New to the Zither

[coniglius]

Hello everyone,

Greetings from New Zealand. I've decided to take up the zither after a chance encounter... I found 2 zithers for sale on trademe (the NZ equivalent of ebay) while searching for guitar parts. The 2 zithers for sale both came with Schaller pickups. I'd never seen pickups like this before. One quite short and the other long. Well I have a clavichord and have been looking for electro-magnetic pickups for it and these Schaller pickups were perfect (the long pickup portion in particular). So I bid on the auction simply for the pickups, but in the process did a bit of research on the "zither". Then I became really interested in the zithers themselves after hearing the type of music they were capable of and decided that since I had them anyways I would try to learn. So here I am. I started playing about a week now and really liking the instrument so far. I got the "Let's Get Started With the Zither" book and been going through that for some basics. I've been playing guitar for about 35 years or so and also play mandola/mandolin, banjo, and keys and am finding the zither quite challenging (though second to the uillean pipes in difficulty) but really looking forward to progressing with the instrument and seeing where this takes me and how I can incorporate it into my music and my band's music. I play mostly British folk and folk-rock and even though the zither is geared towards German music I'm hearing a lot of potential for different types of "folk" with it.

[kenbloom]

Welcome,

You are not the only one who has taken up the zither and does not play mostly German folk music. I took up the zither in the 70's because I saw its potential to do more than what I could do on the guitar. I play a lot of blues, jazz, British Isles folk etc. on the instrument. I am mostly self taught and it took me quite a while to get a handle on how to do it. This is a good place to ask questions. People here are very helpful. If I can be of any help to you, just let me know. By the way, the zither is much friendlier than the Uilleann pipes to keep going. You just tune the strings and play them. You are not subject to the whims of the The Reed Gods!!

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org

[coniglius]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I've seen your videos on the bowed dulcimer and I really enjoy them! That's an instrument I've been meaning to take up, but it's near impossible to find even a regular dulcimer here in NZ, let alone a bowed one!

I most likely will not be playing much German folk music on the zither. I play in an electric (british) folk rock band and would be doing mostly "early music" styles and trying to adapt various Britsh country dances. Since you play other styles besides German folk, you're probably a good person to ask to this effect: Would Viennese or Munich tuning be better suited? It seems like if I'm not going to be playing zither "canon", the choice between the two tunings is arbitrary. The zithers are already set up for Munich tuning, but they will need new strings and a proper setup in any case. I thought would find more discussion on the topic here, but I've only been able to find one post with not a lot of information, so I hope I'm not asking a question that's already been thoroughly covered.

[kenbloom]

For me Munich tuning ( AADGC) makes more sense. First of all, the fifths are the same as so many other instruments and the double A is very useful for all kinds of chords and suspensions as well as some scale patterns. I've never been a fan of re-entrent tunings. For the kind of music that you play, I don't think it's any contest. There are a number of approaches to the zither which haven't really been popular. The Ideal-reform zither is one that never really caught on. I have tried a few of these and find them difficult to manage. It sounds like you have regular zithers with the contra basses running parallel and in order to the bass and accompaniment strings. This is a great place to start.
The one thing I've always done is to use my thumb in both directions. I take a tight fitting thumb ring (usually #2) and then file the back of the blade so it will not get caught being used in that direction. Then I worked it out so I could keep the boom-chick rhythm going on the bass and accompaniment strings while being able to play the melody on the fingerboard for such tunes as Mason's Apron. I also play Northumbrian small-pipes and I have often played much of that repertoire on the zither as well.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org

[coniglius]

Hi Ken,

That makes a lot of sense, as you would have to skip a string in the middle when playing melodies when going from the G string to the C or D.

Thanks for the tip on the thumb ring. So, do you use proper "alternate picking" in this case (i.e. if you were playing 4 notes on a single string would you pick "down", "up", "down", "up"), or only use it as a "backstroke" to quickly switch adjacent strings?

Glad to hear that you're playing some dance tunes on the zither. I would be keen to hear any recordings if you have them.

[kenbloom]

Alternate picking is indeed what I do. I find that this makes my right hand more relaxed. Once you cartch on to this approach, it makes the execution smoother. I guess this is what comes from not having at teacher. I had a concept of the instrument and went from there. The idea for the thumb came from watching flamenco guitarists using their thumbnail like a flatpack. For me, playing the zither is like guitar fingerpicking in overdrive.
when I moidify my thumb rings, I file a nice gentle easig of the edge to match the front of the pick and then polish it with succeeding grits of sandpaper up to about 800 grit adn then steel wool. Once I've done that, the act of play will keep it polished. I use the birght polished steel rings as opposed to the blue steel ones. Good luck and any further help I can be, just let me know.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org

[coniglius]

Thanks Ken for sharing that technique. After your suggestion, I tried it and it works well. However, I didn't modify a metal ring. I already have a "ProPik" thumb pick as well as a Blue Chip thumb pick which are quite stiff picks and found that "alternate picking" with them on the zither is pretty simple. In fact, this is actually easier and more natural for me coming from guitar. Though same annoyance on the "upstrokes" of the damn open end of the ring getting caught on the strings... However, I will probably stick to the traditional method of the "rest stroke" as taught in Keyes for now and save the alternate picking for when I'm actually skilled enough to be able to use it. I'm also finding that the method as described by Keyes yields a really nice tone, more akin to something like a harpsichord than a guitar.

[kenbloom]

I tried using other thumb picks since I came from bluegrass banjo and fingerpicking guitar. The metal thumb picks that are traditional for zither I found gave a much better tone. The other thumb picks gave me a dull lifeless tone so I went back to the metal ones. Catching the ring on the backstroke can be a problem. I use #2 silver picks and then take the end on the part that wraps around and turn it back so it doesn't get in the way. I need the pick to fit tightly and at just the proper angle and then it give my no problems. I use the rest stroke on the forward motion and then simply get the string on the recover to play the next eighth note. You don't have to change much from the straight ahead classical zither technique to do this. I think there are some special zither picks that are made for alternate picking but I don't know much about them. Maybe someone else can chime in and supply that information. Good luck on your endeavors and if I can help you further in any way, just let me know.

Ken Bloom
http://www.boweddulcimer.org