On Top Of Old Smokey

Autumn in the Great Smokey Mountains is a beautiful thing. Crisp air, blue skies, foggy mornings that transformed into glorious golden afternoons filled with music that ran well into the late evening. The occasion was the 2009 Smokey Mountain Dulcimer Retreat organized by the Knoxville Area Dulcimer Club. Townsend, Tennessee was where it all took place, so it felt a little like coming home after my past visits while performing at the Pickin' Porch at Wood 'N' Strings Dulcimer Shop.

Lots of great instructors like Bill Taylor, Maureen Sellers, Terry Lewis, Dan Landrum, Jim Miller, all folks that I've gotten to know over the past three years. And lots of neat folks that I've also gotten to know through the travels between dulcimer festivals were there as well - plus some new friends that share a love for this cool little instrument.


I taught flatpicking and blues for dulcimer; both classes had a real good time after they finished reeling from the amount of theory that I taught. It's my goal in every workshop to introduce a little bit of theory in order for people to get past that deer-in-the-headlights phase involving the "t" word.

After the weekend - I came home for just a couple of days and am about to head out for the NGFDA Fall Festival at Unicoi State Park in Helen, Georgia. Whereas it was my first time at the KADC retreat, this will be my third year in a row at Unicoi and I'm really looking forward to the intense number of workshops that I'll be teaching and the four awesome nights of concerts. Plus, I've got a day free (Saturday), so I plan on hanging out in Helen; the cutest little Bavarian/North Georgian town you ever saw. It's always Christmas there - so might as well bring home an ornament or two. Maybe some schnitzel.

Picked up a new tuner from Mike Clemmer - an Intellitouch PT10 - a huge improvement over their past models.

Mark Wilson of Onboard Research, the makers of various models of the Intellitouch, had this to say: "Competition keeps progress flowing, and we have greatly benefited from the influx of lowcost tuners that adopted the clip-on approach to tuning. We at OnBoard have gotten feedback over the years from thousands of PT1 users who described the features and capabilities that they liked, as well as the little things that did not like. So we decided to design a tuner that was small and compact, very lightweight, with a very bright backlight, a clamp that won’t loosen up and fall or get knocked off an instrument, and nestle it snugly behind the instrument’s headstock where it can be seen by the musician but not be distracting to an audience.

Plus, while we were at IBMA, someone approached us with the idea of a light that would change when the string went in-tune, and suggested this approach would make tuning faster because the switch in backlight colors could be seen in peripheral vision, allowing the musician to stay in better contact with the audience during necessary tune-ups. We implemented a design that glows red when out of tune and snaps to green when the string goes into tune, and the effect is stunning. It really does make tuning easier and faster.

Lastly, although many people prefer the Intellitouch arrow display, we heard from other people who expressed appreciation for the traditional needle style of display. Therefore, for the Intellitouch PT10 Mini. we are tipping our hat to the needle displays of the world and offering what we believe is the best one available."


No lie there. I've got two different models of the Intellitouch tuner and this new one makes them both seem rather antiquated. You can get yourself one here.

New Gear + Track

So, in my last post, I was talking about how much difference your gear can make. When it comes to audio recording (not to mention video), this is especially important. I'm guilty of not paying enough attention to these things, but lately have been trying to shore up my studio equipment and the results are pretty amazing.

I recently picked up a Shure SM-57, the standard workhorse microphone that is great for both instrument mic'ing and also vocals. Though I got it primarily to record the mountain dulcimer, part of the test drive involved recording vocals on the excellent Mark Knopfler/James Taylor tune "Sailing To Philadelphia." My studio isn't sound-proofed, so we're at the mercy of the neighborhood noise here, from the nearby fire station to the boom cars and passing airplanes, so using a condenser microphone (my Audio-Technica ATM33a) was picking up a lot of this background wash. The SM-57 has a uniform cardioid pickup configuration that isolates the main sound source and eliminates background noise. Usually, I turn the ceiling fan off before I record, but decided to leave it on - also, there was a guy weed-wacking across the street and neither element showed up on the track. Sweet.

