Mal, for speed I use my thumb for going up the fretboard (towards the dusty end), and the middle or little finger for going back towards the nut.

I also slip the middle string under a model-railway tack to change it from A to D when playing in G.

Talking about different tunes on dulcimers, we play a lot of French and English traditional dance tunes, and even medieval stuff (need to tune to Dm for many of them).

I'm Mal too! - anything about dulcimers and Mals? Why are Malcolms all portrayed as snotty nosed wimps on the telly? Yes OK, the telly can't always be wrong.

Mal