Play ABC tunes with diatonic tablature, optimized three-course fingerings, and a live Mountain Dulcimer fretboard.
Preparing notation…
Export the current notation pane. Complete stave and tablature systems stay together on the same page.
The PDF tune title will link to the ABC Transcription Tools Player.
Overview
Load, type, or paste ABC tunes to view standard notation, Mountain Dulcimer tablature, and a live three-course fingering display.
The player follows the tune during playback and shows where each melody note can be played on your dulcimer.
Use Notation display to choose Notation Only or Notation + Tab.
Setting Up Your Mountain Dulcimer
Choose the tuning that matches your instrument using Tuning.
The table shows the open-string pitches from bass to melody, before applying a capo.
| Tuning | Bass | Middle | Melody |
|---|---|---|---|
| DAd | D3 | A3 | D4 |
| DAA | D3 | A3 | A3 |
| DAc | D3 | A3 | C4 |
| DAG | D3 | A3 | G3 |
| DGd | D3 | G3 | D4 |
| GDg | G3 | D4 | G4 |
| CGc | C3 | G3 | C4 |
| DF♯A | D3 | F♯3 | A3 |
| AEa | A3 | E4 | A4 |
| EAd | E3 | A3 | D4 |
Set Capo from 0 (no capo) to 7 to match the physical fret where your capo is placed.
A dulcimer has diatonic frets, so moving the capo by one fret does not necessarily raise the pitch by one semitone.
The string labels in the notation tablature and fretboard show the notes sounding with the selected capo.
The displayed fret numbers identify physical fret positions on the dulcimer.
Choose Highest fret to match your instrument, and check 1½ or 6½ under Extra frets only if your dulcimer has those frets.
Your instrument settings are remembered in this browser.
Opening and Selecting Tunes
Use Browse to open an .abc or .txt file containing one or more tunes.
You can also type or paste a single ABC tune into the editor or receive tunes from ABC Transcription Tools.
For a file with several tunes, use the Tune menu to choose which tune to display and play.
Edits to tunes are retained when you switch between tunes.
ABC Editing and Notation
Edit the ABC text in the upper-left pane to change notes, titles, keys, or other tune details.
The notation and, when enabled, tablature update to reflect your edits.
During notation rendering, the player hides the ABC information and lyric fields A:, B:, D:, F:, G:, H:, N:, O:, S:, W:, w:, and Z: so their text cannot overlap the tablature.
These fields remain unchanged in the ABC editor, saved files, and shared tunes.
This single-melody player rejects tunes containing voice declarations (V: or [V:]), multiple staves, bracketed note chords such as [CEG], or inline key changes such as [K:G]. An unsupported tune displays a warning instead of notation, tablature, or playback controls.
Use the editor text-size menu to make the ABC text easier to read.
Click a note in the notation to show its fingering on the dulcimer display.
Use the previous and next note controls to step through the tune without playing it.
If a note cannot be played with the selected tuning, capo, and frets, the tablature shows a red X.
Use the missing-note navigation controls to find notes that are not playable as written.
The player may choose among several possible strings and frets for a note, generally favoring the melody string.
Fretboard Display and Navigation
The Mountain Dulcimer panel shows the current note and its suggested string and fret position.
The bass course is displayed at the top, the middle course in the center, and the melody course at the bottom of the fretboard and tablature.
For generated chord fingerings, including their notation, fretboard display, and navigation, see Configure Sound and Tab below.
The bottom melody course remains the preferred choice for melody fingerings, including tunings such as DAA where the middle and melody courses have the same pitch.
Use Show names to show or hide the note names below the fretboard, including the original ABC chord name in parentheses after any generated chord notes.
Use Show notes to show or hide the small staff-note illustration. These two checkboxes work independently.
Use Hide to practice without seeing the fingering.
Click Full-Page View to enlarge a pane, and Exit Full-Page to return to the normal layout.
Playback Range
Select one or more notes in the ABC editor, or click a note in the rendered notation to select it.
The previous and next note buttons can also select notes without rebuilding the player until you click Set Playback Range.
The Set Playback Range button in the ABC editor header becomes available when your selection includes notes.
Restore becomes available whenever a playback range or Phrase Builder result is active.
Click Set Playback Range to temporarily replace the visible ABC, notation, and audio with the selected passage while retaining the tune's complete header and preceding comments, directives, and ABC fields.
Any part of the selection within the tune header is ignored.
Use the normal Play and Loop controls to practice just that passage.
