Lucy in the Sky with Dulcimer at FabFest Charlotte - Beatles festival (with intro)

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on 3-string electric dulcimer, with some high-tech pedals underneath, live in concert by Sam Edelston at the incredible "FabFest Charlotte" Beatles festival in North Carolina. Introduced by festival director John Tosco. Song begins at about 2:50.
Though usually associated with old folk songs and tunes, the mountain dulcimer is a natural rock (and pop) instrument. In fact, I call it a more logical first stringed instrument than guitar -- with fewer strings and (usually) fewer frets, it just seems to me that there ought to be millions of people wanting to play, if only they realized it was relevant to their music. I do these videos to inspire more people to play and listen to dulcimer music, in diverse, non-traditional styles.
If you like what you hear, please "Like" it, Share it, and check out more of my videos.
Also, Subscribe to me on TH-cam or "Like" my Facebook fan page, so you'll find out about future videos and more. / sam.edelston.music .
Website: www.SamTheMusicMan.com
FabFest: fabfestcharlot...
Videography by Second Wind Music Productions, secondwindmusic...
Technical details: Rod Matheson "Black Wolf" 3-string dulcimer, tuned DAD, played in D. This arrangement uses 0+. and 1+ frets. I'm wired in stereo, with one track going to a Headrush Pedalboard and the other track going to a Headrush Gigboard. To easily move on and off stage, I set everything up on a sheet of cardboard, so all I had to do is plug it in and turn it on. Performance was at the Knight Theater in Charlotte, NC, July 23, 2022.

[@charlesmiller000]

BRAVO !

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Grazie! 😀

[@DustyThorburn]

The hippest guy in dulcimertown! Love this, Sam. You are a true performer. The audience is putty in your hands. I do think it's funny, though, that you're plugged in with all those pedals and still have a snark attached to the headstock.

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Thanks, Dusty! 😀 I'll admit, I was impressed by how many people responded when I asked who was familiar with dulcimers.
And yes, your comment about the Snark gave me a laugh, too, but since I tuned backstage while unplugged, that's what I had to use.

[@lauraltraylor2015]

What a blast! Thank you!

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Thanks! It was an incredible moment in an incredible show.

[@Who_Let_The_Dogs_Out_10-7]

Always a treat when you have a new download! Thank you!

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Thanks, Nico. 😀 I was long overdue to do one. It was a busy summer.

[@jazzcatt]

@@ContemporaryDulcimer Busy is good for a musician! Oh, how I EVER know that.

[@richardash548]

Way to go, Sam!

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Thanks, Richard. I was delighted at how many people in the audience were familiar with dulcimers. I guess that's the difference between North Carolina and Connecticut. 😀

[@jazzcatt]

@@ContemporaryDulcimer I could not believe how many people here in Clay County, KY had never heard of one. Sure shows how much Appalachian history, including the musical history is being lost. I had an excuse not to know. I was born in Southern California and spent my entire 6+ decades of life there up until 2 years ago.

[@BrianBohlman]

Sam, what a great post! You really rock the Mountain Dulcimer brother!! Who made your playing stand?

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Thanks, Brian! 😀
The stand was made by the late John Stockard. Check out the new scissor-style stand made by Wolf Hill that's much easier to find.

[@jazzcatt]

The only thing I don't understand in your video description is this: "This arrangement uses 0+. and 1+ frets" Would you explain? I'd really like to understand.

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

Hi, @jazzcat ... Dulcimers evolved as strictly diatonic instruments, generally with the frets set for Mixolydian mode. (For the benefit of other readers, if you play the white keys of a piano starting with C, you'll get a major scale, like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, and that's also called Ionian mode. If you play the white keys of a piano starting on G, the 7th note will be "flatted" a half step, and that's named the Mixolydian mode.)
So the dulcimer's frets are diatonically numbered, starting with the nut (or the "0 fret"). If I have a string tuned to C, then the 1st fret will be D ... and if my dulcimer has an additional fret in between to play C#, that will be called the 0 1/2 or 0+ fret.
I play "Lucy" on a dulcimer tuned DAd. The song begins here in D, and in the intro, the middle string plays 1+, 1, and 0+ frets. Also, "cellophane flowers" goes to an Eb chord.
The Mixolydian fret layout lets you play a major (i.e., Ionian) scale starting at the 3rd fret. Nearly all dulcimers made today include a 6+ fret, so they can play a major scale starting from the 0 fret, in addition to the Mixolydian scale.

