The Autoharp isn't that difficult to learn- it just takes patience and practice. The harp is usually held in one of 2 ways. 1st is across the lap- the left hand crosses over to depress the chord keys. This can be a little hairy. The second way is to stand the harp up on your lap and rest it across your left shoulder. The left hand depresses the chord keys while the right picks or strums the strings. Label the chord keys if they are not labelled. The chord keys are usually grouped so that for any key, the common chords are in easy reach. Practice chording along to songs first and get good at that. Practice the same songs in different keys so you get familiar with the chord changes. Practice making clean chords. It is more difficult than it would appear to depress the chord keys on some models to get a clean crisp chord. Good luck and keep us posted, Laura