To narrow the passage further, select notes within the currently displayed range and click Set Playback Range again.
You can repeat this process to create smaller nested playback ranges without changing the preserved original tune.
You can edit the temporary ABC while a range is active, and its notation and audio will update as you type.
Any changes you make to the ABC within a playback range are temporary and are not saved when the full tune is restored.
Click Restore to discard temporary Playback Range or Phrase Builder edits and restore the entire original tune, not just the previous range.
Saving ABC, creating share or lesson links, and opening tunes in ABC Transcription Tools always use the preserved full tune rather than the temporary range.
Clicking the main Export PDF button automatically discards any temporary Playback Range or Phrase Builder result and restores the full tune before preparing the PDF.
Changing tunes or loading another ABC file also discards any temporary Playback Range or Phrase Builder result and its edits.
Changing dulcimer tuning, capo, highest fret, extra fret options, or sound and playback settings clears the playback range and discards temporary edits.
Phrase Builder
Phrase Builder creates a temporary call-and-response practice version of the ABC currently shown.
Choose the phrase length, extra rest measures, and number of times to repeat each phrase.
Your Phrase Builder settings are saved in this browser and are not included in share or lesson links.
Chord symbols are removed from the result.
You can first use Set Playback Range to select part of a tune, then use Phrase Builder on that passage.
After building phrases, Phrase Builder is disabled until you click Restore.
You can still use Set Playback Range as many times as you like on the phrase-built ABC.
Restore discards all temporary changes and brings back the complete original tune.
Saving, sharing, creating lessons, and opening a tune in ABC Transcription Tools always use the original tune.
Changing tunes or using the main Export PDF also restores the original ABC.
Phrase Builder cannot process tunes with V: voices or unsupported body-level ABC fields other than K:.
Cancelling Phrase Builder or entering invalid settings leaves the ABC unchanged.
Playback and Tempo
The playback Loop setting is remembered in this browser and restored when you reopen the player (off by default).
Use the playback controls below the notation to play, pause, change tempo, or repeat the tune.
During playback, the highlighted notation and dulcimer display follow the melody.
Enable Metronome for a steady beat, or Count in? for a countdown before playback.
Use Mute Dulcimer to silence the melody, generated dulcimer chords, and open-string drones. The metronome remains audible when enabled. Piano bass-and-chord accompaniment remains audible only if the current tune has chord symbols and Chord Playback and Display is set to Play Piano Bass and Chords.
If the browser asks you to enable audio, click Click to Enable Playback before playing.
Configure Sound and Tab
Click Configure Tab in the Notation header to open Configure Sound and Tab, where you can choose the Sound and adjust tablature and playback settings.
Under Sound, choose Mountain Dulcimer (default), Guitar, or Harp.
The selected Sound applies to both the melody and the open strings.
Play melody an octave lower? is disabled by default. When enabled, it plays the melody one octave below its written pitch without changing the displayed notation.
This option also uses the lower melody pitch when determining playable fretboard positions and generating tablature.
Play open strings? sounds the dulcimer's open strings along with each melody note when allowed by the chord playback setting, giving the tune the accompanying drone sound characteristic of the instrument.
This option is enabled by default, and the open-string pitches follow the selected tuning and capo position.
For tunes without ABC chord symbols, Play open strings? is always available. With chord symbols, it is available only in Don't Play Chords mode. It is disabled and greyed out for piano accompaniment or generated dulcimer chords, without changing the saved checkbox value.
When both Play melody an octave lower? and Play open strings? are enabled, the melody plays an octave lower while the open strings retain their actual tuned pitches.
Chord Playback and Display chooses how quoted ABC chord symbols are used. Build and Play Dulcimer-friendly Chords is the default.
Don't Play Chords shows and plays only the melody, without piano bass/chord accompaniment or generated chord fingerings. The Play open strings? setting remains available and is respected.
Play Piano Bass and Chords plays the melody with standard piano bass-and-chord accompaniment, without generating dulcimer chord fingerings or playing open-string drones.
Build and Play Dulcimer-friendly Chords generates playable dulcimer chord fingerings at melody notes marked with chord symbols, with no piano bass/chord accompaniment or open-string drones.
When the current tune has no ABC chord symbols, Chord Playback and Display, Chord Voicing, and Maximum Chord Fret Stretch are disabled and greyed out, without changing their stored values. Open-string playback remains available.
