Autoharp Avenue - Chromatic vs. Diatonic
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- Опубликовано: 30 май 2008
- First in a series of autoharp "podcasts" by Champion autoharpist Jo Ann Smith (www.autoharpist.com). This installment explains the differences between chromatic and diatonic autoharps.
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I bought for $A150 a chromatic harp, and am quite aware musically. What no one else tells you who plays tunes, not just chords on autoharp is the sound quality difference between the diatonic and chromatic autoharp. I agree with the rest of the comments on this site and have subscribed, something I haven’t done in some time. From Australia- if you are wondering what the “A” is after the dollar sign.
Hi Jo Ann. I just took home the blue version of the chromatic harp you demonstrated in this video. I've played guitar all my life so I'm picking it up fairly quickly but your series is helping immensely. I appreciate it when people like you take time out of their busy lives to do something to share their knowledge, technique and talent with others out of the love for the music and the goodness in their hearts. Thanks and Happy New Year! Steve
I used to play these in elementary school when I was a kid. we used to put them on the desk in front of us, use picks and strum, "from the bellybutton out!" as our teacher would instruct us to do. I must say it really was the most oddly innovative instrument I ever got to use. I'm glad to finally see/hear it played professionally. thanks
This is how I obtained my chromaharp- from a retired music teacher!
This was the best explanation between chromatic and diatonic that I've ever witnessed. Thank you very much for that primer.
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
I always wanted one of these. So, being that I'm a lifelong drummer and keyboard player as well as composer and arranger, I finally bought a vintage Airline Autoharp by Oscar Schmidt. (Diatonic). on Ebay at a very nice price and condition. I'll be watching all your videos to learn how to play it. I have already watched a few already. I'll probably watch them all before the thing ships to me. I'm sure I'll probably have questions too.
This was VERY helpful!! Thank you! I agree with the comment by (Sandra?). Your voice is wonderfully easy to listen to and the information was great! Simple enough for non-musicians and informational enough to answer lots of my questions. I'm a beginning autoharp player with no music background.
Glad you liked it!
Thank you Joann very helpful, I did not know any of this.My auto harp is a Pawprint made by a guy in Media Pa auto harp with 13 cords with 38 strings. I had brain injury so I learning it over again, I love the sound of your voice it very easy on ear. You explain nicely all the info. thank you, Some how I got my daughter email here but Ill fix it. Ill be following you for lessons , Sandra
Thanks so much, I knew nothing about autoharp as of last month, and now I know a lot from your various lessons on youtube. I just bought one (used) and start playing melody with accompaniment within a week. I will buy a second one and convert it to diatonic using another video of yours. You are my autoharp master.
The auto harp is a great invention.
I'm just staring out and adore your channel Jo........so helpful and easy to follow. Thankyou so much
@gtrgdss As I understood it, "dead wire" just refers to strings muted by the chord buttons currently being pressed. Diatonics have redundant notes and fewer strings need to be muted to construct chords, so the effect is less noticeable.
Thanks so much for your excellent video. Your sheer enthusiasm comes through - very pleasant to witness.
Excellent tutorial. Great job, Jo Ann.
Best explanation on chromatic and diatonic harp.
I don't play this type of harp yet, but I do understand these two types now.
Excellent explanation ,now I know what to look for.Thank you for sharing.
Such an excellent demonstration. Thank you!
Thank you Jo Ann! Very helpful and informative!
Am considering getting an autoharp. Your video was very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you for your wonderful videos. I just got a old 12 chord Oscar Schmidt chromatic autoharp for 10 bucks on e-bay. Last night we found a set of new strings at our local music store, for only $40. So for this small investment, we are off on another musical adventure. Looking forward to seeing your other videos.
This was was so informative. Thank you very much for posting this.
Thanks for your videos. I found an old 15 chord harp in my church and found that I loved playing it, but I just went on-line and purchased the chromatic harp you show here! I hope to play this while singing with my now 9 week old son.
Thanks for your crystal clear explanations!
Wow now I know mine is chromatic! You explain things so well! Thank you sweetie!
Fantastic! I've been playing autoharp since December 2007 (Mike Fenton in the UK sold me mine) and I'm always looking for more good instruction and info. Your playing is an inspiration.
Hi Joann,
I am a totallyblind musician from New York. Thanks so much for the fantastic videos, your descriptive and down to Earth mannor. I love your videos and will check back for more soon. I am purchasing an Oscar Schmidt autoharp optimized by an expert. I look forward to this new musical journey as I also play guitar and mandolin. Keep up the great work.