Don't know if I posted about this other recent acquisition, but it's worth mentioning again if so: used in combination with the SM-57 was the L.R. Baggs Para-Acoustic D.I. Though I acquired it for the purpose of better controlling the color of the dulcimer tone while on-stage at gigs, as well as a boost for weaker signals, I've been using it in the studio when I plug the dulcimer in directly. On a whim, I sent the vocal signal through and got a warm, full level that allowed me the expression I was seeking without having to overdrive, which is what I've had to do in the past. Makes all the difference in the world! The Baggs direct box has controls for dialing in low, mid, treble, presence, notch filter and both notch and presence have frequency dials that further allow you to dial in (or out) tone. There's also a main gain, FX loop and inputs for both 1/4" and XLR.

So, here's the track - chromatic dulcimer is going through the Baggs as well as being recorded with the SM-57, panned to far left and far right, minimal E.Q. Backing tracks were arranged in Band In A Box and assigned software instruments in Garageband. One track of melody and harmony vocals with an overall "jazz warm" compression setting for the track. Three of the last additions to the studio, working together to make production so much easier! Now, I just need to replace this nutty PreSonus Firebox audio interface that's acting like it hasn't got any sense. Also, on order is a Shure Beta 58a - which is another industry standard workhorse, but mainly for vocals. I've been using a SM-58, which is not a bad mic, but apparently the beta is much better, so it's going to be early Christmas sometime this week.

Bing Futch - "Sailing To Philadelphia"

V-Pickin'

I've been using V-Picks since July when Vinni Smith laid a ridiculously huge pick on me at Summer NAMM Show in Nashville and automatically boosted my performance. As musicians, we tend to put a lot of weight on ourselves to make the music happen, and for good reason. We need to figure out the musical language so that we can speak truth to what's inside of our spirits, which means getting all this rhythm and individual notes and chords and stuff figured out.

But so much of how we sound as players is also dependent on our gear, from the caliber of instrument that we play to the amplification system that we play it through. For mountain dulcimer players, things like strings, tuners, string lubricant, wrist-rests, foot-rests, lap pads, straps, slides and picks all make a huge difference on how we play. The great Dave Para, musical partner (and otherwise) of Cathy Barton, is on a self-proclaimed "pick quest" right now and this guy shreds some acoustic guitar, as you know if you've seen them perform. So why does someone so obviously and richly talented suddenly decide that they need a new pick? Preferences change just like people do. Maybe a new approach to strumming or flatpicking demands a new pick to keep up with said demand.

I used to play with a Dunlop .44 mm nylon pick. Nowadays, I look back at those moments in time and wonder how I could have ever managed to play half of the stuff that I do now. The answer being: there's no way. However, I wasn't playing the stuff that I do now back then, right? So, as my repertoire changed, and so did the amount of flatpicking, so then my need for a firmer pick emerged as well.

Problem is, many people like to have a thin pick for strumming. Least amount of resistance to the strings so that you don't launch the pick. That kind of reasoning makes sense until you analyze it a bit. By using a thin pick and really going at the strings, you are actually increasing the amount of resistance to the pick because you are using more force behind each strum, which means you have to either grip the pick harder or find clever ways to make the pick stick with you. This manifests itself as bits of sand paper, sticky tape or the patented product Gorilla Snot (I kid you not.)

Playing with a thicker pick forces you to relax not only your strum, but your grip as well. It makes you think about your playing in an entirely different manner, and maybe that's not what you want to do with the mountain dulcimer. But if you're trying to coax more performance out of your instrument (and you), thicker is the way to go.

I'd played around with all manner of picks, from the Tortex to the Herdim, large and small, pointed and rounded, nylon and thermoplastic, tortoiseshell and steel. Then along comes Vinnie with his see-through cast acrylic picks with the insane bevels and blew my mind with the immediate improvement in my playing style. 80% more volume (which meant I could ease up on my strumming), 50% more speed, thanks to a relaxed grip that comes naturally when playing with one of these picks. I was an instant convert and he gave me a few other models to try out.

