Transposing Keys on an Autoharp

Once you learn a few songs on autoharp, you will probably discover that:

• Some songs are too high or too low for you to sing along, and/or

• Other musicians play songs you know in different keys than you play them in.

Fortunately, every commercial autoharp is designed to help you change keys easily, at least on simple, 3-chord songs. Taking a song from one key to another is called "transposing."

How Chords are Interrelated

Transposition works on a basic principle called the "Circle of Fifths." What this means is that all keys on an instrument are harmonically related in a sort of chain.

Bb is to F as F is to C, as C is to G as G is to D as D is to A, as A is to E, and so on.

In simple three-chord songs, each song uses three adjacent chords in that "chain." Why three-chords? Because the vast majority of Folk songs and many Pop, Rock, Country, and Bluegrass songs can be played with just three chords. Even songs that include other chords usually depend on those three chords for most of their structure.

Back to the chain, a three-chord song in F will use Bb and C. A three-chord song in C will use F and G. A three-chord song in G will use C and D, and so on. More information on the "circle of fifths" is contained in this article.

The good news is that most autoharps have the "circle of fifths" built right into their chord bar layouts. When you chose a key like C major, you'll discover that the chords you need to play any 3-chord song in C major are very close to the C chord bar. If you decide to play the same song in F, you'll find that the chords you need are next to each other, just 2 or 3 chord bars over.

This goes back to the very earliest autoharps:

Chords on the Very First Autoharp	Chords on the First Two-Key Autoharp (Model 2 3/4)
The chord arrangement on the very first autoharp enabled playing three-chord songs in the key of C.	The chord arrangement on the first two-key autoharp added the ability to play three-chord songs in the key of F. If you had learned a song in C, you just had to move your left hand over to the other position to play it in F.

What is a "Seventh"

A G7 chord is a G chord with an F note added. If you're playing a 3-chord song in C, that extra note adds "tension" to the G chord and makes it apparent that the next chord you hear will be a C.

If you have a tuned autoharp handy, try playing a 3-chord song in C using C, F, and G chords. then play it using C, F, and G7. You'll see what I mean immediately.

You probably don't need to know that a C7 is a C chord with a Bb added. You just need to know that the same principle applies no matter what key you're in.

The sound of those "seventh" chords was so important to Zimermann and the other builders of early autoharps, that they squoze them in wherever they could.

More Chords, Same Patterns

But they kept the bottom row in the same sequence so you could play three-chord songs in Bb as easily as you could play them in F or C. (They added the ability to play in G as well, sneaking a D7 to the top row of buttons.)

The drawing to the right shows how the chords that support 3-chord songs are arranged the same no matter what key you're playing in (almost).

So if you learn a song in C but it's just a little too high to sing you can drop it to Bb, just by moving your left hand over.

If it's way high, you can go to F and play it exactly as you learned it in C. Going to G (on a 12- or 15-chorder) requires a slight adjustment, but folks have been making that adjustment since 1886, so you'll live.

Even More Chords

On a 21-chorder, the shape of each "chord cluster" is different, but the principle is the same. It's actually easier, because the "layout" is a little more logical.

Though the set of chords you need for each key is shaped differently from the 15-chorder, each set is the same for Bb, F, C, G, D, and G. (Playing in Eb is a little more complicated, but hardly anybody ever plays autoharp in that key anyway.)

Other 21-Chord Configurations

In most cases, when people reconfigure a 21-chord autoharp they continue to respect the "circle of fifths," so that the same chord patterns repeat across most of the chord bars, especially those between Bb and A.

One common reconfiguration is called "Bowers" setup, named after autoharp virtuouso Bryan Bowers. Bowers moves the chord bars for the "tonic" chords (Bb, F, C, G, D, A, and E) to the center row and puts the seventh chords in the top row. The chord pattern for each key is different from the chord patterns on a standard 21-chorder, but they're consistent with each other.

Frankly, my graphic for the Bowers setup is a little confusing, and not many beginners will be using it anyway, so I'm not including it in this article. But if you've inherited or started out with an autoharp in Bowers or a related setup, you can see the chord patterns you'll use in this graphic.

Conclusion

Other Autoharp Playing Resources

• Playing Autoharp Overview - Introduction to basic playing styles.

• Your First Autoharp - Explains how to get started even if you have a wonky old 'harp and know nothing about it.

• Autoharp Chord Substitutions - For when you encounter music that specifies chords your autoharp can't seem to play. Some of the suggested substitutions sound a little thin or lack notes you'd expect to hear, but at least they give you something to play.

• Jamming 3-Chord Songs on 12- and 15-Chord Autoharps - If you have a 12- or 15- chord autoharp, you can still play along with most "jams." It just takes a little adjustment, and learning two or so chord substitutions.

• Bringing Your Autoharp to a Jam Session - Playing random songs "round-robin" with other musicians is fun and a great learning experience. Here's what to expect.

• Your First Autoharp (Publication) - A downloadable 60+-page booklet that contains much of the information we've published online in an easy to use format, currently available from Etsy.

• Intro to Autoharp (Booklet) - A free, 4-page document I use at my clinics for beginners. You may print it for your personal or teaching use, as long as you retain the copyright information.

Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."

And please stay in touch!

    - Paul Race

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