Sincerely,
Marissa
Very well explained.I will be checking all your videos..Thanks...Carl
Brilliant! I have a spare harp and I think i will tune it to a diatonic instrument to see what it sounds like now I'm in covid 9 lockdown.
Brilliant! Thanks very much.
thanks for your help,,ill keep you posted,,Brian
Jo Ann Smith thank you for this video! As a child my family had a 6-bar autoharp (the 'Rose' model, made in Hamburg after the war) and its sound mesmerised me, and I think laid the foundations for my music career....
I've just taken delivery of a 21-bar autoharp today, and my first impressions are:
What a lovely instrument, but
- I have a very limited palette of chords - majors, minors, and 'straight' 7ths. So no major 7ths, minor 7ths, augmented, diminished chords.....
- No unison strings, which sound so good on instruments like this
- I'll wait a while before I do it, because I ought to give the instrument a proper run, but I am most persuaded by turning the instrument diatonic.....I seem to remember that I could press combinations on the 6 bar to achieve slightly more exotic chords....but then again the thing had been bought in the late 50's and I don't suppose anybody ever tuned it!
- Will I need to re-cut the felts to customise it to include the chord palette I'd like? And would I be locked to ONE key, or could it be done so I could have access to, say: C, E, A, with the options above? There are 21 bars, after all.....
Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to post this, a great help.
+Matthew Vaughan Hi, Matthew. The biggest limitation of the autoharp is the amount of chord bar space available. The chromatic autoharp - which is how all of the commercially available autoharps are tuned - is designed to allow the player to play in as many keys as possible. In order to do that, the chord selection has to be pared down to just the basic majors, minors and dominant 7ths. Since chord bar "real estate" is at a premium, the only way you can add specialized chords is to give up something else.
When tuning an autoharp to a single key (or two), you gain a lot of room to add several specialized chords - but it's at the expense of being able to play in different keys with one autoharp. I'm in the process of putting together a PDF that discusses arranging the chord bars on a chromatic to a much more logical configuration, and when it's posted, I'll put out a link (If it's possible to post a link here - I'm not sure). I generally recommend that folks start out with a chromatic until they get the hang of it before switching to diatonic, but I definitely recommend that folks get their chord bars into a good configuration to start with so that going from one tuning to another will be easy. By the way - lock bars are essential, in my opinion, if you plan to have a diatonic that's tuned to more than one single key. Generally, if you do a two-key diatonic, it's two adjacent keys in the circle of fifths - like F/C or A/E. The PDF will cover the logic of that, as well. More to come!
Looking forward to the PDF !!
Many thanks AGAIN for your help. You, sweet lady, " are about as handy as a pocket on a shirt" !! 😇😊Don't know what I would do without your help!! God is blessing you for being such a wonderful teacher and encourager. Have a blessed day.
Thanks! Glad to help!
You are a good autoharp player! Those instruments sound pretty lovely, i really like em in carter family songs.
You rock, Catwoman!
Thank you very much for posting.
thanks for this video! it was very informative!
you are so charming, i love watching you over and over again. thanks for the explanation, makes me think twice on what to buy now. I've been searching for online diatonic autoharp to and it's so limited.
Totally awesome! Just got my chromatic out after many years of not playing it and then found your very helpful video. It's a 15 bar harp. The video has inspired me to see if I can find a couple more used harps and convert them to diatonics. Worship teams these days cover a lot of chord ground- too much for a chromatic!
Brilliant...thank you.
fantastic information! thank you!
The first tune that you played on the chromatic autoharp is my favorite.
Awesome! This explains a lot.
Hey, I really wanted to say thanks for the explanation!
thanks that was some great info
and yes! some cool stuff
This was very helpful! Thank you!! I echo Steve Strauss' comments! (below).
You’re welcome!
You play beautifully.
That smile when you're playing ''vibes'' is golden , keep up the good work !
What is the video you are referring to at the end ?
Very nice. Thank you.
i'm totally new to the autoharp, ive just been on a appalachian celtic music fix... and now i want to go buy one.. ive played piano and guitar and have an ear for music so hopefully it goes well... this video was very thorough and explained a lot to me already.... thanks for the info...
Appalachian Celtic? How does that even work?
❤ thank you 🙏
I love you playing technique! I can't wait to see the video on how to play melody!!! Can you also demonstrate how you make the "chime" sound?
sounded a little like "The Charleston".
