About Joyfull Strings…

      One day I walked into a music store to buy strings for my wife’s guitar and there was a man sitting in front of this strange instrument, beating away at it. A magical sound filled the shop. I was transfixed! Shortly after, I carried the instrument home and was soon hammering out a few simple tunes, despite my scant musical background. I learned a few fiddle tunes and was soon occasionally sitting in with a friend’s contra dance band. Wherever I played people loved the joyful sound of the hammer dulcimer. I was completely self taught up to that point. Then I came across some instructional audio tapes for the hammer dulcimer. These really helped to improve my playing by expanding my repertoire and teaching many techniques that I could incorporate into my playing. Through all of this I’ve had a family and a woodworking business taking up my time, so when I was lucky, I could practice my hammer dulcimer 15-30 minutes a day, but at other times I’d get that much time to play in a week.

      A few years later Rick, already an accomplished musician, came along and we soon were working evenings and weekends trying to make a better-sounding and better-looking hammer dulcimer. More than one of our early experiments went into the wood stove to heat the shop. Now we feel like we’ve got a line of beautiful instruments that have a rich, full tone and are an excellent value. Nearly anyone can learn to play the hammer dulcimer, if you can commit 10-15 minutes of practice a day. It’s very rewarding to learn to play an instrument that can so quickly fill your home with happy music.

Tim Kretzmann
Joyfull Strings