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Welcome to the 1-3-5 Website
(*Check
our Schedule page if you are looking for 1-3-5
workshops.*)
Within the past few years, many mountain dulcimer
players have learned how to play far more than just folk
music on their instruments, using nothing other than a
slightly different tuning! Not only that, this tuning
allows us to play dozens of exciting new chord sounds,
never before possible with any of the tunings used in
the past. The discovery of this “1-3-5” tuning system is
perhaps the most significant event affecting dulcimer
music in more than fifty years!
What is a 1-3-5 tuning?
For this tuning the three “open” (unfretted) strings are
tuned to form a major chord. This is perhaps why it is
sometimes referred to as an “open” tuning. Although we
could choose any key we wished, consider such a tuning
for the key of D major, whose scale consists of the
notes as follow:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
(6) (7) (8)
D E F# G A B C# D
If we select the first, third and fifth notes
of this scale, and then tune the bass, middle and treble
strings to those notes, in that order, the “open”
strings when strummed will sound the notes D, F# and A
(a D major chord). That’s it!…the tuning is finished.
The best way to picture where all the notes are located
is by means of the sketch below:
Notice that this fretboard represents a
dulcimer having only three equidistant strings and a 6+
fret. There are three important and unique features seen
here:
1.
Each fret (8 per octave counting the 6+) forms a
major “barre” chord whose name is given by the note on
the bass string. This is NOT a modal tuning; drones do
not exist, and chord accompaniment is required.
2.
We are not in a fixed tuning. We can play
a scale on the treble string alone in the keys of B
minor, D major or A major without either retuning or
using a capo.
3.
Among the three strings, we can locate
and play
the entire 12-note array of the chromatic scale! C
- D - E - F - G - A - B
plus C# - D# - F# - G# - A#.
These features appear for any 1-3-5 tuning,
regardless of key.
With this tuning, we can not only play songs containing
“accidentals” (sharps and flats) but can also find and
play a wide array of “color” chords, made possible only
by these extra chromatic notes on the fretboard.
The 1-3-5 tuning offers a new and thrilling sound
experience to those interested in finding out what it
can do.
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