The autoharp was originally designed as stated, to be easily played, and yes, Gustav was kind of obsessed with his new notation system. But the autoharp has developed, thanks to players like Bryan Bowers, in a similar way to how the harmonica came into its own with Larry Adler. More and more people are becoming aware of the possibilities of the instrument and how much can be achieved withi its limitations. And I doubt there is another intsrument which can train the performer in chord structure as effectively. If you move away from the standard chromatic autoharp into the diatonic possibilities, you can only play the chords you put on the instrument - so you have to work out what chords you want, what notes go into those chords, and what notes you will need to tune the 37 provided strings to in order to play those chords. I agree Tradsinger that knowing this grammar is a big advantage, and is almost indispensable if you want to make progress on the autoharp.

Penny, I played guitar - badly - for forty years, just strumming with a few basic pick patterns. Then 15 years ago I had a breakdown, from teaching. I played nothing for five years, then when I came back to it I found I had developed arthritis and could no longer hold down a chord. Five years ago I found the autoharp. Now I hold down a chord with one finger, and use the picking patterns that I still have in my right hand to play the harp. I am much more musical on the autoharp than I ever was on the guitar. The way you describe how your right hand moved "without your consciousness interfering" is exactly right. You just sing with your fingers. The great thing about the autoharp is that if you do this when a button is pushed, you are bound to hit notes that are in the right chord. And the bit about the harp being in tune Joe - is of course a given. How easy is it to sing with someone playing a guitar out of tune? But most top-range autoharps now have fine tuners and they probably are more in tune than most guitars - and stay that way longer!