Small history: tone-deaf through school when taking music theory and suchlike, so none of it sank in, and I can't read music. Then learned to carry a tune while in college, and learned to sing on key when out of grad school. So am now thinking of learning an instrument, but don't want to HAVE to learn to read music, I'd rather that just happened from repeated exposure... or desire to learn to play THIS on this instrument. I was thinking piano, just because it's linear, but someone said Autoharp to me... what do you think? I hear it's simple and portable... and not necessarily expensive. Advice, pros, cons? Remember that I sing folk music, ballads, songs that are secretly novels rendered in poetry and prose. The more verses the merrier. Thanks, all.