Yes....it is designed to be very easy to play, even for people who have no musical experience or ability. At its simplest level, you finger just one string with your left hand while you strum all three with your right hand. Any fret you finger the string at is part of a major Scale (do re mi...), so it sonds good no matter where you finger it. Strumming all three gives you a full, interesting sound, and only fingering one string means you do not have to struggle with complex chord fingerings. Even if you play it completely at random (which I actually recommend at the start), it sounds musical and melodious.

Beginners will naturally be slower than more experienced players, but even playing slowly it sounds good, good enough so that people who try it usually feel "hey, I think I can do this, it sounds pretty Ok even though I know nothing about music or playing Strumstick." The whole point of the Strumstick is that it sounds good no matter what you do, so it is fun, not frustrating

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Oh my goodness yes! We say, "Its so easy, even ADULTS can play it." It is easy to do, sounds good, is pretty durable, and is an ideal entry into music for anyone, especially kids. It is the musical equivalent of fingerpainting, and is designed so that it is really fun right from the start. The natural way we learn many things (like art, or dance, or writing, or playing sports, or swimming) is by having fun first, and then getting more serious. We mess around and have fun in the shallow end of the pool, splashing and jumping around and getting used to the water before we get gradually more serious about learning to swim. But the fun we are having is preparing us to swim. Kids know all about messing around first, and the Strumstick suits them just fine. The Strumstick brings the fun back into music, at the fingerpainting, splashing in the shallow end just for fun level, before you go onto more complex levels of music. This makes it ideal for kids (and for adults, who are much more frustrated by hard to learn things).

Well, the short answer is about two minutes because that is all it takes to be able to start to have fun and make simple musical sounds come out of it. The real question with the Strumstick should be "how long until I start to have fun?" The answer to that is right from the start, because it sounds good right from the start, even when you know nothing. You can play songs slowly in about five minutes (although I think you should just play it at random and leave songs for a bit later). You can impress your friends in about five minutes (if you don't tell them how easy it really is.) If you mean playing songs faster, doing some chords, playing different rhythms and all, that will take some weeks or months depending on how often you play, but you will be having fun, not frustration during that time, and progressing steadily.

Yes and no. You start the Strumstick by fingering just the first string, but strumming all three. As you progress, you can finger any of the strings, and can even finger several or all three to make various chords (a chord is a group of notes that sounds good together). When you finger one string only, the Strumstick automatically creates different chords from the notes the other two strings are playing. As a beginner, you only have to finger one string, which simplifies matters a lot, but you will progress onto the other strings as you wish.

No, it is not a Dulcimer. The Strumstick and the dulcimer are close musical relatives, and the musical design of the Strumstick was partly inspired by the dulcimer.The Strumstick uses two basic priciples that the Dulcimer also uses, a diatonic scale fretting, and a drone tuning. Compared to the Strumstick, Dulcimers are a different shape, have different numbers of strings, are held very differently, are played with different technique, and sound differently. Some Dulcimer music can be adapted to play on strumstick, seeDulcimer Music for Strumstick.

Yes. It is very easy for even complete non-players to play. Guitar players already have good controlof their fingers, afe experienced with rhythms and strumming and fretting. The Strumstick uses different fingerings than guitar, but is so easy that guitar playes adapt to it very quickly. The most often heard comment from guitar players trying it for the first time is "hey, this is cool, and easy"

Yes. You can play many chords, complex melodies and rhythms, and compose good, interesting music with it. While it is simpler than guitar (only three strings, and frets for just a major scale plus a flatted seventh, not a full chromatic scale), and it only plays in one key at a time, you can still do a tremendous amount of music with it. And it is so small it is very easy to have around when a guitar (even a travel guitar) is too cumbersome to carry. You could say it is like a musical sketchpad, and an inspiring composing tool.

Yes it is handmade. We make the Strumstick in New Jersey, USA.

You are exactly who I designed this instrument for! Talent is important if you want to make a career of music, but is not necessary for having fun. Most of what people call talent is actually accumulated ability from lots of practicing, which is the result of desire, and passion, or plain enjoyment. The Strumstick is designed to be fun and enjoyable right from the start, so you play yourself into ability by having fun, not by struggling and being frustrated.

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