duckslammer.com does not promote violence towards waterfowl |
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Duckslammer is a whimsical name for a mountain or fretted dulcimer, native to the Appalachian region of the south eastern United States. The dulcimer is the only truly American musical instrument. The finger board runs the length of the body, most have 3 strings, and fretting is generally diatonic. In the images at left you'll see 4 tuning pegs. There are two melody strings very close together tuned to the same note, giving effectively 3 strings. The dulcimer is also sometimes called a hogfiddle, or lapfiddle because it is played in the lap. The dulcimer is an easy instrument to learn. With only 3 strings and lacking a full chromatic scale, there are a limited number of chords to memorize compared to many other fretted instruments. Yet it is quite versatile and may take a lifetime to master. Below left, traditionalist, teacher and performer Mark Gilston plays a lively old time fiddle tune on a teardrop dulcimer with Howard Rains on fiddle. On the right, the author of this website plays his rendition of the galtee hunt. If you live near Oklahoma City and want to hear live dulcimer music, come to a meeting of the Oklahoma City Traditional Music Association. |
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some mighty fine duckslammer music |
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John Blosser makes a dulcimer sing and cry. You may find it hard to believe this music is played on a simple 3 string instrument. John's style of play is somewhat unusual. He employs the DAA tuning many dulcimer players disdain as being too limited. He uses metal fingerpicks to combine the best of strumming and finger picking, and to emphasize the full audio range of the dulcimer and get some real volume out of it. A typical unamplified dulcimer can hardly be heard over other instruments in a jam session, but played as John does the dulcimer will dominate. The first tune of John's I came across was Jackalope Jig on a now defunct dulcimer music collection website. I was so impressed with his speed, accuracy, and the raw energy of the tune I played it continuously until I about wore out my speakers. As a long-time dulcimer player myself it is what I aspire to. I had to hear more. When I was trying to find a distributor to buy the album and couldn't, I contacted John. He told me his publisher had gone out of business and he couldn't be bothered to find another. He wants to play and for people to listen without a middleman taking money. He sent me a copy for free. This website is how I am repaying his kindness. No longer will he have to copy CDs so that people can enjoy his music. John likes to get email from his fans. Please write to him and say howdy. |
Download this album for free Coyote Dulcimer by John Blosser, 2001. Republished with permission. All cuts are encoded 256bits. Download all the tracks in one zip file, or listen to each tune online.
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