Thank you for the podcasts!!! Your theory is perfectly great.
You should get a transposing autoharp. Its like the diatonic but can play in all 12 keys. The playing mechanism slides to any key you want. The chords all stay the same. Great instrument!
Nice explanation.
Very interesting.
i hit the tuning pegs with a small hammer and retuned the harp,,it sounds great now,holding notes well,,,now i have to try to play something on this thing,,its quiete old,50s im thinkin,,the literature looks to be from the period,,i cleaned the strings,like i was shown ,,from an autoharp player i know,and they sound new,,thanks,so much,,now ill be watching your videos to learn,,Brian
If the pins loosen again, there are a few other tricks you can try to tighten them up. Although I've not actually used these methods, I've heard from other players who have used them successfully. If it's just one or two pins, you can try inserting some very thin wood shavings (or a slim piece of toothpick) into the hole and then re-inserting the pin. There is also a compound available that is designed to make the wood swell and thus cause the pin to be more stable. The hard part is finding something that will make the pin grip tighter while still allowing you to tune with it.
very informative vid from a very charming lady.thanks
Joanne, I want you to know after watching your videos & learning so much, I finally did it. I broke down & bought one. I had asked abt getting a real expensive model, & you advised me to perhaps get a good one but an economical one just to start with to see if I would like it & stick with it, then go from there. Thank you for the great advice b/c it’s just what I did, & I’m waiting it’s arrival in the mail! It’s a new ChromAharP brand model (hence why I asked abt that model & if it could be converted - should I decide to do that later), and I can’t WAIT to get it!!! Thanks once again you are such a nice lady. God Bless You, & have a happy 2019!
God bless you as well!! It's so nice to know that folks find my videos helpful. I plan to do a series of beginning-level autoharp videos this year, so stay tuned! Enjoy the new Chromaharp!!
Now that you have a selection of MANY autoharps, do you ever find yourself playing yr Chromaharp (yr first one)? Also, did u eventually convert it to diatonic?
@@willmaybe8121 No, I don't play it any longer and I didn't convert it. The reason? After I had saved up and purchased a luthier chromatic, I entered the Winfield contest and won a luthier diatonic so there wasn't a need to convert it. Besides -- and you'll discover this eventually -- the luthier autoharps have a better sound than the factory-made autoharps (IMO). Of course, this is subjective and there are players who prefer the sound of the factory-made autoharps over that of a custom make. I just don't find myself in that camp.
Jo Ann Smith sounds reasonable :-) thank you - congratulations on that win in competition- I’m not surprised at all, yr very talented.
Thank you... Beautiful Lady.
awesome, thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this info with us! I actually want to learn autoharp since I saw your video of amazing grace on the diatonic. I just fell in LOVE with the sound! It's upsweepingly beautiful, and you look like an angel playing!! Could you use a diatonic for songs that are tuned to a key that would be harmonic to a C? (If a Chord of C is C, G, & E, could you play a diatonic C harp with songs in the keys of G & E?) Thanks again for spreading that joyous sound and your knowledge!
Thanks so much for this, so totally cool what you are doing! (=
Thank You
Amanda Falk - "Fireflies" is another good song!
The only diatonic conversion I'd recommend using the existing chromatic strings would be a conversion to the key of C, i.e. tuning all the sharps down one half step so you'd have All naturals. Anything else would be best done with a set of of new, custom strings which run about $75. Just my opinion.
Thanks for your video! I've got a question for you, about the 21 chord autoharp where you mentioned 7ths. What kind of 7ths are typically set on regular factory made ones? Are they usually maj7, min7, dim?
Thanks again and keep making those wonderful vids :)
Sure would love a video or some notes on that last beautiful bit of Makor 7ths, Minor 7ths and sus 4ths !!! I've got my harp taken apart now and it would be awesome timing to get some of that magic onto my harp !!
And that last very pretty chord at 8.20 ?? I saw you reaching for a different button but not sure as it went off screen. You didn't name it like the first 3. Cheers.
Hi Jo Ann, from Nova Scotia. A friend gave me an Alabama auto harp last week. Is it considered a good instrument. I play guitar, so no problem catching on to basic chord changes etc. It`s electric, but I haven`t tried that mode yet. Great demo!!
excellent videos, thanks for sharing. I never really even looked at an autoharp before.. though I did see a guy play one in a pub one night, but I couldn`t hear him with all the other musicians, loud talking and a poor PA system. And of course I saw Billy Connolly play it, and in the movie Walk the line movie,
i play guitar banjo bass, as a banjo player i`m very drawn to the Diatonic, for all the reasons you pointed out . I play mostly in D and A on the tenor banjo, not so much G anymore. . Let me see if I understand.... and just one question.
