Thanks for the video, it's a special feeling to hear your instrument for the first time! And as for the nylon strings - I have them on my ukulele and they hold the tuning really well.
Hi, I'm not saying if yours is the correct system or not, but it certainly sounds better than mine! I can't understand the order of the strings! having the pegs towards the left, the first string towards you was an E, the middle one a D and the last one further away from you was a C? Right!????
The technique and tuning I used were taught to me by Lassi Logren. As far as I understand, this is reasonably standard for Finnish playing (with the note that nothing is truly standard with these instruments). I tune EAD. The E is closest to the bowing hand, the D is furthest away, the A is in the middle. The A is the lowest note, the D is a 4th above, and the E is one step higher. When playing, the A always gets played as a drone (more advanced playing does play melody notes on this string, but I only have two tunes I play that involve notes on the A string). So, the first note of my scale is D (with droning A). The second note is E (still with droning A). Both of those are just open strings. I touch the E string with my index finger to get the F or F# note. Middle finger for G, ring finger for A, pinkie for B. If I need higher notes, I can move my hand closer to the bridge and get higher notes. I seldom do this because a lot of jouhikko repertoire only uses 6 notes. Or fewer. If you look at the repertoire for 5 string kantele, you only need 5 notes and there's a wealth of music available. I highly recommend a teacher, at least for a first few lessons. Lassi made all the difference for me. I'm no expert, but the fact that I can play at all is because he taught me how.
So, so, so helpful (both parts). many, many thanks :)
thank you . I don't like the viola strings I got with my bowed harp so this is helpful as I want to try different strings
Thanks for the video, it's a special feeling to hear your instrument for the first time! And as for the nylon strings - I have them on my ukulele and they hold the tuning really well.
Trying it out. So far so good.
Thank you !!
Thank you
This is heplful
Hi, I'm not saying if yours is the correct system or not, but it certainly sounds better than mine! I can't understand the order of the strings! having the pegs towards the left, the first string towards you was an E, the middle one a D and the last one further away from you was a C? Right!????
The technique and tuning I used were taught to me by Lassi Logren. As far as I understand, this is reasonably standard for Finnish playing (with the note that nothing is truly standard with these instruments). I tune EAD. The E is closest to the bowing hand, the D is furthest away, the A is in the middle. The A is the lowest note, the D is a 4th above, and the E is one step higher.
When playing, the A always gets played as a drone (more advanced playing does play melody notes on this string, but I only have two tunes I play that involve notes on the A string). So, the first note of my scale is D (with droning A). The second note is E (still with droning A). Both of those are just open strings. I touch the E string with my index finger to get the F or F# note. Middle finger for G, ring finger for A, pinkie for B. If I need higher notes, I can move my hand closer to the bridge and get higher notes. I seldom do this because a lot of jouhikko repertoire only uses 6 notes. Or fewer. If you look at the repertoire for 5 string kantele, you only need 5 notes and there's a wealth of music available.
I highly recommend a teacher, at least for a first few lessons. Lassi made all the difference for me. I'm no expert, but the fact that I can play at all is because he taught me how.
Is it necessary to twist the strings?
It really is important to twist them. That's what turns the bundle of fibers into a single sounding string.