Autoharp

[Greeny]

Look what I got for Xmas 

Already recording something with it, lol

[Tangled Wires]

Wow, very nice, can't wait to hear it in action.

How difficult is it to play?

[Greeny]

Wow, very nice, can't wait to hear it in action.

How difficult is it to play?

Pretty easy to play, but quite a strange playing position where you bassically have to cuddle it like a baby, lol. The most difficult part is getting all the strings in tune!

[Oldrottenhead]

ya beauty, check out p j harvey's album, let england shake she uses it to great effect.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va0w5pxFkAM

[Greeny]

She's fab, isn't she! Yes... that's how it should be done!

[Geir]

Looks pretty cool !!

We need to book a BIG studio for a JK album recording session soon

[64Guitars]

Cool! Is it strictly acoustic or does it have a pickup too? Must be weird strumming at the top and "fretting", so to speak, at the bottom. Kind of like playing a guitar upside down. But I guess you'd get used to it quickly.

John Sebastian has an autoharp DVD tutorial available here:

http://www.homespuntapes.com/Instructors/john-sebastian/learn-to-play-autoharp

Here's some sample clips from it:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wvIbG1Plzg

And here's an old video of The Lovin' Spoonful with John playing autoharp:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Aq6G2UoFU

[cuthbert]

Congrats on the new autoharp, Tim!

Autoharps are strange and wonderful instruments. I love their shimmer, and alternately like and dislike their limitations with chords. I don't know if you remember, but I have an old Oscar Schmidt autoharp (quite beat up), which I added to your song Love Me In Obscurity.

The most difficult part is getting all the strings in tune!

There's the bugger, right there. I find (when I use it), that I have to do a full tuning at least twice, as tuning on one batch of strings sends the others right out of tune! That might be specific to my antique, though.  

[Burtog]

One of my recent fave bands use them quite a bit!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o443mVSUDd4

[Greeny]

Cool! Is it strictly acoustic or does it have a pickup too? Must be weird strumming at the top and "fretting", so to speak, at the bottom. Kind of like playing a guitar upside down. But I guess you'd get used to it quickly.

Purely acoustic, this one.

Yes... it feels a bit weird at first, but very easy to adapt to!