Playing Levels
GENERAL PLAYING LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS
For NGFDA Allatooner Satellite Reference
The basic skill levels outlined below demonstrate the progression players can make when they choose to advance over time; they are not meant to be all inclusive. (Published skill level names and descriptions will vary around the country and among festival workshops and instructors)
Knowing where you fit is helpful when signing up for workshops, talking with other players, and understanding the progression of skill building.
Players can take advantage of the abundant resources that are available to help make them a better and more knowledgeable player, i.e., recordings, books, private and online instruction, internet discussion groups, workshops, festivals, jam groups, NGFDA Satellite group work. It’s a process!
MOUNTAIN DULCIMER
BEGINNER / ABSOLUTE BEGINNER Skill Building
- No previous dulcimer experience nor musical background necessary
- Parts of the dulcimer, how it works, how to hold it
- Tuning the dulcimer
- Basic left-hand finger work
- Right-hand strumming in rhythm
- Playing by ear and from dulcimer tablature (fret numbers)
ADVANCED BEGINNER Skill Building
- Able to tune your dulcimer, strum, and play a few simple tunes
- Bridging from beginner to intermediate skills; gaining smoothness and confidence
- Building knowledge and confidence to join in dulcimer jam sessions
- Tuning, smooth strumming and playing in time (and with others)
- Read and play from different types of tablature; strengthen ability to play by ear and memorize music
- Strum and note on one string, with the other strings providing drone harmony
- Basic chords for accompaniment eventually blend chords with melody notes for introduction to “chord/melody” style
EARLY INTERMEDIATE / NOVICE Skill Building
- Building skills needed to become a confident intermediate player
- Common left-hand techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides
- Basic flatpicking, crosspicking and fingerpicking techniques emphasizing various strum patterns and rhythms
- Chord-melody style playing
- Understanding need for various tunings
- Using the capo
- Playing by ear and reading from tablature.
- Developing listening skills
- Playing with others – continued development
- Accompaniment styles using simple chord and harmony techniques
- Intro to duet and ensemble playing
PROGRESSING INTERMEDIATE / NOVICE TO INTERMEDIATE Skill Building
- Continued right-hand skills include strumming, fingerpicking and flatpicking
- Continued left-hand skills include more experience with fingerings andmore complex chord shapes
- Techniques for picking-hand control and moving smoothly from string to string
- Using a variety of strumming patterns
- Using tuning variations; 3-4 tunings
- Can convert music notation into tablature
- Learns other tunings (besides DAA -DAD) for keys (like C, G and A) to suit vocal ranges and standard keys for pieces of music
- Learns chord progressions of tunes and how to “pick through” chords to find harmony parts
- Able to find/create second, third and fourth parts
HIGH INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED
- Now has stronger skills to give more versatility, creativity and sparkle to playing
- Learn scales across the strings from several starting positions along the fretboard; play tunes from each position
- Movement from chord shape to chord shape, and each chord’s inversion, with improved efficiency of movement and speed
- Playing melodic notes with the thumb while holding fingered chords
- Able to play four-finger non-thumb fingering for playing advanced melodies and runs
- Using chord shapes for arpeggios, arranging, composing, and improvisation
- Learn scale notes contained in the held chord, and the picking patterns and arpeggios necessary to play melody out of them
(every strummed chord is also potentially three individual melody notes) - Learn simple improvisational playing around a chord progression, using partial bars and scale runs
- Clean strumming, flatpicking and crosspicking and fingerpicking
- Clean and smooth embellishments (hammer on, pull off, slide, bending, and harmonics)
- Can play back- up to other players
- Able to play in-depth ensemble work
- Writing and/or arranging tunes for the mountain dulcimer
- Comfortable playing in a variety of styles and tunings
- Ready for more challenging techniques and repertoire
- Flatpicks in various keys without retuning or using a capo
- Able to play without tab
HAMMERED DULCIMER
BEGINNER / CONTINUING BEGINNER
- Is familiar with the instrument; hammer hold, basic layout; play within the box
- Can tune the instrument
- Comfortable playing simple tunes by ear, music, tablature
- Can play basic melody lines of at least 5 songs
ADVANCED BEGINNER
- Knows where notes are without cheat sheets
- Can play basic melody lines with a few simple chords
- Can play several tunes from memory
INTERMEDIATE
- Can do Advanced Beginner skills, plus…
- Can play melody lines with simple chords and embellishments, but still has to think about it
- Can play a number of tunes from memory
- Experimenting with hammering techniques
ADVANCED
- Can do Intermediate skills plus…
- Can lead with either hand
- Plays by ear, music, tab
- Solid understanding of chords
- Can embellish with confidence
- Can play backup at fast tempo
- Can play in several major and minor keys
- Can improvise and arrange
- Building a repertoire to play and perform
AUTOHARP
BEGINNER
- Knows how to hold and strum the autoharp
ADVANCED BEGINNER (Strummer)
- Knows how to tune
- Has begun to pick out melodies
INTERMEDIATE (Melody Picker)
- Can accurately play scales and recognizable melodies
- Can play at least 5 or 6 tunes well (with feeling and/or expression) in a number of different keys
- Is comfortable jamming in a slow jam playing either melody or back-up
ADVANCED INTERMEDIATE
- Understands and can play tunes with lilt, snap or swing
- Is able to play music with feeling
- Has been studying more difficult techniques for either/both chromatic and diatonic autoharp
- Comfortable in fast and slow jams and can play leads
ADVANCED
- Addresses style of playing and subtleties of ornamentation and phrasing
- oAble to shape the sound of every note and has learned how to control even the silences between the notes
- oPlays the same melody from different positions, or regions, of the fretboard, to add variety to your arrangements