You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer

This is the book that the dulcimer sells and is easy to use.

This book is perfect for someone with little or no musical experience wanting to learn to play the Hammered Dulcimer. Personally I glossed over some of the earlier parts of the book, but that’s because I’ve come to the Dulcimer with 20 years of professional musical life behind me and another author’s approach resonated with me better. If you’ve never played an instrument before or only ever got started I think you’ll find Madeline’s approach easy to follow and will get you well on the way to making music on the dulcimer.

レビューを見て購入しましたが、英文ですが全文翻訳しなくても何となく理解できる内容です。何よりもオンラインで動画（少し古く荒いですが）をDL出来、本の内容と合わせながら練習出来るのがポイント。最後まで習得していませんので後半は判りませんが、少なくとも取り掛かりは初心者にとっては非常に判り易い教則本です。

I purchased the combination DVD, CD and Book "You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer" I love these lessons, the instructor Mel Bay is excellent. She is easy to understand, demonstrates everything pointing things out on the dulcimer. When she plays the songs for you she plays them at a reasonable speed not 200 beats per min like some do. I purchased my Dulcimer the end of March 2012, started playing it April 12, found it very overwelming and started these lessons May 12. I feel really good with my progress and I am about 1/2 done the book. I played piano and bagpipes as a child, I am currenly 66 years old so have lots of time to practice (2-5 hrs a day) but learn slower than a much younger person, I can read music (not a requirement but I'm sure it helps)Would highly recommend this set.

I was not sure what to expect from this basic instruction book. While I have played piano for many years as well as clarinet and other instruments in my lifetime I never had played the hammered dulcimer before. And there are no instructors in my area. While the book is helpful it is the DVD and CD (book has both in sleeves in the back) that really help to get you started. Ms MacNeill goes slowly enough that you can follow along with her. She covers some of the same areas in the DVD as she does in the book but the book has added information. While this is basic for those knowing nothing (or very little) about the hammered dulcimer I found it highly useful in helping me to get started to learn and play this instrument. For those considering a hammered dulcimer you may want to get this book first and go through it in some detail before deciding what instrument you want to buy and to help you to get started.One aspect of the hammered dulcimer I found interesting was that learning it has helped me understand keys and intervals far better than on the piano and other instruments. Of course the two bridges (treble and bass) take some getting used to especially since the treble is on the left and bass on the right which is just the reverse of the piano or organ.While this book will not make you into a competition hammered dulcimer player it will likely teach you a great deal about music as well as about the instrument itself. I was very surprised how much I learned and since my chief interest in this was to introduce my granddaughters to music I think this will be a wonderful way for them to start to learn about various aspects of music and musical notation.The combination of the DVD/CD and the written book makes this a highly valuable way to learn about this instrument and I can highly recommend it.