new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

All instruments that aren't guitars (or bass guitars).
Post Reply
User avatar
robby
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 186
Joined: Mon May 14, 2007 6:31 am

new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by robby » Wed Apr 27, 2022 10:10 pm

so many of you might know of the omnichord, as i have for a while and liked the concept idea of this instrument but it always seemed like a cheap piece of 80s tech to me (but that is also the magic of it for some i guess) although they have risen in prices money wise in the past years since alot of indi and alternative bands have been picking them up.
heres a picture of the omnichord:
Image

wel so long story short i was whatching a youtube video on the history of the omnichord and the guy said its based on an autoharp. so i looked it up and hadn't seen or heard of this instrument and since i was often wanting my guitar to sound lika a harp by using pichshifting delay and reverse reverb here i had a harp that was easy to learn to play and it didnt seem like a cheap piece of 80s tech but a high end instrument. so i picked one up! its so awsome! it has a pickup so i can run it through all my guitar effects, only down side is it doesnt have all the chords as an omnichord does, some are missing, but most of them are there so not a big issue.

so here it is, my new baby:
Image

PS: maybe i should explain how it works as even if you might be familiar with the omnichord or not, it needs some explaining.
so it has 30 string (i think) almost all notes from 3 octaves, so you could play it like a harp, although im guessing its harder since the strings are closer together and thats not what it was intended for. Each button is a chord, there are minor, major and 7 chords. so if you press a button these felt pieces are pushed down on the strings and mute the strings that do not belong in the chord, so basically you are playing a lot of dead notes but its still enough notes to make it sound full and resonant, a very magical sound. and yeah its super easy to play. if you are a singer and have always wanted to acompany your voice but have struggled with learning basic chords on guitar this is the instrument for you.

User avatar
UlricvonCatalyst
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 7193
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 4:05 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Wed Apr 27, 2022 10:58 pm

John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful) is a famous auto-harp user, whereas the Omnichord will forever be associated with Beautify Junkyards in my book.

Both are interesting instruments, but I'd say the connection between them is pretty tenuous.

User avatar
Larry Mal
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 19673
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:25 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:30 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Wed Apr 27, 2022 10:58 pm
John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful) is a famous auto-harp user...
Yeah he is.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

User avatar
luau
Admin
Admin
Posts: 10019
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:07 am
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by luau » Thu Apr 28, 2022 6:06 am

Oh, fun. My mother's SO is a piano technician and the other day while he was showing me a hammered dulcimer he had just restrung, I spied an autoharp in his shop and had a quick go on it. Enjoy!

User avatar
JackFawkes
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2022 10:32 am
Location: Northern California

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by JackFawkes » Thu Apr 28, 2022 6:09 am

Very neat! Weirdly, you reminded me of a distant and near forgotten childhood memory that my first grade teacher had an autoharp that she taught us about and played a couple times... I was probably around 8, so that was roughly 30 years ago!

Jack

User avatar
fuzzjunkie
Expat
Expat
Posts: 7276
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:32 am
Location: Seattle

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by fuzzjunkie » Wed May 04, 2022 12:59 pm

My mom had an autoharp. I would play it as a child and always loved the sound.

Echo and the Bunnymen used an autoharp on Killing Moon, and REM used autoharp on a couple of songs back in the ‘80s.

User avatar
Steadyriot.
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1262
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:16 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by Steadyriot. » Wed May 04, 2022 1:24 pm

Way cool! I’m far from a country guy but somehow June Carter is the first thing that comes to mind when seeing autoharps. Would love to futz around with one some day.
"If someone duetted with a Bald Eagle, they could rule the Country charts from here to eternity." ~shadowplay

User avatar
Caddy65
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 147
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 2:45 am
Location: NW Indiana

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by Caddy65 » Wed May 04, 2022 1:34 pm

I played mandolin and sang lead in a very good bluegrass band back in the late 70’s through the 80’s. We played festivals and shows that also included many big name bands and people (many in the bluegrass and/or the country music Halls Of Fame. There were a good number of them that had someone playing an autoharp. I think they sound great. Those and hammered dulcimers I think sound really nice.

User avatar
SignoftheDragon
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2314
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:06 am
Location: Utah, USA
Contact:

Re: new Instrument day! *AUTOPHARP*

Post by SignoftheDragon » Fri May 20, 2022 4:08 pm

My mom also played an Autoharp- I have it now, and will always treasure it.

The sound for me has generally been ruined by the '90s abomination band Third Eye Blind's master-radio-earworm-soulsuck track 'How's it gonna be?'

But I still dig it out now and then to try to get around that. Some 'Ana Ng' by They Might Be Giants can make me forget for a while.

Bought my daughter one for Christmas last year, but we're not on speaking terms at the moment so I haven't heard her play it.

Post Reply