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Dulcimer Fiddle Tunes Entire Collection
by; Lois Hornbostel

Kinlock of Kinlock

Flatpicked on Mountain Dulcimer

This jig of Scottish origin (often called just 'Kinlock') was popular in the U.S. in the mid-1800s. I first heard it played by Welling & Wallach at a folk festival in the late 1970s. It was played on mandolin and fiddle, and I decided to arrange it on mountain dulcimer. This arrangement is from DULCIMER FIDDLE TUNES (which is available here for download), and has been performed by dulcimer players who learned it from this book.

This piece sounds clear and perky flatpicked, which means picking individual strings and including occasional strummed chords.

Listen to the sound file for "Kinlock of Kinlock" so you are familiar with the melody.

A good pick to use is a small sized firm pick. Some people like to "anchor" the pinky of their picking hand on the outside of the dulcimer near the strum hollow, the advantage being it steadies your hand and "aim" on the individual strings.

Although no two flatpickers work their picks exactly the same, some good rules to follow are:

• Try not to waste movement of your pick, and don't always pick in the same direction. A back-and-forth pattern often works well.
• Consider where you're headed for the next note and on which string it is played.

The tablature below shows how I use my pick to play this tune. Pick each note in the direction shown by the arrow above it (downward arrow pick toward you; upward arrow pick away from you). To get the right rhythmic feel, use your pick harder on the first of each group of 3 eighth notes. Some left-hand fingerings are also suggested in the tablature.

Practice until your pick works smoothly enough to play it at about 100 = 3 eighth notes on a metronome.