Joe Collins Mountain Dulcimers

Each month, a new set of two high quality dulcimer tabs will be available on this page. Please do not sell or mass distribute these tabs either in print or over the Internet. I am making them available for individuals and for dulcimer clubs that wish to use them in their meetings. If you like my tab, I hope you will consider purchasing some of my tablature books.

Simply click the title below to download the tab file. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, see instructions below.

Shall We Gather at the River (DAd) - This is a wonderful hymn I've been singing most of my life. The composer of both the lyrics and words was Robert Lowry, a literature professor and Baptist pastor who composed over 500 gospel songs in the 19th century. Of this song he says,

One afternoon in July, 1864, when I was pastor at Hanson Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn, the weather was oppressively hot, and I was lying on a lounge in a state of physical exhaustion…My imagination began to take itself wings. Visions of the future passed before me with startling vividness. The imagery of the apocalypse took the form of a tableau. Brightest of all were the throne, the heavenly river, and the gathering of the saints…I began to wonder why the hymn writers had said so much about the “river of death” and so little about the “pure water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.” As I mused, the words began to construct themselves. They came first as a question of Christian inquiry, “Shall we gather?” Then they broke in chorus, “Yes, we’ll gather.” On this question and answer the hymn developed itself. The music came with the hymn.

O Perfect Love (DAd) - This hymn, often used in weddings, was composed for weddings. The lyrics were composed in 1883 by Dorothy Gurney, who took a favorite hymn tune and composed these words for her sister's wedding. Later in 1890, Joseph Barnby took Gurney's words and put them in this musical setting to be used in the wedding of Princess Louise of Wales.

If you would like to be notified by e-mail whenever I post new tablature, please e-mail me at dulciman@bellsouth.net. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone unless you ask me to do so.

Once you are on my e-mail list, you will receive a notification about once a month. Many of the people on my list are within driving distance of Shelby, NC so you may receive a couple of e-mails per year concerning dulcimer workshops and events in Shelby. If you are not within driving distance, please forgive me.

Different authors use different conventions when writing out tablature. I have chosen to do mine in a way that is easy for beginners to use. First of all, the numerals that are in bolder, larger print represent the melody of the tune. If you do not play chords, you can simply use one finger (or more) to play only the melody notes with your noting hand while strumming all the strings.

If you do choose to the play the chords I suggest, realize that I do not put down the complete chord for every single note. I feel like doing so clutters the page with too many numerals. When you change into a chord (designated above the musical notes by letters - D, A, Bm, F#m, etc.), I assume that you will hold that chord until the next chord change. In other words, all fingers will stay in the same position except the ones for which the numerals change until the next chord change. When one numeral is listed for a note, it does not mean that you can hit only that string. Provided you keep the chord position that is listed under the most recent chord name, you can continue hitting all the strings.

Occasionally I will use an "X". This means to avoid hitting that string at all. Otherwise, it does not hurt to strum all the strings.

If a capo is called for, I follow the same conventions each time. I do not renumber the frets except for the fret where the capo is placed. That way the open position is still "0," just like without a capo. However, 5 still represents the 5th fret. Therefore, with the capo on the 4th fret, I have no numerals below 5, except for, of course, "0."

The tabs are in an ACROBAT format. If your computer does not presently have Acrobat Reader, it is available free of charge at the click of a button below. Just click and follow directions. You will then be able to read and print out the files using Acrobat Reader.

Click the box to download the reader necessary for reading and printing the tabs.

Do you need to hear the song in order to learn it? I know that for me, it is easier to learn a song if I can hear how it goes first. You can download the following files. They are in a midi format and can be played on a windows media player. If you do not currently have a media player, one can be downloaded by clicking HERE.

The Foothills Dulcimer Club of Shelby, NC meets once a month. The featured tabs for the meeting are the same ones as on this site. Please click on the button below to find out more about the club, its meeting times, etc. We'd love to have you come and join us!