Since July, I've bought a number of these picks and have been experimenting with both flatpicking and strumming. The last thing you want is to have multiple picks for multiple applications, at least when you're playing on stage somewhere. For in the studio, no question that it comes in handy. If I'm doing an all flatpicked piece, I'll easily lean over and grab something huge with a mighty bevel like the Big Fattie or the Acoustic.

The different bevels along the edges of the many, many V-Picks contribute a variety of effects to your playing, from warmer tone to louder volume to a slicker surface that encourages faster playing. Some of these thicker picks, however, also yield a certain amount of pick noise, which, depending on your style of playing, may be desirable or not. I like a certain amount of transparency to the pick noise and, up to this point, the Herdim yellow has done a pretty good job. It took a while of experimenting with V-Picks until I finally came to the Shredder Ultra-Lite. It's about the same size and shape as a Herdim, .80 mm thick with a nominal bevel. I find that, strum for strum, the amount of pick noise is the same as a Herdim yellow (which is to say, virtually non-existent.) Volume is definitely up and the tone is just a bit higher than a Herdim. So I began asking Vinnie about the science of the bevels and what it would take to yield a more mellow tone without sacrificing volume.

He's been in the laboratory on this one and the first couple of V-Pick batches have been experimentally fun - we are basically on the way to developing a great, 21st century mountain dulcimer pick!

October's almost over already?

Where does the time go?

Since I last posted, I've been out to three festivals and had a blast. Just got back from Indiana yesterday and am home for awhile; hoping to pick up where I left off and knock out this huge list of production tasks camping out on my desktop.

For pictures of the past few stops, check out my Facebook page.

Winter Creek Reunion Festival

2009

Some remarkable talent- the best of the best- have accepted our invitation to come and teach and entertain us!! Plan on joining us for a great weekend of fun, wonderful classes and awesome music!!

Harvest Music Jam

Fall Festival Days at Forever Florida « Space Coast Blog

Fall Festival Days at Forever Florida

October 9th - Opening For Sam & Ruby

If you're in the central Florida region, this is going to be a fun show. Sam & Ruby are currently touring in support of their debut release "The Here and The Now". The duo combines sweet harmonies, acoustic folk and R&B into a mesmerizing mix. Ruby co-wrote the tune "Heaven's My Home", which was nominated for a Grammy and featured in the motion picture "The Secret Life Of Bees" starring Queen Latifah.

Friday, October 9th - doors open at 8 pm with the show beginning at 9 pm. Admission is $10. The Cameo Theater is one of Orlando's legendary art-deco venues and has recently re-opened to showcase music and art of all kinds. I'm honored to be the opening act for Sam & Ruby on the Orlando stop of their current tour!

http://tinyurl.com/yajagsc

Kristine Campbell Blog

Kristine Campbell: Musing Music Monday

At this years Kentucky Music Week Bing Futch offered a class in blues on the MD. Then at Midland I heard he is working on a book of blues tab for the MD. Very cool for all of us who would like to whet our whistle on something other than old time and bluegrass tunes.

Seriously considering offering workshops in rock mountain dulcimer technique.

Sonnystone Acres Blog

Sonnystone Acres » september 14, 2009

the dude below is bing futch (not a typo) and he intrigued me from the beginning because he does not look the part of a dulcimer player. he also plays a dulcimer that is specially made with two stringboards tuned in two keys and he makes it sound like a full-bodied guitar

Stuff like this blog post make me blush. : )

Dive! - Plow-Through

After getting "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band (Book 4)" published and shipped, and with the pressing deadlines of holiday releases now past, I settled back in to continue work on "Dive!" with a renewed vigor and different approach. Prior to this, I had settled on a basic list of tracks and was pretty close to finished with the selection. However, I'm now just bashing out tunes and will pick the best of the bunch after it seems that these pipes have been cleaned.

"Dive!" has always been planned as a personal record, one that plunges beneath the surface and works some exorcism magic. It's not looking to be a bummer or too serious; everything has been couched in imaginative arrangements and dances with the lyrical content in poetic fashion. There are some heavy themes, plain-spoken and cryptically suggested, that have already been demoed here and there are more to come.