If I had eleven diatonic autoharps, in all the different keys, the method and fingering would be the same would be the same, as there are no chord shapes and scale shapes. ... now the two stupid questions. Do these come in left and right handed versions? or would I have to try and get one made? or something. I can`t imagine just flipping the strings backward like you can on a mandolin. i guess I can just hold it upside down... hmm .. or even switch hands ???? I`m just confused now.
Seriously though, i`m wondering octaves on the diatonic autoharp. I mean (for one tuned in C) from low c right up to the thinner or shorter strings,.? I`m guessing somewhere between and 5? that would be unreal to expand the right hand picking range like that. I tried learning right hand tremolo for a while, but now i`m getting into banjo rollin` and 4 string compare to 26 or 30 or something. It looks like a lot of fun. It sounds as if the diatonic can me more mandolin sounding with the doubled strings., and also the clicking of the muted strings. I definately have to get me one of these. what fun swirling up and down like that! hmm ?? maybe a bass.... Thanks again for sharing.
I love this video because the chromatic Autoharp you showed is my Autoharp. ;)
That and though you think that theory I sent your string point? This video explained exactly how to tune my chromatic I to diatomic.
Because I only own one harp I go back and forward but I would like to own a few as you do.
Just been watching Billy Connolly... and wondered what the instrument was he was playing... now I know... Thanks and Yes.... you are a hottie!
I’ve just inherited an autoharp that was chromatic, but now is diatonic. I’ve been debating whether to put it back to chromatic, I might leave it as diatonic though. I’ve been playing guitar and mandolin for over 40 years, but with the autoharp I’m a complete beginner. Also left handed. Does that make a difference with autoharp? Anyway, as I said I’ve inherited the autoharp from a good friend who died recently, and I’m gonna learn how to play it in his memory. Watched a couple of your videos, I like your presenting style, not too much faff and very clear , thank you
you're great
I'm a big fan of My Morning Jacket's "Yim Yames," who plays an autoharp, which I had never heard of. I came upon this video and you made it really easy to understand. I think I want to take up autoharp-ing now. That chromatic is so beautiful, but I think I want to start out with a diatonic with less notes as a means to focus when I start learning. Any tips? Also, subscribed!
Ive noticed in your videos that you are able to pick individual notes out and make them sound louder than the other notes of the chord. Is this easy to do? Can you post a video on how to do this? I am in the market for an autoharp and would love to know how to pick the individual notes out.
My mom has an old autoharp...
Should I go the effort to futz around with it? I have a background in guitar, violin, cello....
When I was watching this I was wondering how far the chords can be modified. If you can play maj7 and sus4 could you also get real adventurous and play 6ths & 9ths etc. Did you modify your harp yourself or can you play those chords on a "stock" instrument??
i love that first song, i don't know what it is, but it just clicked with me.
I wonder if they make them bigger with more chord selections. 21 is not really enough.
I'm considering buying an autoharp. This was really helpful. Which one would you prefer. A chromatic or diatonic?
Someday I am going to dig out my Oscar Schmit chromatic, dust it off and change it over to a diatonic. Thanks for the info. You are charming. You might consider turning off your auto-iris and auto-white balance when you make these little vignettes.
I'm looking forward to trying diatonic. A deranged fan of mine who fell in love with my music and then me, is trying to put an injunction on ME, stalked ME, abused ME, controlled ME and stole my autoharp as some kind of sick trophy I guess. Anyway, the police contacted me and told me they have my harp and I already bought a new one, now I have 2x oscar schmidt limited editions lol. bring it on diatonic!
You can easily convert to a single-key C diatonic using the existing strings. Just tune all the sharps down one half-step. You’ll end up with a lot of doubled strings, which will really boost the volume and enrich the sound. Then re-felt F, C, G, Dm, Am, Em and G7 to open up all the newly doubled strings. The remaining bars can be any chord you want, as long as it can be made with notes in the C major scale: C D E F G A and B. I’d suggest Csus4, Gsus4, Dm7, Am7, CM7, F+2, and C+2. There are others, but those will be your work-horse alternate chords. Good luck!!👍
Have you ever done any diatonic harps in a minor scale? E.g. I fell in love with the Romanian minor (AKA the "Ukrainian Dorian") which has the notes C - D - Eb - F# - G - A - Bb. And so I made a harp that had most of the chords that you can get in the key of C in that scale, though I didn't change the strings around, I just changed the felts on a bunch of chord bards. Not sure if that's something you've tried or if there would be problems doing so on a restrung one.
