h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bill Monroes home state of Kentucky is also the home of the Ritchie Family who brought the appalachian dulcimer into prominence in the 1950's and 60's. The dulcimer is a much maligned instrument due to the thinking that because of its modal fretting pattern it is restricted to one tuning at a time and needs to be retuned all the time in order to play with other instruments. This is the case if you stick to the traditional style of playing which gives the dulcimer its haunting sound of the melody string strum with two drones (I must admit I play this method and prefer it). Modern players, however, Roger Nicholson, Holly Tannen, Joni Mitchell and many more to numerous to mention have all played the dulcimer using chords which enable many keys to be accomodated in one tuning and also finger picking techniques have been used. With the addition of the extra fret known as six and a half more keys are possible even using the traditional strumming method, although it is very limited.