Yesterday's offering came quickly and I'm honestly not sure if it will make the cut, but I'm going to work on making it as good as it can be. The tune, "I'll Be Alright On Payday", is a short and sweet little rocker with a Louisiana Southern rock shuffle beat, distorted dulcimer, rolling bass and one catchy chorus. This one might be more along the lines of something I perform live - but who knows, it may end up on the CD.

Part of this renewed recording push comes thanks to the arrival of Garageband '09, a huge upgrade to my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that contains some brilliant improvements (like region guides, song arranging for regions, guitar stomp boxes and frequency spectrum analyzer) along with a radically redesigned interface. It all works pretty great; except for the fact that my firewire interface, the PreSonus Firebox, has sort of turned out to be a piece of crap. Sound glitches, muted audio and general freakiness that requires me to toggle with settings in the Audio/Midi Set-up application has added hours to my recording time and removed years from my life. Okay, perhaps not that drastic, but I've been muttering lots of colorful evaluations at the screen this week.

There will probably not be a lot of demo recordings here as I plan to move forward at a pretty brisk clip, hoping to get this finalized before the end of the year. As I get into final selection and mixing, I'll post some of the best of the best.

Hope to see some of you at Dicey Reilly's on Saturday from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. for the Halfway To St. Patty's Day event featuring a car show, live music, Irish dancers and the usual great food and drink. Next week, I head to Bennington, Oklahoma for the Winter Creek Reunion Dulcimer Festival.

Have a great weekend, whatever you may do. Me ke aloha and mahalo nui loa!

Groovin' Into The Fall

Well, it's been a whirlwind this past week. Just got back from the Bluegrass Creek Dulcimer Festival in Evansville, Indiana and had a beautiful time in a wonderful setting (which could also be a wonderful time in a beautiful setting.) Had a great time meeting new friends and hanging out with some old ones, including some nice jams with Kendra Ward and Bob Bence. There's plenty of video to sift through and it will be appearing in a little while. If you've noticed, I've staggered the Dulcimerica videos this year so as not to show what just recently happened. It gives me some time to, well, have more things happen, so I don't run out of material. Sure, I could always knock off a couple of workshop videos if someone would invent five more hours in the day. And actually, we're working on making that happen, so stay tuned.

Got back into town in time to wish my lovely Jae a Happy Birthday - we had a house and yard full of family and friends right when I got in from the airport; a nice homecoming.

Then Monday, I had a recording session with the great Kaleo, formerly of the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World. I'd been asked by Scott May, keyboardist from The Ides of March, to produce a track with some Hawaiian flava and knew exactly the cat I needed to get. Kaleo laid down some awesome steel guitar and ukelele and I hope to share the track with you once it is approved and finalized up north. I used Garageband '09, which just shipped to me (I know, halfway through the year, punctual already) and is an amazing program. Kaleo was so impressed that he suggested I record his long-awaited follow-up to "Welcome To My Island" here at the studio. I told him, "brudda, no problem - I just need a few more pieces of gear." LOL!

What else is new? "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band 4: Christmas Edition" ships on Saturday! Those of you who have already pre-ordered will get your signed copy next week. If you haven't ordered yet, there's still time before the first shipment.

Like the other books in the series, this one comes with two CDs: one with dulcimer and backing tracks and one with just backing tracks so you can take center-stage with the band and, in this case, the orchestra and symphony!

Songs included are:

8 Joy To The World*
12 The First Noel
16 St. Day Carol
18 Hark The Herald Angels Sing*
20 Silent Night*
24 Deck The Halls
26 O Tannenbaum
28 Away In A Manger*
30 Jingle Bells
34 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings
38 What Child Is This
40 Go Tell It On The Mountain
42 Up On The House Top
46 We Wish You A Merry Christmas
50 O Holy Night
54 When Christmas Is Over

The numbers indicate pages - as you can see, this is the largest of all the MDITB books, more structured arrangements along with more chances to cut loose and improvise. There are samples of two tracks on my website; "Joy To The World" and "Away In A Manger." You'll get to swing to "Up On The House Top", make like Johnny Cash with "Jingle Bells", leap into the silver screen with "O Holy Night", "Silent Night" and "What Child Is This?" and take the lead in Bonnie Raitt's band with the bluesy "Go Tell It On The Mountain" (a foreshadowing of a future edition of MDITB featuring all blues styles.)

