My SONG SHEET BASICS

Dulcimer SONGS, deconstructed.
I’ve decided to post my own song sheets for arranging and learning various SINGING SONGS on the dulcimer.  I may also include a learning video where I demonstrate the song in small chunks. 

Basic Overview
When I find a song I want to learn on the dulcimer, I listen to many versions of the song.  I used to primarily use Apple’s ITunes software to sample a lot of versions and then purchase one or more that I particularly liked, and loaded them onto my iPod (this started about 7 years ago).  I took my iPods everywhere and if I had to park a long distance from my workplace (or anywhere), sat in the Dr’s office, waited in the line at the DMV (you get the picture) I’d pull out the iPod to listen. I think you  must absolutely know the melody cold to work it out on the dulcimer.  I usually choose songs that are unfamiliar to me initially, but have melodies I am drawn to.

I now use Spotify to discover artists I may like, and hear many many versions of songs I want to learn.  The variety of arrangements inspire my own instrumental breaks, intros, and outros for the songs. I often listen to Karaoke versions of the songs to hear what an accompaniment can sound like.  I rarely play melody under my singing of the melody but rather save that for an instrumental break mid-way through the song. A pared down chord series is best suited normally.

The Song Sheets

I create my own song sheets, on Excel spreadsheets, and they usually include:

• The tuning I use

• Whether I strum or fingerpick the song

• The first 3 or 4 notes of the melody

• The verses, color-coded and staggered so that I only have to indicate the chords once…by line of the verses.

I may add commas, underlines, dashes etc. to help with difficult phrasings in some of the songs. A mark where a breath should be taken can also be useful….adequate and well-placed breaths are most difficult for me.

I’m a whiz at Excel through my former work life…but if writing out by hand, I would recommend using graph paper and colored pens/pencils. Or pre-print your own “tab” sheets…series of 3 lines repeated on a sheet,  to work out notes and chords. I've posted a video explaining the set up of a SONG SHEET on the computer (using Excel) Song Sheet Set Up

(added 3/23/2020)
I made a tutorial on the basics of setting up a song sheet (as I do) using EXCEL spreadsheet software.  You can see the tutorial, here on YouTube
EXCEL tutorial video


The Learning Videos

Depending on my energy level, I may produce a video demonstrating a song in chunks, chords used and suggested picking or strumming patterns :-)

When I call out chords…I’ll try to call out the chord fingerings from top string going down…bass to treble (i.e. 3-1-0 for a G chord)….furthest away string to nearest string.  I may mess up sometimes….but in the interest of being consistent, I’ll try to do this.

I’ll start with the most basic interpretations of the song….simplest chord structure and strum first…adding embellishments or more varieties of strum or picking patterns after the basics are introduced.

I’ll indicate the chords used in the song first, and the strum or picking patterns used for isolated practice.

I may not play through the entire song uninterrupted…I have full versions of all the songs I’ll deconstruct, available on my YouTube Channel Janene M.  I have over 100 songs and tunes posted there. These versions may be a little rough…they were filmed the first time I got through the song, while learning it myself, from my own notes. My inclination is to learn a song, document it, record it for memory purposes…and move on to another song. These are not, nor ever have been, meant as performance videos.