Chord Bar Placement:
I have to admit I didn’t spend a lot of time (about 10 minutes) to come up with this pattern. I didn’t realize that there are so many combinations of 21 keys, ie. factorial 21 21x20x19x…x4x3x2 a huge number so I might have a good chance of inventing my own chord pattern. It should read like this Carter picking, Travis picking and Charlies Chord Pattern. If someone else invented this pattern or if its a standard, let me know, since im really a guitar player and lay no claim on any autoharp knowledge.


Well, heres the reason. I have not read anybody on the net that thinks the factory setting is of any use at all. I don’t want to use any chords that arnt already there. Most songs are in C,G,D,A. Guitars like G and C, Fiddles like A and D. A lot of Blues in E but I wouldn’t play blues on an autoharp and I don’t have E.

So lets move the top and middle rows down 1. This puts C,G,D in the most comfortable position I thought. The sevenths are all in the most logical spot, ie if your in C the seventh is between C and G just where I like it. So the bottom row has to shift to the top but look where I put the minors. All easy to play with the thumb and Dm to F is the same distance as Am to C and the same as Em to G. But Next to the minors I put Ab because its one of those chords I always need. Songs like “In the Pines” played in C use Ab. If im playing in C, I use Ab all the time. Bb7 comes in handy and I only put it beside the Ab because it was beside it in the old pattern. I don’t really care about Cm and Gm so I put them in the last 2 spots. I have been playing at a few jams since since I fixed her up and I really like this placement, its easy to memorize and the thumb can find the minors. I just hated the factory setting, the other reason the autoharp stayed in the closet for a year.

I found an easy way to make the changes was to remove one bar and put it aside, for example remove the Eb, that leaves you an empty space. Then take the Dm key and put it in the top left corner where the Eb was. This leaves a space where the Dm was and replace that with the A7. Just continue this until all the keys have changed position. You should have a diagram of the original placement and the desired placement handy. If you like this placement just print out this page.


Factory Setting: Oscar Schmidt

Eb  Bb   F   C   G   D   A
  F7  C7  G7 D7 A7  E7 B7
   Ab  Bb7 Cm Gm Dm Am Em

Charlies Chord Pattern

Dm  Am  Em  Ab Bb7 Cm Gm
   Eb    Bb    F    C    G     D    A
      F7     C7 G7   D7   A7   E7  B7