Folk Notes Mountain Dulcimer Chord Page

This page lists mountain dulcimer chord charts in popular tunings, with an emphasis on 1 & 2 finger chords and useful easy chord forms for accompaniment of other instruments. It includes fingering positions for mountain dulcimers with a 1+ fret.

I have tried to avoid 'stretch' chords, but instead have included chords for people who don't have particularly long fingers, or incredible dexterity. Wherever possible, I have concentrated as much as possible on two finger chords, as my personal observation about 'modern' mountain dulcimer tab and methods, is that there is over-use of three finger chords, resulting in killing the drone sound associated with the more modal forms of music. This sound is the very thing which captured the attention of many dulcimer players and drew them to mountain dulcimers in the first place. There are many three finger chords not included here, because they can be found in plenty of other places. I have included bar chords because they provide an easy to remember means of playing a mountain dulcimer accompaniment with other instruments, and other three finger chords where there are few options without using them. Included also are chords for those who have a 1 1/2 fret, notated as '1+', emphasizing two
finger chords where possible.

In choosing which particular chord to use, decide whether you want a higher or lower pitched sound to determine what part of the fretboard you want to play on. What chords are before or coming after the chord in question? Choose chords that will make the changes from one to another easy to perform smoothly. Consider what drone sounds you want to emphasize, and how the particular chord form you are choosing sounds with the melody and the other chords you are using. Because of the largely diatonic design of mountain dulcimers, many of these chords are partial chords, and so will sound right in combination with certain other chords and within some songs, but all are not always interchangeable.

When accompanying songs such as 'Old Joe Clark' which has 13 measures of D chords and only 3 measures of A(7) chords, you can really liven up the accompaniment by incorporating a pattern of several different D chords into your playing. This chart gives you a broad range of chords to choose from without 'killing the drone', which may not be a significant concern when playing with different instruments, but is an important consideration for a traditional mountain dulcimer ensemble. Because many chords listed here are partial chords, some patterns are listed as a couple of different chords, such as some that can be used either for the tonic (I) or the relative minor (VI) in a given key. If a song uses both of these chords, it is best to avoid this common form for both, within that particular song. Experiment, and by all means, use some of the simpler chords in places where more difficult forms of the same chord make you feel like you're playing 'Twister' with your fingers on your fretboard.

All chords with three numbers in a column are for three string, or three course tuning. The top number is for the bass string(s), the farthest from the player as they look down at the dulcimer. The middle number is for the middle string(s), and the lowest number is for the 'melody' string(s), the nearest to the player's body.