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mixolydian

Is the Mixolydian Mode a Major Mode?

by Steve Eulberg



Dan Evans, English-dulcimer.com, recently explored this question from his own experience, and posed the question to (3) other professional musicians/scholars of his acquaintance and shared their responses and his conclusions in his blog.



Dan is both a fingerstyle guitarist and a fingerstyle mountain dulcimer player.



Dan plays a standard mountain dulcimer with no 6+ fret.


As you can see here, this is an important question because his instruments do not have a 6+ fret. The o…

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June Apple

Linda Thomas, from Kansas City, teaches this fun modal tune for Hammered Dulcimer Players!


She is accompanied by her favorite guitarist, Dan Delancey.  Together they give a fine demonstration of the fun that a mixolydian tune can be on the dulcimer.  Then Linda teaches the tune and how to play back-up chords in an 11-episode lesson set.


Sign up and you can view the whole series here: dulcimercrossing.com

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Benefits and Limitations of Different Tunings on Mountain Dulcimer? Part 1



Epinette scroll head

by Steve Eulberg

So how does one choose between the benefits and the limitations of different tunings when playing mountain dulcimer?  To me the most important factors in this decision are:
 
1)  What kind of dulcimer do I have?  Is it "traditional" (with no extra frets like 6-1/2 or 1-1/2)?
 
2)  What kind of music do I want to play?
 
3)  In what style do I want to play this music?  Do I want to play in the traditional noter or drone style?  Do I want to play back-up chords?  Do I want to …

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