If you’ve just bought yourself a dulcimer, you’re probably excited to start exploring new tunes. But where do you start? Instructional books and DVDs are some of the best ways to familiarize yourself with a new instrument. A good lesson plan will give you the guidance and practice you need to become a great dulcimer player.
There’s a plethora of instructional book available for the dulcimer. Rather than sift through this digital mountain of books, we’ve curated a list of what we feel are the best instructional books available. If there’s a book we’ve omitted that you recommend, please let us know.
Otherwise, happy browsing!
What to Look for in an Instructional Dulcimer Book or DVD
- Beginner Friendly: Chances are, if you’re seeking a guide book or DVD for a dulcimer, you’re new to the instrument. So it’s important to find a book that starts with foundational basics, and increases in complexity slowly.
- Educational: A music-learning experience is a lot richer if understand the history of the instrument, in addition to learning how to play it. Knowing about the history of your dulcimer is also a good way to stay interested in it.
- Specific Song Instructions: An understanding of music theory is important and helps lay the foundation for your music playing. In order to apply music theory, however, practicing specific songs is important. Find a book or DVD that strikes a balance between theory and practice.
- Conversational Tone: While they have their place, technical books aren’t for everyone. Finding a user-friendly book or DVD that is simple to understand is important for gaining confidence with your dulcimer. Find an author or teacher that teaches in a conversational style with lots of examples.
- An Accredited Author or Teacher: How credible is the instructor? The instruction should come from someone who has experience playing the dulcimer. Checking product reviews will help. If you’re serious about learning how to play the dulcimer, be sure the instructor knows what he/she is talking about.
The Best Dulcimer Method Yet
You don’t want to be overloaded with information when you’re new to a topic. The Best Dulcimer Method Yet starts with the very basics. The book is light on theory and easy to digest.
Simple enough for a child, yet in no way boring, this book will get you started with basic dulcimer songs in C.
Customer Reviews
- “This is a great introduction to dulcimer playing as done in the traditional American folk style, before the “folk revival” of the 1960’s. Most of the tunes are in C major, with the dulcimer tuned to CGG.“
- “I bought this book and have been using it for over 2 weeks and it is great. A lot of variety of music. It provides standard notation, Fingering for 1-5-5 tunings and Chords.“
First Lessons Dulcimer
This book is great for beginners but isn’t overly simple. The First Lessons Dulcimer starts with instructions for the basic DAD tuning of the dulcimer and comes with audio downloads as well
It’s easy to get bored with text instructions, so an audio supplement to your learning is a valuable addition.
Customer Reviews
- “Bought 4 other dulcimer books in attempt to teach myself to play from scratch with very little music background. This is by far the best.”
- “Book is great! Easy to follow directions and was very helpful in learning how to play the dulcimer. Would definitely recommend to anyone who desires to learn the dulcimer.“
The Dulcimer Book
Not only does this book teach you how to play the instrument, but you’ll also learn how to tune it in multiple variations. The Dulcimer Book was written by the acclaimed “mother of the dulcimer” Jean Ritchie.
This book gives the entire background of this fascinating instrument. It focuses more on history than specific instructions, so this book would be better as a supplement to another instruction book, but you will still learn some things.
Customer Reviews
- “I bought my copy in the late 70s, and still rely on it constantly. This is THE best dulcimer book to get, as a first book and as one you’ll return to again and again.“
- “You have to be in love with dulcimers to love this book and that’s me.“
Dulcimer Chord Chart
This book comes with a chart for each tuning and gives a detailed display of the notes along the fret board. For this reason, the Dulcimer Chord Chart is suitable for visual learners.
If you want to take your learning beyond just memorizing notes, this book will teach you all you need to know for improvising tunes on the dulcimer. It’s quite a short book, but thorough and great for beginners or people who want to improve their existing musical abilities.
Customer Reviews
- “As soon as I opened this I realized this was precisely what I need for jamming. I can find chords that work with my short little fingers so I can play in any key.“
- “I am learning to play the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer. This cord chart is a wonderful help in learning to do chords on the dulcimer using guitar tabs.“
Learning Mountain Dulcimer
This DVD is a great way to supplement your book learning. Learning Mountain Dulcimer will teach you songs while encouraging you to memorize what you’re learning.
Some people are visual learners who benefit more from watching an instructor play, so if you’re one of those people, this DVD is what you will need to effectively learn the instrument.
You will be taking instruction from a very talented player, and each instruction feels like a personal music lesson. The teacher’s personable approach to lessons is relatable and suitable for complete beginners.
Customer Reviews
- “This DVD is a ‘must have’ addition to the ‘how to play’ books. If you want to do more than just play the notes on the melody strings and strum the drones, this dvd will show you how.“
- “This DVD is useful to the student who learns best by watching the instructor, rather than using a book with dulcimer tablature with a companion CD. The close-up camera angles of David’s playing demonstrations are very good.“
Dirt Simple Mountain Dulcimer
A great beginner’s book, Dirt Simple Mountain Dulcimer comes with a CD to give you a more thorough learning experience. The audio will talk you through each lesson and offer you different strumming choices to keep your studies interesting.