That's really cool! Basically, this scale is Bb major with an altered fifth. The scale of Bb major is Bb - C - D - Eb - F - G, so the only difference between it and the Ukrainian Dorian scale is the F#. It's certainly do-able if you want to set up a diatonic autoharp in this scale. In fact, you could set it up in Bb major, but include an F# note in there also. It would be like having a two-key diatonic autoharp. You could play stuff in the key of Bb but still be able to play the Ukrainian Dorian songs. Neato!
Hi. What makes "dead wire"? Is it just the way the instrument is constructed, bad strings, weather / humidity factors? Will a good autoharp STILL have dead wire? I am looking at purchasing, and was wondering so that I might look out for these points to consider. Thank you! Excellent video!
"Dead wire", I would think, would be caused by the dampening of the felt in the chord bars.
the charleston!!! yay
Is your C diatonic autoharp able to be found in ANY stores? Im trying to learn harp, and I want one that sounds like that :P
Hey Jo Ann. Love your channel. I have questions not related to the video. I just discovered that my autoharp has a dent/chip at the bottom corner. So...does it need to be repaired (if it can be)? Or is it just going to be an eyesore I have to live with? It sounds the same to me as usual (in the time being) but would this “little damage” get worse as time goes by and affect the sound? Sorry if these are petty/dumb questions. Just concerned because I love my autoharp. Thanks in advance!
It depends on the extent of the damage. The good news is that autoharps are constructed with a very dense, heavy laminated frame that goes all the way around the perimeter of the body, so the chances that the frame has been damaged enough to cause the body to fail are extremely slim. My advice would be to watch it closely over the next few weeks to see if it shows any signs of failure, Keep it tuned and play it regularly, and if everything seems to be working normally, it's probably okay and you can look into doing a cosmetic repair. But if it starts showing a noticeable drift in tuning that is NOT consistent all the way across the string bed (some strings are way more out of tune than others) it's a sign of trouble. At that point you'll need to start looking for warping of the top, separation of joints or lifting of the bottom bridge out of its slot. Odds are good that this stuff won't happen. But hold off on doing the cosmetic repair for a while until you're sure the autoharp is okay.
WhAt would a auto harp sound like if you electrified it by adding a pickup to it? Emagine the pitch,tone and volume you could create with it, you could then add
differing pedals to add chorus,wah wah, etc. The varisnts you could add could be amazing creating a wealth of sound and variation to the instrument.
I have magnetic pickups in all of my autoharps. Not only is it the best way to amplify the autoharp, you can add all kinds of effects - the only limit is your imagination!
ahh there both similar!! ive never herd that before :O its awesome though
Did your series end with the Diatonic Conversion 2?
Do you use a slider strap? I may need to have the buttons put on my autoharp so that I can have a strap. I usually play while sitting but I am still a bit nervous and afraid of dropping it without some support.
Yes, I do use a slider strap. It's a great way to stabilize the autoharp so that your arms won't have to do anything except focus on playing. Without realizing it, you're probably gripping the sides of the autoharp with your forearms -- which causes tension in your arms and makes playing more work than it needs to be. In addition, the strap will keep the autoharp in a consistent position so that your buttons and strings are in relatively the same place from one session to the next. If I'm playing without the strap (which I do on occasions where I'm going to be switching out autoharps repeatedly), I make sure I have a stable chair with an upright back so that I'm sitting up straight and not slouching. Along with that I usually put something under my left foot to raise my left thigh into a position where it's parallel to the floor. That raises the autoharp into a more playable position and discourages it from sliding down my pant leg.
There are 3 pentatonic configuration in the "C" key.
______________________________________________________________________
1st Pentatonic is "F"
"F" Pentatonic
F-G-A-x-C-D-x-F
Jo Ann, could you please give me the chord bar layout for your C diatonic harp. I would love to convert my 12 bar 😊
Send me an email to autoharpist.info@gmail.com and I’ll send you a PDF copy.
@@autoharpist bless you!
what's a good begginer autoharp?
Can it be done in pentatonic?
Very helpful, thank you.
Anyone know what the things on her fingers are called?
Hi Heliogoland they’re called fingerpicks. Used for banjo too and some guitarists like them too.
