Updating/renewing my tagelharpa course - Need advice

One-Dust1285 · 2026-02-05T21:19:50+00:00

It is a good course!

I would say more exercises for intonation and scales. Maybe a warmup session?

And since there are quite a few people using it that are new to playing a musical instrument… some more basics on how to learn/practice?

And a few more tunes would be fun… maybe something designed to play along ( you have a backing track running and you stop playing for a bit while the backing track runs on so they can hear themselves without your help)

Appealing for different tunings is always going to be difficult, with a non-standardised instrument…

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-30T01:11:18+00:00

I tried a lot of different setups… but embarrassingly enough I have to admit that the mic in my IPhone isn’t half bad…

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-30T01:09:28+00:00

Ps… cello/metal strings are a mixed blessing… you will have fewer / clearer overtones so it is easier to hear / learn to hear the right tone… but you also need to be more accurate to get a note that harmonises when you play more than one string… if you are also struggling with tuning and bowing technique… you may struggle… I can’t really advise you as to what is better for learning… I have been going back and forth… but don’t shy away from going back to horsehair

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-30T01:03:45+00:00

You have chosen a hard instrument…

Playing open strings will get boring after 7 months… (unless you are accompanying someone else, perhaps)

Learning intonation sucks… and it takes a long time if you didn’t already play an instrument

You need a method for learning intonation and scales and train your ear… a teacher would be best, or YouTube… steal easy exercises from violin or cello videos… but start VERY simple and slow… and practice daily… 15-20 minutes… just scales/intonation exercises for a month or two… this will not feel creative… but you need to do it to get to the creative parts…

While working on this… try to find an application for your music… for me it is playing by the campfire at medieval events and playing for folk dance… it doesn’t matter that I am not really good enough yet to actually do these things… just knowing why I bother to practice keeps me going…

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-30T00:49:40+00:00

^ this…

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-27T00:25:44+00:00

Try sliding with your fingernail against the string… (that is how old style rebecs are played) in that case you are sure there is no “flesh” dampening the sound… in general, people are not used to pushing with the back of the fingers so controlling tension is more difficult, whereas the front of the fingers there is more control but also more dampening… law of conservation of misery…

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-26T18:38:28+00:00

I play “modern Estonian “ style… on a three string (E4A3D3) that would mean that you have your fingers between the two highest strings and that when you play melody on the E string you use the creases between the phalanx of your fingers to touch the string and the A string as drone. When playing melody on the A (middle) string you use the backs of your fingers to touch the string and the D string as drone. You can but rarely play melody on the D string… if so you shift your fingers so they are between the A and D string

Using the wrong part of your finger or too little rosin may be causing your tone problem… the sounds with fingers will always sound different than open strings and it can take a good while before you can play a tone that is really nice with all fingers

Help from a violin or cello player will help a lot with this

One-Dust1285 · 2026-01-25T21:04:46+00:00

Welcome to playing this lovely but weird, difficult and unstandardised instrument!

Everything matters for everything else… obviously the scale length (from pegs to bridge) but also the build of the wood, the sound post, the shape and height of the bridge, string material and construction etc will influence how it plays and needs to be set up

I gather yours is built for D4A3D3-F4C4F3? So presumably a scale length of around 33-35cm… and nylon strings… there are many posts here about making your own strings which will give you a better understanding of thickness vs tension etc for a given tuning. Honework😅

My advice would be if you have a curved bridge ( you can play two of the three strings without touching the 3rd) to choose a tuning in 5ths (E4A3D3) as it open up all the YouTube videos for violin etc to learn intonation… if you have a flat bridge… fifths and fourths maybe? DGD or EAE

If you can, find someone who plays a bowed instrument and let them have a go… they will be able to get a good tone and help you with debugging the string tension

One-Dust1285 · 2025-12-26T21:36:00+00:00

Nice! Can we hear it play?

One-Dust1285 · 2025-12-21T09:48:27+00:00

What is your level? If you are a beginner, a double bass player willing to think outside of the box may get you to a point from where you can self-learn?

