Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning

Subject: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer tuning
From: Marco
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 06:47 AM

Hi, Mudcatters!

I have a question about Joni Mitchell.
How is tuned the her mountain dulcimer on "California"; "A case of you"; "Carey" and "All I want"?

Is it possible to find a dulcimer's tab or music score of these songs?

Thanks a lot!

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: Peter T.
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:29 AM

There is a web site (you might check out google, just type in Joni Mitchell tabs) that has everything Joni Mitchell did, a true labour of love, with all tunings -- I think there are dulcimer tunings (or the guitar versions, anyway). yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Oct 03 - 08:09 PM

Peter T is right...all the tabs are ways for guitarists to play the dulcimer part. I have searched for ages but it sems JM dulcimer tunings are shrouded in mystery!! Unless someones knows better. However..I have worked out a reasonable version of 'Case of You' using the DAD tuning and also for 'Carey'. California is also posible in the same tuning by using bar chords, but I'm struggling with it. It's just a matter of experimenting with dulcimer chords. I do know that she re-strung her dulcimer, putting the bass string in the middle which could be the reason that tunings are hard to find.
Hope that may be some help to you.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 04:48 PM

I could be wrong, but I believe that she has now come out with a book of her album "Hits" that has the accurate transcriptions (not pianoish), and that at least one of them is a dulcimer. The part I am sure about is that there is this book, but not about the dulcimer.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: Peter T.
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 04:52 PM

The site (which is excellent, one of the best anywhere) is:

http://www.jmdl.com/guitar/index.cfm

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: Marco
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 02:35 AM

Thanks, Peter!

The site is very good, but I still do not understand the tunings of Joni because the arrangiaments are for guitar.
Joni uses a lot of differents tunings also for the guitar!

Marco.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,Peter T.
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 08:13 AM

buried in one of the discussions on that site of "A Case of You" (I think), is reference to her dulcimer tuning.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,Katrina
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 03:30 PM

I've watched Joni Mitchell play "California" on youtube and tuned my dulcimer as I watched her retune hers.

I got Fac for the tuning.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: Nick
Date: 25 Dec 08 - 04:53 PM

All I Want is tuned F#G#G#G#
Carey is tuned DDAA
Case Of You DAAE (though I play a version GDAE ie a mandolin tuning which works fine)

Most of them are on the site Peter pointed out and easily adapted

I have an old guitar that has 4 strings on it that I tune to the above and accompany my wife when she sings Joni songs. Works fine. Usually with lots of laughs from people when I bring it out as it looks pretty battered and weird and like a guitar with two missing strings!

Haven't tried California but there is a tab for it on that site which looks right

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,jawnee
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 11:05 AM

Hey, there. I just picked up a dulcimer and was wondering about what tunings Joni uses as well. I watched the you tube video of California on the BBC and it seems to me that she's using F/A/CC. I tuned to that and played along pretty well with it. Give it a whirl and see what you think!
Peace

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,Jenny
Date: 11 Sep 09 - 03:51 AM

I have transcribed for dulcimer "A Case Of You". It's in GCG, but I tune it a half step higher. If anyone wants a copy of the tabs just send me an email at jen at pumpkinjuice dot com and I'll email it to you. :)

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Mar 10 - 08:04 PM

Don't know if you're all still interested as this was posted a while ago but listening to Miles of Isles you can actually hear her tuning the dulcimer for A Case of You. My CD player may be a little off but I got a D#D# A#A# D# tuning. From there it's pretty easy to hear the changes. I just fooled around until it sounded like hers. Hope that helps--JoAnn [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Mar 10 - 01:25 PM

Correction to my last entry. I went home after that to play it and realized that I had it backwards. Tuning is A#A# D#D# A#. Again, it's taken from my dvd player which might be off in pitch. Anyway, hope that helps anyone who's trying to figure out Joni.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,Rick Duncan
Date: 30 Aug 10 - 02:08 PM

"California" is A-G-F (a being the double string)

It sounds weird, especially on any other instgrument, but try it, all barre chords up to fret 5

Chords against it are E-A-F#-B with a brief "D" on the word "news"

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 02:05 PM

Aloha, Jenn.

If your offer of sharing the tablature for A Case of You still stands, I'd love a copy. Please e-mail me at [e-mail].

Thanks.

John

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,open mike...
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 05:25 PM

when you list the notes are you listing them low to high or high to low? someone just offered me a dulcimer and I would like to know how to tune it...

here are some general dulcimer tuning not necessariy Joni..
http://www.folkofthewood.com/page5110.htm
http://www.mountaindulcimer-1-3-5.com/

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina
Date: 14 Jun 11 - 01:42 AM

Joni used some fairly unusual tunings, as she learned dulcimer intuitively (no surprise, as she was self-taught on guitar as well). Back when she started recording with it, it was a fairly esoteric instrument in mainstream contemporary folk--Force & D'Ossché ("In Search of the Wild Dulcimer") were pioneers in taking it out of the Ionian (DAA) mode in which Richard Fariña discovered it; most other prominent players at the time had grown up "in the tradition," either Appalachian or Celtic. (A few are still with us, thank heaven). I am surprised to see she used a tuning as conventional as the inverse Mixolydian (which David Massengill later intuited and made his hallmark) for "A Case of You." which (along with "Carey") I'd always played and taught in standard Mixolydian (low to high: DAD). Leave it to her to place the bass string in the middle! (IIRC, Massengiil strings his dulcimers conventionally despite inverting the tuning). I've also used DAD for "California," which leads to a bit of fudging with one-finger barre chords that simplify some inversions and sacrifice some additions & suspensions. To play "All I Want" in DAD meant playing in the key of G, using some partials and even letting the vocal alone carry some of the notes. Now that I've seen her unusual tuning (could've sworn that the transcriptions in the companion songbook for "Hits"--or was it for "Misses?"--had her using the all-one-pitch variant of Galax tuning, in F#), I'm going to try and master it for an upcoming tribute showcase gig in August--which means (sigh) bringing two dulcimers so as not to kill time onstage retuning.   Then again, I just bought a chromatic dulcimer, so anything could happen.....

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST,Butch Ross
Date: 19 Jun 14 - 01:30 PM

I wrote an article a couple of years ago about Joni's tunings. You can read that here. They're based on the recordings and I consulted with Joellen Lapidus who both built Joni's dulcimer and wrote the transcriptions for the tablature book. The live versions may vary considerably.

Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell Dulcimer's tuning
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Oct 20 - 10:25 AM

a case of you
just before singing begins...clearly strumming all open strings d-d-d-d
one string is an octave down