Place a quoted chord symbol directly before the melody note where you want the chord to sound. Examples of chord symbols:
"D" "Cm" "G7"For example, to sound a D chord on a D melody note:
"D"D2Each chord symbol adds a dulcimer chord at that note only, not on subsequent notes or measures; repeat the same chord symbol wherever you want another chord, even when the harmony has not changed.
For example, the following generates chords on D and A but leaves the unmarked F notes as single melody notes:
"D"D2 F2 "D"A2 F2To add the chord again at the start of a later measure, repeat the symbol before that measure's first note.
When Play Piano Bass and Chords is selected, the piano bass and chords can still be heard with Mute Dulcimer enabled, while the melody and dulcimer open strings remain silent.
Chord Voicing selects Sparse, Optimal (default), or Full Harmony for the automatically generated chords.
Sparse adds at most one playable harmony note to the melody, preferring the chord's second listed interval (the major third for an ordinary major chord), then another chord tone such as the perfect fifth if needed.
Optimal adds up to two notes while favoring open strings, lower fret positions, fewer fretted courses, and comfortable finger stretches, even if that means omitting a chord tone or using only two notes.
Full Harmony adds up to two notes while favoring three-note chords containing the root, second listed interval, and other distinct chord tones, even when more fretting is required.
Maximum Chord Fret Stretch limits the distance between the lowest and highest fingered fret in a generated chord to 2, 3 (default), or 4 frets, in all three voicing modes.
Added harmony notes follow the tune's key signature without unnecessary written accidentals. Chord tones that would require an accidental outside the key signature, or conflict with an accidental already in effect in the measure, are excluded; the player looks for another playable fingering and may use fewer notes. Original melody accidentals are preserved.
Open strings, including those sounding open at the capo, do not contribute to the finger-stretch calculation.
To request a chord inversion, append :0 through :14 to the quoted chord name. Examples:
"Em:1" "G:2" "Dm7:4":0 requests root position as the lowest note, :1 requests the next chord tone, :2 the following tone, and higher values proceed through the chord tones before moving up an octave.
Generated chords are shown in notation, tablature, fretboard, and playback. When Show names is enabled, the large note display lists the solved pitches from low to high, followed by the original ABC chord symbol in parentheses (for example, C E G (C) or D A C' (D7)).
The automatically generated chord notes appear in notation, tablature and the fretboard only in Build and Play Dulcimer-friendly Chords mode. Piano backing is muted in this mode.
Don't Play Chords and Play Piano Bass and Chords both display regular single-note melody tablature. Open-string drones play only when Play open strings? is selected and the current chord mode allows them.
Chord Voicing and Maximum Chord Fret Stretch are enabled only for tunes with ABC chord symbols in Build and Play Dulcimer-friendly Chords mode. Otherwise, they are disabled and greyed out with their values preserved.
Click OK to apply the Configure Sound and Tab settings and recalculate the chord fingerings.
Saving and Sharing
Click Save to download the loaded ABC tunes, including your edits.
Click Share to open Sharing Controls and choose Share Current Tune or Share All Tunes.
Shortcut: Option/Alt-click Share to open the current tune directly in ABC Transcription Tools in a new browser tab, without opening the sharing dialogs.
In the Share Link dialog, you can copy the link, save it, or test it in a new browser tab.
Share links carry the selected tuning, capo, highest fret, extra frets, notation display, Sound, Play open strings?, Play melody an octave lower?, Chord Playback and Display, Chord Voicing, and Maximum Chord Fret Stretch settings so the recipient can use the same setup.
Share links and saved ABC files preserve the original ABC from the editor; generated chord notes and playback directives are not inserted into them.
Use Open in ABCTT to transfer the tune to ABC Transcription Tools for further editing.
When Build and Play Dulcimer-friendly Chords is selected, Open in ABCTT transfers the processed ABC for the chord solution, including generated bracketed note chords, injected MIDI commands, and notation layout directives.
In either of the other chord modes, Open in ABCTT transfers the original tune without generated chord voicings.
In all chord modes, Open in ABCTT and clickable PDF tune titles use the FatBoy soundfont and MIDI bass/chord programs 0, overriding any conflicting source directives. Play Piano Bass and Chords transfers bass/chord volumes of 64; Don't Play Chords and Build and Play Dulcimer-friendly Chords transfer bass/chord volumes of 0. Every mode also transfers the selected melody program and optional octave-lower MIDI transpose.
Open in ABCTT is available for the current tune (including lesson links) only. The Share All Tunes option creates a normal share link if the tunes fit within the share-link length limit, but does not offer an ABCTT transfer.
