Mountain dulcimer tunings are written as three letters — DAD, DAA, DAC, DAG — and newcomers reasonably assume all three strings change between them. They don’t. The bass string is D and the middle string is A in every one of those tunings. Only the third letter, the melody string, ever moves. Once you see that, the whole system collapses into a single decision.
- D3Bass · thickest, nearest you146.83 Hz
- A3Middle · a fifth above the bass220.00 Hz
- D4Melody · an octave above the bass293.66 Hz
Switch between tunings and watch the top two rows stay put. The highlighted melody string is the only one that changes.
What DAD and DAA actually mean
Both letters describe where the melody string sits, and that placement decides which musical mode falls naturally under your fingers.
DAD puts the melody string at D4 — an octave above the bass string. Played open, the melody string runs the Mixolydian mode; the ordinary major scale starts at the 3rd fret. Because the outer strings are an octave apart, chord shapes are symmetrical and easy to reason about, and you can play across all three strings rather than only on the melody string.
DAA puts the melody string at A3 — in unison with the middle string. That gives you the Ionian mode with the major scale again starting at the 3rd fret, but now with two strings droning the same note underneath the tune. It is the older arrangement and it sounds like it: spare, modal, unmistakably traditional.
| Tuning | Melody string | Mode from the open string | Major scale starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| D–A–D | D4 · octave above bass | Mixolydian | 3rd fret |
| D–A–A | A3 · unison with middle | Ionian | 3rd fret |
| D–A–C | C4 | Aeolian (minor) | 1st fret |
| D–A–G | G3 | Dorian | 4th fret |
Which one should you use?
For almost everyone starting today, the answer is DAD. Modern instruction books, video courses, tab collections and dulcimer club sessions overwhelmingly assume it, so choosing anything else means translating everything you read. DAD also gives you real chords, which is what most players eventually want.
DAA is the right answer when you are working from older traditional sources that specify it, when you are learning noter-and-drone style, or when you simply want that sound — a single melody line played with a wooden noter against two ringing drones is the sound the instrument was built for, and it is genuinely different from DAD with chords.
The tuning routine
- Bass string to D3. Open the chromatic tuner, pluck the thickest string — the one nearest you when the dulcimer sits on your lap — and bring it to D3, needle centered. Everything else is checked against this, so settle it first.
- Middle string to A3. A perfect fifth above the bass. Play the two together once it is centered: a fifth is wide and hollow, and once it locks you will hear the beating stop.
- Melody string: D4 for DAD, A3 for DAA.Watch the octave number, not just the letter. D3 and D4 both read as “D”, and tuning the melody string to D3 by mistake — in unison with the bass instead of an octave above — is the single most common dulcimer tuning error.
- Four-string dulcimers: tune the melody pair together, last. Both strings take the same note. If the pair warbles, the two are a few cents apart; nudge one until the warble slows and disappears. Our cents guide explains why a couple of cents is audible as beating.
- Play for two minutes, then check everything again. Non-negotiable after a tuning change.
Switching between DAD and DAA
Going from DAD to DAA means lowering the melody string a whole tone plus a minor third — D4 down to A3, a perfect fourth. Let it down slowly and watch the dial walk D → C♯ → C → B → B♭ → A. Coming back, tune up into D4 rather than down onto it, so the string settles under tension and holds.
Do this often and the melody string will fatigue faster than the others — it is doing all the work. That is normal and strings are cheap; if you switch constantly, some players fit a slightly lighter melody string to make the trip easier on it.
Why dulcimers drift
Mountain dulcimers are lightly built, lightly strung, and often fitted with friction pegs rather than geared machines. All three make them more sensitive to temperature and humidity than a guitar, and fresh strings will need several passes over the first week before they settle. If one string keeps slipping while the rest hold, that peg wants attention — push it firmly inward as you turn, like a violin peg. If everything sags together, blame the room.
Frequently asked questions
Is DAD or DAA better for a beginner?
DAD, unless your teacher or book says otherwise. It is what modern instruction assumes, so tab and lessons will match your instrument without translation, and it lets you play chords once you are ready for them. DAA is not harder — it is arguably simpler for pure melody playing — but you will spend more time converting material written for DAD.
Can I tune a mountain dulcimer without a tuner?
Yes, if you have one reliable reference pitch. Tune the bass string to a D from any source — the reference tones above work — then fret the bass string at the 4th fret and match the middle string to it, since that gives you the A. For DAD, fret the middle string at the 3rd fret to get the D for the melody string. It works, but errors compound down the chain, so check the result against a tuner when you can.
What is the difference between a mountain dulcimer and a hammered dulcimer?
They share almost nothing but the name. A mountain (or Appalachian) dulcimer is a fretted instrument with three or four strings, played on the lap. A hammered dulcimer is a large trapezoidal soundboard with dozens of courses of strings struck with small mallets, with no frets and no three-letter tuning. Both are covered by the same dulcimer tuner, since a chromatic tuner names whatever note it hears.
My melody string sounds wrong in DAD even though the tuner says it's correct.
Two likely causes. First, check the octave: the melody string should read D4, an octave above the bass, not D3 in unison with it. Second, check for the 6½ fret. Without one, a dulcimer cannot play the major scale in DAD — the note where you expect the seventh simply isn’t there, and the tuning will sound permanently unresolved no matter how accurate each string is.