the appala. dulcimer gets my vote. If you can hum a tune you can easily figure out how to play it. you can chord it or note it. tuning is the easiest of any stringed inst. can learn it quite quickly and yet grow a life time with it. it is lighter than a tenor guitar or just about any of the other inst. listed. the mandoline does not accompany a singer well by itself. A tenor guitar or a uke would be my 2nd choices. A uke is easier to find. but Tiny Tim hurt the image of a uke to badly for me to carry one. It is a shame cause it & Tiny Tim were missunderstood