Appalachian Dulcimer

It has from 3 to 6 strings usually arranged in 3 courses and traditionally was strummed (with a very light pick). The lower two courses are used as drones, the top course for the melody. Only the top course was fretted and this was usually done with a stick called a noter. The noter gives a characteristic sound as it slides over the fret. It is a modal instrument hence the irregular fretting (see separate note on modes). There are two more modern styles of playing. One is to fret the bottom strings as well as the melody course, to play chords (eg. Joni Mitchell's LP "Blue"), the other is to change the instrument to 4 courses and fingerpick.

Choosing

Some dulcimers have extra frets. These are refered to as half frets, and allow greater flexibility, a six and a half fret is the most common addition, it is effectively a seventh fret, but calling it so would put out the usual notation for the instrument which is done by fret numbers.