Good evening Harpgirl (and others) and yes,(to go to your other thread) I had much to be thankful for at Thanksgiving including the company of my mother; I owe you an email. On autoharps: Drew Smith of 529 Ardmore Road Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ (can't remember the ZIP code offhand; will go back & get it Later) sells a teaching tape which I recommend most highly. Drew is a wonderful knowledgable highly skilled person who is v generous with his time as you, I hope, will find. I second the recommendation of an electronic tuner; it was this invention which made the autoharp possible and brought it into general use! Styles: Playing backup autoharp is easy; hold it, as others have said in the "burp the baby" position push down chords with LH strum with RH. To play melodies, start with "pinch" strokes and prove that you can play a scale going up (in C) by playing these chords in order C G C F C F G C and moving your "pinch" a little higher each time. Much easier to show you than try to explain-- are there any local players? (bet Mike Fenton could point out some) if you lived in America I would suggest try This Land using C G C F F, F C G C C, etcetera-- but you live in Ireland. . . I also second the recommendation of the Cyberpluckers who are all nice people. Good Luck & you're welcome to email me: lutrine@itw.com if I have confused you throughly PETE