This provides instructions for playing alone or along with others. The audio instructions also provide singing for those of you interested in learning how to play and sing at the same time.
Customer Reviews
- “This is great book for beginners and the companion CD makes it seem like you have your own instructor right beside you. It starts from the very beginning learning skills like tuning, strumming, finding notes, and playing notes on the mountain dulcimer.“
- “Only about six or seven pages of common knowledge instruction. No included CD, must go online to hear audio.“
Playing The Mountain Dulcimer Made Easy
This book provides songs in both DAD and DAA tunings. Playing The Mountain Dulcimer Made Easy is suitable for people just starting on their dulcimer journey, and the tabs are easy to read and follow along with.
Whether you are looking to receive an introduction to the dulcimer or looking to improve your existing knowledge of the instrument, you will find something of value in this guidebook. It comes with an audio CD as well.
Customer Reviews
- “As a beginner mountain dulcimer player, I found this book to be very user friendly. Nice song selections. I have no complaints.“
- “This book is very easy to follow and really helped me learn to play the Dulcimer the drone method. I love the songs being in DAD and in DAA tuning. Great selection of hymns.“
Mel Bay Dulcimer Chord Book
This book will provide you with all you need to know about basic dulcimer theory. The Mel Bay Dulcimer Chord Book is small in size making it easy to bring along with you to your dulcimer classes or jams with your musician friends.
This product is more suitable for people who prefer to play notes rather than tabs, but beginners shouldn’t have much trouble following along.
Customer Reviews
- “This is a great little book and is quite useful and easy to understand. There is a bit about basic music theory and dulcimer theory in the first part that was really informative.“
- “Fingering diagrams and alternates for each chord in every remotely common tuning. Understandable even for those like myself with weak formal music background. Highly recommend.“
Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer
This book is unique because it provides music for duets, just in case you have a friend who is also interested in this instrument. The Mel Bay You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer guidebook provides lessons and specific fingering instructions for people who wish to grow their talent in a versatile fashion.
The easy-to-read format of this book makes it a good fit for someone just starting out, and communicates the importance of following fingering patterns.
Customer Reviews
- “After thumbing through “Larkin’s Dulcimer Book” and “The Magic Dulcimer” and “You Can Teach Yourself Dulcimer,” I selected the latter. This books’ lessons, exercises, and songs gradually add to the student’s skills.“
- “This is the best of three books that I purchased to learn the dulcimer. It is well written and organized. I’m in the middle of learning, but this book appears to take you from the beginning to an intermediate stage.“
Mel Bay’s Favorite Old-Time American Songs for Dulcimer
Mel Bay’s Favorite Old Time American Songs for Dulcimer book has a lot of song choices, meaning that anyone should be able to find something that suits their unique tastes.
The guidebook explores a variety of tunings and provides songs in both tablature and traditional musical notes.
While many books focus on one specific genre, this one has a variety of styles. Impress your friends by learning classic songs, or inventing your own based on the knowledge you gain from this book.
Customer Reviews
- “This book has a large compilation of songs, in a variety of tunings. I’m a beginning dulcimer player and there are lots of good beginner songs to choose from.“
- “I consider myself to be a non-musical person. On a whim I purchased a dulcimer. I don’t read music. Tablature has allowed me to become acquainted with this magical instrument and actually play some songs that I remember from my childhood in the 50’s.“
Basic Dulcimer Chord Chart
There are five different tunings for the dulcimer, which sounds a bit intimidating. The Basic Dulcimer Chord Book takes the work out of this by giving you easy-to-read instructions on how to navigate each tuning.
Playing chords on the dulcimer is a bit more challenging than other stringed instruments, so this book is a great place to start learning the ropes. This chord chart is a necessary addition to anyone’s dulcimer lesson plan.
Customer Reviews
- “Great book!“
Getting Started With Mountain Dulcimer
This is a short DVD; only 16 minutes long. Getting Started with Mountain Dulcimer will teach you how to tune your instrument, play in multiple tunings, and even replace your strings.
This provides both standard music notes and tabs depending on your learning style. The instructions in this DVD encourage you to memorize what you learn, so you won’t have to rely on books or sheet music forever.
Whether you’re new to the instrument or a more experienced player, this film will provide you with something of value to add to your repertoire.
Customer Reviews
- “Although this short DVD is only 16 minutes long, I gladly give it 5-stars. It covers a lot of territory in those 16 minutes such as the parts of the dulcimer, replacing strings, tuning strings, the keyboard and fret positions and instruction in playing six tunes.“
- “Bing Dutch has made learning the dulcimer easy and enjoyable. Highly recommend for the first time player.“
Caught up on your dulcimer reading? Excellent!
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