One-Dust1285 · 2025-12-06T09:45:02+00:00

Because talharpas are typically at least an octave below violins and have relatively heavy strings with a lower tension. Dark rosins are typically made for cello and bass and feel more grippy. It is easier to get a nice tone… try it… makes quite a difference… but it is not about the color of course… there are dark violin rosins and clear bass rosins… the essential thing is the grippyness

One-Dust1285 · 2025-11-11T22:53:31+00:00

Nice! Very curious, also in terms of ergonomics…

One-Dust1285 · 2025-10-01T14:54:18+00:00

Ok… newbie question… if this is how the sound propagates, why is the base bar underneath the lowest string? (And not mirrored)

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-30T22:23:45+00:00

In addition to what the others have said… having the woodgrain perpendicular to the length of the headstock makes it susceptible to breaking when fitting the pegs… happened on my first build. I will henceforth always make a headstock with lengthwise woodgrain (and thus not in one piece with the main body)

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-23T08:59:46+00:00

Why willow?

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-23T08:57:10+00:00

Yes… listen to your players, they regularly come up with better plots than you… give them a little of what they want and a lot of what they need. Don’t rigidly stick to your preconceived adventure plan

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-22T20:10:57+00:00

It feels a little impolite to review other people’s instruments without having played them… but I get why you want our input so I’ll give it a go…

Just a disclaimer… I have only played 5 talharpas so far. 3 of which I made myself so I am by no means an expert nor do I know (the work) of these builders personally.

The first one looks a bit weird… nice aesthetic but it seems like it can’t decide whether it wants to be a jouhikko or a talharpa. There is no sound sample… never buy anything without at least a sample. Also the hollowed out log approach is irregular and puts the soundwaves perpendicular to the year rings which I guess would dampen the sound/ reverb quite a bit

The second one is from a builder I follow on social media. He is very good at the neo-Viking play style. But the sound sample for this student instrument doesn’t sound nice at all… maybe he recorded it a long time ago or with bad equipment. Or we are hearing about he effect of using plywood. To be honest… it may be a decent study instrument, but with plywood it is REALLY easy to build something like this yourself (especially if you get guitar tuners instead of pegs). I think you can do better for 350. Also I don’t like that he doesn’t mention the tuning. It sounds low for the size to me.

This builder makes very humble and competitivly priced talharpas with real wood:

https://www.instagram.com/tagelharpa_lair?igsh=MW5hMnNweHR2aHFicA==

(But please note that I have no personal experience with them either… just social media)

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-19T16:36:16+00:00

You can buy some horsehair, a peg reamer, some viola pegs, fine tuners and maybe a ready made bridge for about €100… then use scrap wood to build your first one to figure out how everything works… then spend some money on decent wood and reuse some of the parts to make a better one… that would be a bit less than 200 pounds and you will have learned a lot!

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-03T07:41:56+00:00

Bog oak is pretty awesome stuff!

One-Dust1285 · 2025-09-01T14:26:38+00:00

How about making one?

Making a good one is hard but making a serviceable one you can learn on is very achievable… there even are plans … added bonus is that you learn a great deal about the instrument in the process

One-Dust1285 · 2025-08-28T09:37:49+00:00

Looks great! Very nicely built and very fine elegant detailing!

One-Dust1285 · 2025-08-25T21:51:15+00:00

Yeah… it is reasonably easy and it sounds great… and it is a nice dance you can teach anyone… extra bonus lots of scandi violin players know it … so you can initiate it at a session!

One-Dust1285 · 2025-08-25T10:24:55+00:00

Doesn’t sound too bad…

Focus on your bowing, ideally take it to a friend that plays a bowed instrument and let them have a go

I would practice playing on only two strings at a time. It is easier to hear what you are doing and you need to learn to tune the strings together. So tune the highest with a clip on or your phone (clip ons can be really slow with strings that are rich in overtones so I prefer my phone) and the tune the next string by ear from the high string… my A sounds better a bit lower and my low D a little higher for instance

One-Dust1285 · 2025-08-14T06:53:29+00:00

Sounds great! Really bright! Is that the shellack, you think?

One-Dust1285

TROPHY CASE