You Can Teach Yourself Hammered Dulcimer

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.

This review is not about the content, its method, or its effectiveness on teaching you the instrument. In that regard, I am certain this book, just as the other reviews have said, would be an asset to my progression of learning the dulcimer...If I could read it. This review is about the illegible and not even half heartily attempted reproduction in kindle format. To set the stage of this review correctly, I'd very much like a refund for this purchase simply because of the format. I would absolutely purchase this in paper form over the kindle version now having experienced the kindle version. If you are using this review to base your purchasing decision, hang the kindle format and go old school and buy the actual book.To be candid, the original authors of this book should be FURIOUS that their hard work and effort was reproduced in a literal scan of each page into the kindle format. Not a copy and paste job, no this is far worse. It is a scanned, or screen grabbed, image of each page from the book and inserted into a blank page. The text cannot be re-sized, researched or altered. You either choose to not read it because of this horrible format or you try to (like i did) and suffer nauseating eye strain.Count me a sucker for handing you my money. Shame on you Mel Bay Publications, Inc., shame on you.

It's not the content that's bad - this Kindle book is not readable. It was not formatted to fill the screen - about 60% of the Kindle screen is used per page - and it will not flip. I have tried and tried to actually read this Kindle version and cannot see the tiny print well enough to make it worthwhile to kill my eyes. Do NOT buy this as a Kindle book...

I received the book very quickly, but I have not been able to use it yet. I am looking forward to learning to play the dulcimer I have.One thing I was hoping for and that was the key scale instead of trying to keep stickers in place. I am just going to take it to a copier and get the notes enlarged.

Excellent. The praise this book gets is well deserved.I copied page 5. I folded it in half and copied the lower part. Then put that back in and made a slightly enlarged copy. Taped that between the bridges so I don't have to turn back in the book. It is a great learning aid that should not become a crutch.Bought another, supposedly simple, instructional book that is horrible. Will keep it for the sheet music.

The text is too small to read on my Win10 desktop computer and my 7" Android tablet, and the usual font size adjustment in Kindle has no effect. I have no problem with character size on any of my other 100+ Kindle books. The book is useless to me!

I had wanted to play the hammered dulcimer for over 20 years and decided to finally buy a used one. I sent for this and two other Mel Bay books about the dulcimer. This book is very simple and yet informative. The additional DVD is extremely helpful. I highly recommend this book and DVD?

Very easy to understand.

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.

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.

There is nothing like human-to-human tutorial in learning to play an instrument. This book is good as long as you have an expert at your side. Otherwise . . .

ダルシマーと言う楽器を詳しく知りたくなり本書を購入しました。英文なので心配でしたが英語は平易で時々音楽用語を辞書で引く位で済みます。後でＤＶＤ付きがあった事に気づきそちらの方が良かったと思いました。