More Thoughts On Autoharp layouts

Despite my sister's adherence to "old" autoharps, presumably with 15 bars (as opposed to the really old 12s), the Real autoharpers all seem to use the 21s, though seemingly always modified for better chords and chord layout. Unfortunately, there seems to be as many "correct" layouts as there are guys to opine on the topic. Part of the attachment to 21-bar harps is, obviously, more chords, but also the bars are narrower, so the buttons are closer together, and there are three rows of buttons, rather than the 15-bar harp's two.

So, I'm tempted to try a three row layout on my 15-bar Chromaharp (which showed up on Friday) -- though the rationale seems to be Majors in one row, Minors in another, and the 7th in the third. Since I won't have any 7ths, that doesn't necessarily make sense for me.

What worries me now is the matter of playability when it's laid on a table versus held up against the chest. Upright leaves the right (strum) hand in the same place, but reverses the incoming direction of the left. Apparently the idea is to be able to use the fingers and thumb (oops -- didn't think of that!) to chord, with "touch type-ability". I think this means that I'll have the Majors on the top row, so the 1, 4, and 5 are under middle, index and ring finger, and the Minors in the bottom row where my shorter thumb can reach 'em -- and shifted right so the 2m and 6m are *under* the thumb, not necessarily "near" the 1. Or maybe that won't work out 'cuz it throws a lot of the minor chords off the end of the rack...

On further thought, I don't think three rows makes any sense for my scheme, since I won't have any 7ths. The real hang-up now is this left-hand coming in from the top, or bottom, problem. I talked to my sister this morning and she said that she Never plays it laying flat (lap or table). She distains the crossed-over wrists thing you get when it's flat (though that's the way it's pictured in the booklet that came with my ChromAharP). This might explain why the playing position is never mentioned in the FAQ -- it's Presumed Upright by all the Regulars. But it obviously makes a big difference if you're gonna lock your three main fingers on 1, 4, and 5 -- where your thumb ends up (to the left or right of that), is gonna determine where you want to put 2m and 6m. I suppose I'll build it "right" (i.e., meant to be held upright), and my daughters will figure out that it works better that way soon enough. It is, mainly, for them -- but I want it to "bring 'em up right" chord-relationship-wise, so I want to put in the logical chord bars before I let 'em play it much. I can picture them playing along with me on some of my guitar songs, once the requisite chords are available.

Thoughts On Autoharp chords

Well, I tried a lot of chord layouts, but logic brought me inexorably to the good ol' Circle O' Fifths. But does the Way Music Works drag you to the Circle, or does the Circle make music work?

There are little pockets of logic in the Oscar Schmidt autoharp layout, but they evaporate pretty quickly. I can only presume that Oscar thought that nobody cared what key they were actually in (i.e., no one ever played with anyone else on a different instrument), and so being able to shift over and play in, say, Ab, seemed like a great idea. This is even more prevalent on the 21 chord model. And clearly, 7th chords were a lot more fashionable in the Olden Days than they are with me, now.

But, if you're gonna play with other people (or, maybe more importantly (to me), use other people's sheet music), you only need to aim at reasonable guitar keys and chords. My layout is gonna let me play in C, G, D, A, and E, with all the normally required chords available. I can't play in any flat or sharp keys, nor in F or B, but I'm pretty sure I can live with that <grin>. Even if my kids need to transpose a song to put it in their singing range, E is close enough to F, and C to B.

That said, it's true that since I'm not gonna use B as a I or IV, it can be a 7th chord. I can at least give it a high-octave 7, and maybe the middle one, too. Seems like the chords towards the left and right edges of the layout are "not gonna be I" chords, and can be 7ths -- like the Dm, too, perhaps. Still, I'm always a lot happier to leave a 7th out than to have one in that doesn't belong. Maybe they all can receive the high-octave-7th-only treatment, just in case. At the least, maybe I should re-scan a stack of songs to see which appears more often, B or B7, Dm or Dm7, C#m or C#m7, etc.

Bought an Autoharp

Whoops. Up and bought an autoharp on eBay. It's actually a "ChromAharP" (pretty wacky capitalization!)

While I wait for it to arrive, I got to mess with my mother-in-law's (real) Autoharp. It's a new one, with the plastic box covering the 21 chord bars. I tuned it (it was a half-step off near the top -- obviously not getting much use) and messed with it a little. No Bm! No F#m! 21 chords and I can't play any songs that are in D (which is *lots* of 'em)! E7, but no E! No C#s! Who dreamed this thing up?

I was starting to think that since they've built a few million of 'em, they must work for somebody, so maybe I could live with the native set up. But even on the 21 chord model, there's no black-key chords except for Bb7 and Ab. Huh?

So, clearly, I'll have to rebuild the chord bars. Not sure how I'll re-label 'em, but that's the least of my worries. First, to find suitable "felt". I wonder if some alternate material would work on the chord bars: some dense foam like flip-flops, or artificial chamois, or something. I also don't know if I'll rebuild the existing bars, or just replace them with duplicates -- might seem safer, and let me do some experimentation without doing any permanent damage. For one thing, I did layouts with three and even four "rows" of buttons (like the way the 21-chord boxes have three rows of 7). And to make matters worse, I read some guy talking about re-tuning some strings, as well! Turns out the low-end is non-complete, and he wanted a low G# to fatten up the E chord he was adding. More options to worry about! (Personally, I'm not terribly attracted to adding a low third to a chord...)