They involve strumming or picking or sometimes a wooden "slide" is used to press on the first two strings, this technique is similar to the French Eppinet playing. Many contemporary techniques such as a tapping are played on the dulcimer, along with chords, single notes, or harmonies.

Anatomy of the Dulcimer: The Appalachian dulcimer is available in many profiles, shapes and sizes the most common amount of strings are either 3 or 4 strings tuned respectively (see the chart below). There are many profiles of the body in how the dulcimer is constructed. The most common profile is the "hour glass" shape; the second most common profiles for the body are the "Virginia" and "Concert" models. In between these profiles the string configurations do differ from each other. For the three stringed models the strings are individually spaced as D-A-D. The four stringed models under the Virginia configuration are “D’d-A-D” and two other strings apart from each other. The “Ozark” configuration of the strings are’ as follows “D-D-A-D” the strings are individually spaced. In building the Appalachian dulcimer the frets would be diatonic. On my specimen a chromatic semitone has been added. Originally wooden tuning pegs are used; recently machine gear tuners are very common.

 

Appalachian Dulcimer Tunings

Name	Key	3-stringed	4-stringed
Ionian	A	A-a-d	A-A-a-d
Aeolian	C	C-c-d	C-C-a-d
	F	C-f-c	C-F-c-c
	C	C-g-g	C-G-g-g
	D	D-a-c	D-A-c-c
D Mixylodian	D	D-a-d	D-D-a-d
D Dorian	D	D-a-g	D-A-g-g
Dorian	G	D-g-d	D-D-a-d
Ionian	G	G-g-d	G-G-a-d
Locrian