Jump to content

Doesn't sound like I was expecting it to...!? Freeman...educate me!


Brindleleaf

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Well, Freeman or anyone else who knows these things....this doesn't sound like the fabled dulcimer (that I know NOTHING about!)...

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXW5EU8Ys7Q

 

and then I found THIS...certainly not the same beast...!!

 

[video=youtube;K62t2dlAdog]

 

My guitar playing world can no longer be considered flat....oh man!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'll have to comment tonight - I'm at work and don't have sound on my computer. The first one is a weissenborn style guitar very similar to mine, I'll be interested in hearing it. It is NOT a dulcimer. Beh Harper and David Lindley are great weissenborn players.

The second one I don't know about - some sort of funky dulcimer thingie (thats the technical name). Dulcimers are tuned in different modal keys, sometimes played with a wooden stick called a "noter" (kind of a slide) and sometimes fretted. I have a standard mountain dulcimer, but I've never seen anything quite like that.

Will give a listen to both tonight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I'll have to comment tonight - I'm at work and don't have sound on my computer. The first one is a weissenborn style guitar very similar to mine, I'll be interested in hearing it. It is NOT a dulcimer. Beh Harper and David Lindley are great weissenborn players.


The second one I don't know about - some sort of funky dulcimer thingie (thats the technical name). Dulcimers are tuned in different modal keys, sometimes played with a wooden stick called a "noter" (kind of a slide) and sometimes fretted. I have a standard mountain dulcimer, but I've never seen anything quite like that.


Will give a listen to both tonight.

 

 

Okay thanks Freeman,

 

Probably just a sampling error....all the weissenborn guitar I've heard has been kind of unearthly and haunting....and this,.....well this sounds like what I do on my guitar....(slight over-simplification, I'll admit ;-); But I really liked his groove....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Okay thanks Freeman,


Probably just a sampling error....all the weissenborn guitar I've heard has been kind of unearthly and haunting....and this,.....well this sounds like what I do on my guitar....(slight over-simplification, I'll admit ;-); But I really liked his groove....



"unearthly" and "haunted" kind of describes my playing. Weissies usually sound about half way between an acoustic and a reso - they have really long sustain, but lack the metallic sound of the cone. Notes seem to go up in that long hollow neck and get lost, they come back out later. I like to strum mine and set it down, it will be ringing for a long time afterwards. I did this clip literally the day I first strung mine up - brought it in from the shop, turned on the recorder and grabbed my bar. Its in open D, you'll also hear them in G and C6 tunings

Steel Guitar Rag

Dulcimers, on the other hand, often have just the first string (or pair of strings, sometimes they are doubled) fretted with a piece of wood, and the other two are drones. The are sometimes strummed with a quill feather or a thin pick. One thing that is kind of interesting is that a lot of them don't have sharps or flats (no black keys) - look at the picture of this one and notice the weird gaps in the fret spacing. I built one a long time ago, learned a few simple mountain songs, but don't really play it. Anyway, still can hear either, but I'll take a listen tonight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've been told that the secret to a great weissenborn sound from my experience is to run it with a Sunrise soundhole pickup into a tube compressor and a deluxe reverb amp. Sounds amazing to me when my side-player buddy does it.

 

 

Interesting that both Harper and Lindley use soundhole p/u's. The guy that I built the second one also. Don't know whats in their signal chain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

My buddy is a big fan of David Linley, so that makes sense.

 

 

I got to see Lindley with Jackson Browne a year ago. Lindley, of course, is the steel guitar solo in "Running on Empty". Great performer on his own, incredible trading licks with Browne.

 

Just listened to both vids - acutally pretty much what I might have expected. The first guy sort of overpowers the Weissie with his voice, but it sounds about right. The second had the drone strings but a much more robust sound than an ordinary dulcimer. Pretty effective for Celtic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...