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

...which leads to the question, "How does a dulcimer player count to 10?"
0 ... 1/2 ... 1 ... 1 1/2 ... 2 ... 3 ... 3 1/2 ... 4 ... 4 1/2 ... 5 ... 6 ... 6 1/2 ... 7 ... 7 1/2 ... 8 ... 8 1/2 ... 9 ... 10

[@jazzcatt]

@@ContemporaryDulcimer I just learned what the 0 fret is just before you explained it. I could see it there, naturally, but had no clue it had a number.
I love your 'counting to 10'! Now I want to hear it played with the numbers being said so I completely 'get it'.

[@jazzcatt]

@@ContemporaryDulcimer Thanks for that. I did learn that Dulcimers were diatonic and what that means before I came across your video. It's still much easier for me to think of it as a major scale as I never memorized the names of the modes or exactly what they are. I have basic theory knowledge but I still need the piano for the visuals. I know the intervals that make a major, and the natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales. Someone once showed me, on the piano, the modes starting on C. All the modes were played on the white keys. I guess I better study up on that some too and learn the intervals of each modal scale.
You said, "If you play the white keys of a piano starting on G, the 7th note will be "flatted" a half step, and that's named the Mixolydian mode."
So in other words the 7th note would be an F♮ rather than an F#?
I also had learned about the 6 1/2 fret and it being pretty standard now. But that zero fret? Oh hun! That had me completely stumped.
You may be asking how a retired jazz and top 40 vocalist got interested in Dulcimers. I was asked by someone who has absolutely zero music knowledge to help with a music booth for kids on the 4th of July. Someone had given him a cardboard mountain dulcimer. I was slightly familiar with hammered dulcimers but had never heard of a mountain dulcimer. He brought it over to me. It is missing the melody string and the others are rusty! I ordered a set, so naturally I had to learn how it's tuned and played. I spent about 8 hours straight on TH-cam learning as much as I could, including how to play a couple simple tunes and that's how I found your video. I used the middle string for melody and stuck with tunes that would be played with DAA tuning if there were three strings on it. LOL!
I ordered myself a cheap hourglass cardboard dulcimer that will have the 6 1/2 fret. If I stick with it for a year, then I will consider a 'real' quality dulcimer with more added frets for more versatility. After all, I would want to eventually play more modern music with chording, and not just drone tunes. If I don't stick with it, I won't have spent a load of money for nothing.
At the moment I'm in obsessive learning mode and I thank you SO very much for replying to me!

[@ContemporaryDulcimer]

To answer your question about hearing it played with the numbers, you can do that yourself. I'll talk in terms of a piano keyboard for simplicity.
If you play just the white keys beginning on the G at the top of the bass clef, you'll get the scale of a traditional dulcimer with no added "half" frets. If you want to get more of a "dulcimer sound," then as you go up the scale, use your left hand to keep repeating that G and the C below it. This is the equivalent of playing in CGG tuning.
Step 2: Play the same scale again, beginning on G, but now include F# along with all the white keys. That's a typical dulcimer fretboard with the 6+ fret added.
Step 3: We'll "retune" to CGC. Play just the white keys beginning at middle C, while repeating the C and G with your left hand. This of course is a C major scale. On a dulcimer fretboard, it skips the 6th fret and uses the 6+ fret.
Step 4: Now play the same scale as step 3, but also include Bb (i.e., the 6th fret) along with B natural (the 6+ fret).
Step 5: Finally, play the same scale as step 4, but also include Db and Eb (equivalent to the 0+ and 1+ frets, respectively). That's the same scale as my fretboard here. (But I'm tuned a whole step higher, to DAD.)
Notice that you can play the chromatic notes on a piano, starting with C, while saying the full series of dulcimer fret numbers from my previous comment, too.