You didn't play a song on the diatonic! What do you play on the diatonic, mostly?
I was really happy to hear both harps and your explanations were great. I will tell my students to look at your videos, and thank you!
question: if i buy a chromatic autoharp can i turn it into diatonic by tune up or down the sharps (flats) or would I have to replace those strings? Btw, is a set of autoharp strings expensive?? Thanks
Is there a way for me to take my 21 chord chromatic (the exact one you have in this video) and make it into a diatonic?
+Bianca Lopez Yes, you absolutely can. The 21 chord OS chromatic autoharps are the easiest to convert because their chord bar assembly allows you to freely rearrange the chord bars. If you are hesitant to do a full-blown diatonic conversion, you can do a "trial" conversion by making just a few changes that are easily reversed. First, look at the note labels next to the tuning pins at the top of the 'harp. Simply tune all of the sharp notes (#) down one half-step to the natural note. So C# becomes C, F# become F, D# becomes D, etc. You now have a diatonic autoharp tuned in the key of C. You'll notice that many of the strings are now doubled -- two C strings next to each other, two D's, two E's, etc. Not all will be doubled, but a bunch in the middle will be. I usually tell folks to play around with that, without making any changes to the chord bars. You won't get the full blown effect, but it can sound pretty cool - and you can experiment with the chords you have and see what happens. You'll get some neat sounding stuff - and there's no commitment. You can always tune the sharps back up a half step and you'll have your chromatic back.
I plan to get some more detailed instructions on a quick conversion up soon!
I play Harmonica but ear. And play very well. I just got a Chromatic Oscar Smith auto harp. I am totally lost.
Good afternoon! I am taking Spanish singing lessons, my teacher teacher me to sing in, say, Re, or Sol, or La. he plays guitar and I do not, but I was thinking of learning autoharp. For tradicional Mexican music, would you recommend a chromatic or diatonic? And would you by chance know of anyone who plays tradicional Mexican music, like Las mañanitas, Perfidia, Holos de Plata, Dos Palomas a Volar, Paloma Negra and others? Where I live no one has autoharp, butI plan to visit the US in February and would like to purchase one there.Thank you for any i for action and suggestions. I do play a little piano, but like the sounds of both types.
Linda Martin Hi, Linda. I’m not very familiar with traditional Mexican music, but I irregardless of musical genre I always recommend that people start out with a chromatic autoharp. The chromatic can cover a number of different keys and will teach you the fundamentals of chord progression. Once you’ve learned the chromatic well, you can always convert your autoharp to a diatonic tuning if you choose - but you may decide to keep it just as it is. A lot of folks do, particularly those that use the autoharp to accompany their vocals. I’m glad to hear that you’ll be coming to the US to purchase your autoharp, because it’s important to get your first one from someone who deals with them for a living. There is a lot of setup that needs to be done on them - - even brand new ones - to get them to play the way they should. My best advice would be to join Facebook Autoharp group. There are around 1500 members from all over the place and they can direct you to someone who is near to where you’ll be staying. That being said, autoharp luthiers are rather far apart so you might have to plan a road trip into your itinerary, but it will be SO worth it. The Facebook Autoharp group is a private group, meaning you have to request membership, but it’s just a formality to screen for bots. I highly recommend it.
Jo Ann Smith thank you so very much for your generous reply. I will definitely request to join the group and once my trip is scheduled will ask for recommendations for people who can set up the autoharp. I hope to find a second hand one to save some costs if possible so I have enough to customize it correctly. Have a great day, I am enjoying your videos very much!
I found a national autoharp co gold color one but im going to have to realign the bars They were put on wrong and the buttons are gone Im going to a craft store and find some wooden pegs for the bars I have never seen one by this name. Most are Oscar Schmitt
If you were getting your first autoharp would you get a diatonic or chromatic harp? And would you get a 15 or 21 chord, if you were to get a chromatic autoharp?
I always recommend a chromatic autoharp to those just starting out because the chromatic setup teaches you so much about chord theory (without even trying). It also gives you the best foundation for learning to play, plus it covers a lot of different keys and musical styles. I also recommend the 21-chord. The three-row configuration lends itself to an extremely logical and easy-to learn fingering pattern. The most important thing to do, however, is to get your autoharp from someone who deals in autoharp repair/maintenance, because even the new ones are difficult to play unless set up properly. You might pay an extra $100 or so up front, but the difference it makes in the "enjoyment factor" is priceless.