A received share link applies its settings for that visit without replacing your saved preferences unless you change a setting.
Practice with the ABC Transcription Tools Tune Trainer
To practice the current tune in the ABC Transcription Tools, first click Share in this player, choose Share Current Tune, and then click Open in ABCTT in the Share Link dialog. The tune opens in the ABC Transcription Tools in a new browser tab. Alternatively, Option/Alt-click Share to open the current tune directly in ABC Transcription Tools, skipping the Share dialogs.
Once the tune is loaded, click Train above the ABC editor pane to start the Tune Trainer. To practice the tune phrase-by-phrase, click Phrase Builder in the Tune Trainer.
To export an MP3 audio file of the tune, click Play in the ABC Transcription Tools, then click the Export Audio, Image, or PDF button in its Player and select the MP3 audio export option.
Tablature Solution Limitations
The tool is limited to generating tablature solutions automatically for melody-only tunes for a variety of Mountain Dulcimer tunings.
It does not accept existing ABC bracket-style note chords such as [CEG]; see Configure Sound and Tab for creating playable chords from quoted ABC chord symbols instead.
Export PDF
Use Export PDF to save the current tune as a PDF containing the notation and any displayed tablature.
If a Playback Range or Phrase Builder result is active, clicking the main Export PDF button first discards the temporary ABC and restores the full tune before preparing the PDF.
In PDFs exported from this main Export PDF button, the tune title is a clickable link that opens the tune in the ABC Transcription Tools Player. The link uses the same tune transfer as Current Tune Share Link > Open in ABCTT, but opens the Player rather than the Editor.
Choose Letter or A4 paper and Portrait or Landscape orientation.
By default, the PDF includes a centered Click the title to play instruction in the top margin of its first page. Uncheck Add "Click the title to play" on the first page header to omit it; the tune title and music do not move.
Each complete staff/tablature system stays together, with systems that do not fit moving to the next page.
For multipage tunes, page numbers appear centered at the bottom of each page.
A status dialog shows progress while the PDF is generated.
On an iPhone or iPad, tap Save PDF when the file is ready to open the iOS share sheet.
Choose Save to Files or another destination from that sheet.
On other devices, the PDF downloads automatically.
PDF export settings are saved locally and are not included in share or lesson links.
Printing
Use your browser's Print command to print the music notation and, when enabled, Mountain Dulcimer tablature.
Choose your preferred paper size and portrait or landscape orientation in the browser's Print dialog, using the options available for your printer. The print layout scales the notation and tablature together to help them fit the selected page width.
Manually setting larger left and right margins in the browser's Print dialog can often allow more staves to fit on a single page or possibly help with cleaner pagination.
Very long tunes may require multiple pages, and printing results may vary depending on the browser.
Lesson Information for Music Teachers
Click Share, then choose Configure Lesson… to create a lesson for the current tune.
Enter a lesson title and instructions for your students.
Use Save Lesson Configuration to save the tune, lesson details, and selected player settings for later reuse.
Use Load Lesson Configuration to restore a saved lesson configuration or lesson link file.
Click Create Lesson Link to generate a link that you can send to students.
Lesson links include the selected tuning, capo, highest fret, extra frets, initial notation display, Sound, Play open strings?, Play melody an octave lower?, Chord Playback and Display, Chord Voicing, and Maximum Chord Fret Stretch settings.
The tuning, capo, fret configuration, and every option in Configure Sound and Tab are locked during a lesson so students practice with the setup you selected.
Use Hide if you want the fingering display to start hidden; students can reveal it while practicing.
Lesson Information for Students
Open the lesson link provided by your teacher to load the assigned tune, lesson instructions, and dulcimer settings.
Read the instructions and click Start Lesson to begin.
If prompted, click Click to Enable Playback to turn on the audio controls.
You can change Notation display, Show notes, and Show names during a lesson, but you cannot change any of the settings in Configure Sound and Tab.
Your teacher's tuning, capo, fret configuration, instrument sound, octave-lower playback, open-string drones, chord playback mode, chord voicing, and maximum chord fret stretch settings remain locked during the lesson.
You can use the notation, note navigation, playback, tempo, and display controls to practice.
You can edit the ABC and click Save to keep your changes.
You can use Browse to load another ABC file; the assigned instrument settings remain locked.
To return to normal use, open the Mountain Dulcimer Player without the lesson link.
About
This tool was created by Michael Eskin.
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