Mountain dulcimer range

The mountain dulcimer’s range in notes and hertz

That is a modern dulcimer in D–A–D. Its frets are diatonic, so the range is not every semitone: the notes are a Mixolydian scale plus the 6½ fret. Most dulcimer music is tab.

Written and sounding pitch

Mountain dulcimer music is usually read from tab, letters or numbers rather than a staff, so there is no conventional written range to give. The notes above are the pitches you hear.

Instruments with a similar range

The instruments whose normal range shares the most notes with the mountain dulcimer’s:

• Viola · C3–D7 37 notes shared
• Cello · C2–A6 37 notes shared
• Harp · C2–A6 37 notes shared
• Guzheng · D2–D6 37 notes shared
• Qanun · G2–D6 37 notes shared
• Hammered dulcimer · D3–D6 37 notes shared

Tune it, play it

• Dulcimer tuner — tune by microphone, with the mountain dulcimer’s own target notes.
• Play a mountain dulcimer online — the same range, playable in your browser.

Songs that fit the mountain dulcimer

35 songs from our public-domain library fit inside the mountain dulcimer’s range, each written out in the notation mountain dulcimer players read:

• Hot Cross Buns
• Lightly Row
• Going Home (New World Largo)
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• Happy Birthday
• Ode to Joy
• Mary Had a Little Lamb
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• Jingle Bells
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas
• Yankee Doodle
• Silent Night

All 35 mountain dulcimer songs ›

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• The chart behind our playable mountain dulcimer, itself checked note by note against published charts.
• Wikipedia, Appalachian dulcimer (infobox)