Dulcimer Lessons, Lee Cagle

Lee Cagle's Blue Smoke Risin' on the Mountain -- Dulcimer News and Information, Memphis, Tennessee

Mountain Dulcimer Lessons

Education is what you get when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't. -- Pete Seeger

So easy, even a baby can play!

Dulcimer Lessons in the Memphis Area

Learning to play the dulcimer is fun and easy. Group lessons are offered in Germantown, Tennessee at Union University, 2745 Hacks Cross Road, at a cost of $70. Classes meet Mondays, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Each month covers a different topic.

Group classes will also be offered in January and February 2008 at Southwest Tennessee Community College, 5983 Macon Cove (at Sycamore View and I-40) on Thursday nights.

If you live in the area and would like more information about lessons, write to me by clicking on the "Write to Lee" link at the top or bottom of the page or call 901-877-7763.

Private lessons are also available at a cost of $20 per half-hour or $40 per hour.

I usually present a one-day New Players Class two or three times during the year. A New Players class is always offered during the Memphis Dulcimer Gathering and Folk Festival the last weekend in September each year. This is a great class for people with busy schedules who cannot committ to a regular night-time class. Click here for more information on events from The Memphis Dulcimer Gathering, Inc.

ONE DAY CLASS AT AGRICENTER JAN. 14, 2006

We had a great time at our One Day Getting Started Class on January 14. There were 12 participants, and, by the end of the day, all were playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Bile Them Cabbage Down like pros! I was so proud of all the hard work they put in.

You can play, too! Join the many people who have discovered how fun, relaxing, and enjoyable it is to play the mountain dulcimer.

If you cannot attend classes, but would like to learn using instructional materials at home, try my Workshop Series of instructional CDs and tablature. All materials can be ordered by sending check or money order payable to Lee Cagle to P.O. Box 224, Moscow, TN 38057. Questions? Write to me or call 901-877-7763.

Also available: Blue Smoke Risin' on the Mountain -- a beginner's guide to the mountain dulcimer and companion CD. COST: Book/CD set $20 (plus $4 postage).

Book only $12 (plus $3.50 postage).

WORKSHOP SERIES: Tablature and instructional CDs will be available beginning with the month in which the class is offered. Tab/CD set $20, plus $4.00 postage (Tablature only $10 + $2.00 postage).

Order one of the series below, OR BUILD YOUR OWN LESSON. Mix and match by choosing any four songs from the Workshops Series.

Introduction to Fingerpicking. You will receive instruction on the technique of fingerpicking in the tuning DAD, using an easy introductory song and then moving to more advanced pieces. Learn at your own pace, beginning with Basic Notation and practicing the fingerpicking technique using familiar tunes Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Go Tell Aunt Rhody. Once you have learned the basic roll, you can move on to Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies and The Water is Wide.

Celtic Tunes. The tunes are arranged so that you may play them with the basic melody notes or with chords. Begin simply, and then add variety with chords as you learn the tunes and increase your skill level. Learn about hammer-ons and pull-offs as you learn favorite Celtic songs Loch Lomond, Britches Full of Stitches, Slane (Be Thou My Vision), The Lord's My Shepherd, and Eamonn an Chnuic (Ned of the Hill).

Christmas Songs, Volume I. Learn to play some of your favorite Christimas tunes. This workshop includes two versions of Silent Night -- one an easier version and the other a more challenging fingerpicking arrangement. The arrangements can be played together for a duet with a friend. Also included are : God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; Jingle Bells; an Appalachian folk ballad, The Cherry Tree Carol.

Christmas Songs, Volume II. Learn to play some of your favorite Christimas tunes. This workshop includes: The Holly and the Ivy; Angels We Have Heard on High; What Child Is This? (Greensleeves)(Key of Em); and The Twelve Days of Christmas. All songs are in the tuning D-A-D.

Fiddle Tunes. This workshop re-enforces strumming and rhythm techniques while increasing your repertoire. All arrangements are for the tuning DGD to provide you with a selection of songs in the key of G. The tunes selected are commonly played by fiddlers in the key of G. Tunes included: Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, Barlow Knife, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Dandy Lusk.

Hymns. The hymns for this workshop should be familiar to all, with one exception. As always, I try to spread the traditional sounds of the mountain dulcimer and have included one traditional mountain hymn played in the tuning DAA -- Where the Sun Will Never Go Down. It is an easy song to play and fun to learn. Also included (in the tuning DAD) are The Doxology (Old 100th) played in the keys of D and G in one arrangement; We Gather Together; and Were You There?

Using Chords on the Mountain Dulcimer. The material for this class includes identifying and naming notes in the scales and on your fretboard, chord and key conversion chart, naming chords, building chords, finding chords by shape. There is no CD to accompany the written materials. The materials can be purchased for $10, plus $1.50 shipping.

Old Time Music. Songs included in this series are Soldier's Joy, Rosin the Beau, Mississippi Sawyer, and Angelina Baker. All tunes are in the D-A-D tuning.