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“Cold Frosty Morning”
for Mountain Dulcimer
Arranged by Lois Hornbostel
from Dulcimer Fiddle Tunes, MB 93713BCD
Brrrrrr! Here’s a delightful, rhythmic old-time tune
to warm us on those cold mornings. I learned it
from fiddlers in North Carolina, and its early
origins may go back to a Scottish song from the
Jacobite Rebellion called “Johnny Cope.”
Tuning & Playing Tips:
The usual key fiddlers play this in is A Dorian.
A very nice way to play in this mode on a
mountain dulcimer is to tune your dulcimer to DGd
tuning and attach a capo* at the first fret.
To be in the same key and scale as them I tune
my dulcimer to DGd tuning and attach a capo at
the first fret. This provides a Dorian scale starting
at the 4th fret on your treble or bass strings.
I’ve suggested the left-hand fingerings I use; feel
free to adjust for yourself. Strum across all the
strings.
The sound file that accompanies the tablature and chord letters below is played at a
moderate teaching tempo. First you’ll hear the lead (chord/melody) version, and after it
just the accompaniment chords. This method first gives you an opportunity to play the lead
part along with the chords on the recording. Listening to the chords also presents a sense
of the tune’ chord progressions.
*If you don’t have a capo yet, you can find out where to get one in this
DulcimerSessions.com article: http://www.dulcimersessions.com/dec05/capos.html

Listen to “Cold Frosty Morning”
“Cold Frosty Morning”
Arranged by Lois Hornbostel from
Mel Bay’s Dulcimer Fiddle Tunes, © 1981 by Mel Bay Publications
Key: A modal
Tuning: DGd and capo fret 1 (EAe Dorian)
Strum across all strings.

As usual with 3 strings, we use some abbreviated chords. This is in keeping with the modal
fiddle tune sounds as well. If you’d like to try accompaniment, here are some I like:
A part:
Am G Em
Bass string: 4 (A) 5 (B) 0 (E)
Middle string: 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E)
Treble string: 0 (E) 3 (G) 0 (E)
B part:
AMaj. C D High E
Bass string: 4 (A) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8 (E)
Middle string: 5 (E) 7 (G) 8 (A) 9 (B)
Treble string: 4 (A) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8 (E)
Am C D E
4 0 4 5
0 3 4 5
0 0 1 0
Some musicians start this tune with the second (B) part, and that’s easy to adapt to.
Stay warm!