With plenty of time to work on these arrangements over the next several weeks, you and/or your club will be ready to perform during the Christmas season like never before!

The 58-page book and 2 CD set is $24.99 and available at http://www.darkstudios.com/bfstore.html - orders received by Saturday morning will go out First Class that day!

This Weekend At Dicey Reilly's

This Friday and Saturday (September 18th and 19th) are my regular weekend slot at Dicey Reilly's Irish Pub in St. Cloud, Florida. It's always a good time at Dicey's with fantastic food, great service, lots of parking, no cover, kid-friendly atmosphere and awesome brews on tap! I'll be performing both nights from 7 to 11 pm - lots of traditional, modern, original and cover tunes on the mountain dulcimer. If you haven't been - come on out and see what the ever-growing audience is on about! I'll also be at Dicey's on September 26th from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. as part of their Halfway to St. Patty's Day Celebration.

http://odohertypub.com for more info

Busy Fall

It is looking to be quite a busy fall season, beginning with three Dicey's shows this month and then a crazy couple of months after that, including:

October 3rd and 4th - Winter Creek Reunion - Bennington, Oklahoma
October 9th - Cameo Theater - Orlando, Florida
October 10th - Harvest Music Jam - Holopaw, Florida
October 16th-18th - Chautaqua on the Wabash - New Harmony, Indiana
October 23rd-24th - Dicey Reilly's - St. Cloud, Florida

November is going to be even more nuts, if you can believe that. My schedule for the next year or so can be found online at:

http://tinyurl.com/bingcalendar

Key West Dulcimer Fest

Registration slots are still available for the 1st Annual Key West Dulcimer Fest! If you're on the fence about attending, don't wait until the last minute or you'll miss out for sure! Workshop descriptions for some of the offerings are beginning to surface on the website at: http://KeyWestDulcimerFest.com and it gives you just a little idea of what to expect from this wonderful weekend featuring David Beede, Robert Force, GuY George, Tull Glazener, Jeff Hames, Lois Hornbostel, Dan Landrum, Karen Mueller, Aaron O'Rourke, Butch Ross, Gary Sager, Stephen Seifert, Rick Thum, Susan Trump and yours truly! We're just 132 days away from the world's first tropical dulcimer fest!

Hope you are ready for a fantastic weekend of cooler temperatures, no matter what you do. Blessings to you from Orlando, Florida!

Dulcimerica #132 - "Spirits of Tennessee"

Today on Art Beat (and in other news)

ArtBeat - WUCF-FM Podcasts

Dulcimer innovator and ambassador Bing Futch finds himself on a surprising creative path. Signs point to “Yes” as this musician follows his bliss. Tune in to 89.9 on Monday, September 7th at 12:01pm and again at 4:30pm, or listen online to http://podcasts.wucf.org/artbeat after the noon episode.

Had a fun interview with Katie Ball, host of Art Beat, last week which is airing twice today and living for awhile on the WUCF-FM podcast web-site. Katie's awesome and has been a creative mover and shaker in the Orlando arts scene for many years. She's also interested in interviewing Jae, who (and you may not know this) is president of the Orange Blossom Blues Society.

This Week's Show

I'm traveling to Evansville, Indiana for the Bluegrass Creek Dulcimer Festival. Looking forward to some excellent music, great jams and fine folks! Later in the month, I'm back at Dicey Reilly's, not once, not twice, but three times: September 18th, 19th and 26th. That last show isn't at the usual 7 pm - rather, it's from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is Dicey's Annual "Halfway To St. Patty's Day" celebration - 'tis an honor to be a part of the fun!

