Zeo--Just for the record, I am officially retired--don't teach music or perform anymore, I just write--as to my being zealous, I don't set the rules, you have to do what I have been talking about if you want to play, no dispensations for learning differences, no allowances for job or family responsibilities, no waivers for financial hardship--I don't ever even recommend that people take up serious pursuit of music, it is rarely financially rewarding, and it undermines everything else in your life, from work to family to financial stability--

GutBucky--

When you say that you want to be able to find the key, do you mean that you want to be able to hear the song and say, "Key of A?" That is a rare skill--however, it is manageable to learn to find the key by matching pitches on a properly tuned instrument(by the way, you will find it much easier to figure out tunes if you use a guitar or keyboard than using that autoharp or those harmonicas)

If you want to learn some nice melodies note for note (and you want to use computer software) go to Contemplations and download some of the wonderful MIDI files of folk tunes that are there.

Just pick a melody that you really like and play it over and over again til you've memorized it. Match pitches til you find the starting note on your instrument, then, one measure at a time, find the notes for the the melody.

Next, take what you've figured out, and play it along with the MIDI file. You will make a lot of mistakes at first, but, since you are playing the file over and over again, you'll have plenty of opportunities to fix them. Keep at it until you get it right every time.

This process can take some time, but at the when you're done, you'll be able able to play the tune perfectly, in perfect tempo. You can even open the MIDI file in a notation program and get a useable text--though you will need to trim out all the repeats and the extra parts--and of course, with a bit of reflection, the chords are there, as well. (Your "teacher" will be Lesley Nelson, or, on ocassion, one of his associates, and the reason that this works is simply that they have done such a good job of writing their arrangements)

As to chords--well, the real secret here is that there are a relatively small number of chord progressions that are used, and you really mostly learn to recognize them--

Improvising is a similar arrangement, even the most spontaneous seeming jazz improvisations are mostly pieces that are worked out before hand--with the player knowing what can be used in what situations.

A good trick here is to take the chords to a song that has a common chord progress, then work out four or five solo licks that sound good over them, and practice playing through, mixing them around til you can do what you want, when you want, without a mistake--

As to finding a teacher--the more specific that you are about what you want to learn, the better--I think that your objectives, as you set them out above, are good, except that you haven't listed any songs or styles of music that you are interested in--this is important because you're teacher has different tastes than you, you may learn to play something, but it won't be what you want--

Also remember--one song that you can play well is better than a dozen you can "sort of" play--