I picked one up for the first time a few years ago and love it. It came very easily to me, but I had piano and violin/fiddle very early on. It can be quite like playing a keyboard, so it may just be the instrument for you. I found using a noter to be awkward, so I just slide my finger along the frets. I can get a lot of volume out of it, depending on what pick I use. It is a Black Mountain No.56 which I bought from Elderly Instruments, for less than they are listed now by Black Mountain.:-) They also have some less expensive student ones.

If you want to try one without too much expense, you could buy a cardboard kit for about $35 US at MusicMakers. My sister left one of these behind when she moved. We are getting ready to put it together for my grandson. It has a wood keyboard and is quite sturdy. There is a sound sample on that page linked.

As was done for me here, by Catspaw49, who used to make them, and others, I would highly recommend Larkin's Dulcimer book and our own Jean Ritchie's Dulcimer book (scroll down), too. (Jean posts as kytrad.) Jean, as you may know, is the force behind introducing the modern world to the Appalachian dulcimer.

I don't get into the fancy chords and all as some folks do, but I play almost anything I can think of and most folks seem to think it sounds good. For the first time in my life, I was able to improv my own tunes using the dulcimer. Prior to that I used dots or played by ear on the fiddle, but didn't improv my own. Now that I have been able to do so on the dulci, i find it quite easy to do on the fiddle, too.

Above all, I find it a FUN instrument to play and it is so sweet and haunting it even makes me sound good.:-)

kat