Pre-Order "Mountain Dulcimer In The Band (Book 4): Christmas Edition" today!

Two song and tablature samples from the fourth in the MDITB series is now available on my website: an orchestral arrangement of "Joy To The World" and a low-key treatment of "Away In A Manger." Pre-ordered books are personally signed and shipped on the day of release, so you'll have plenty of time to work the tunes before the Christmas season starts (which is, apparently now October 15th.)

Happy Labor Day - watch for a new episode of "Dulcimerica" this week! Aloha!

Rocky Top

Down By The River A Blog About The Better Things Tennessee Football Basketball Sports: Video Countdown to Kickoff: 4 Days

Thanks to Down By The River blog for re-posting this fun duet between me and Della Ashton!

Month of the Woodshed

August is the least busiest month of the year for me, in 2009, so I've been using this time to explore some new routines and prepare for a busy fall season. One of the things that I've been doing is getting up earlier, checking all of my social media networks and taking care of administrative duties, then launching into a hardcore practice session that includes ear training, scales, left and right hand exercises, learning new tunes and rehearsing older ones. My main emphasis is on the chromatic dulcimer right now, learning how to get around the fretboard and pull out the tunes that I want. One of the ways I'm doing this is through ear training.

With ear training, you're training your ears to recognize tones, especially the intervals between tones. Being able to hear these intervals goes hand in hand with knowing the scales on your instrument and being able to arrange your own music. For years, I've played by ear, but part of the challenge here is to not only hear the tone, but be able to at least name the numbered interval (if you can also name the note, then you are truly accomplished at this.)

The Interval Ear Trainer is a free online resource that plays a series of tones and allows you to guess what they are. The application keep score and also allows you to hear the intervals in ascending, descending, melodic or harmonic fashion. On the average, I listen to about 11 intervals a day and have seen an improvement in my ability to hear them in the ascending category. Since the tones take on slightly different characters when played harmonically and in descending fashion, I'm going to work on those next.

How will this help you as a musician, specifically a diatonic mountain dulcimer player? For one thing, it will help you to identify tones in music that you hear and in music that you play. Besides the basic Major and minor chords that make up the bulk of the music we encounter, there are also extended chords such as 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. You'd be surprised how many of these are available to you on a diatonic dulcimer and, if you begin ear training, you'll see how easy it is to slip some of these chords into your music and spice it up!

Even if you know nothing about intervals, try playing it as a game and see how soon before you are able to correctly identify the intervals. I can assure you that it will improve your playing a hundred-fold!

United Breaks Guitars Song 2

United Breaks Guitars Song 2: David Carroll's Second Ode To United Airlines (VIDEO)

David Carroll's promised second in a trilogy of United Airlines tunes has been released and, like the first, is catchy, well-written, and on the YouTubes.

I'm not sure how it's doing for the Carroll train, which picked up steam in a big way with "United Breaks Guitars", but it's also gotta be doing wonders for his video production team, who now get extensive credits at the end of the song (stay for the post-credit action - pretty damn funny.)

As for me, there will be no trilogy; color I satisfied. Got a nifty tune for the next album, Northwest apologized and gave me money (in the shape of an airline ticket, but what the hell - it helps) and "Only A Northwest Song" has been steadily racking up hits and is poised to become the fourth most-watched video o' mine on YouTube. It's introduced a lot of folks to my music and that's pretty cool in and of itself.

Dive: Recording Resumes

After a busy mid-summer season, I'm back behind the board working to complete "Dive!" The latest track is an older tune that's been performed live a handful of times and never been released. Entitled "Nine One One", I've been test-driving it on Blip.Fm to garner some early response; all parts were recorded yesterday.


http://blip.fm/profile/BingFutch/blip/19732030/Bing_Futch-Nine_One_One_Rough_Mix

Today, I'm working on finishing a tune called "Big Fish Little Pond", for which I've had the chorus for a number of years, but have never completed. It happens that way sometimes, I let a tune chase me around, demanding closure, before I feel compelled to follow through.