Ok, I’m a Believer Now

On my Monday’s practice I tried holding the harp with the strings vertical like everyone else does… Ok, they’re right. It is much easer. You don’t have to move your fingers around as much. I admit it now. I put my middle finger on the first chord and my ring and pointer finger line up to the two most likely other chords that will be used in the song. In fact I tried all the same songs I originally tried under the horizontal strings method and all the songs were easier to play except one. It had a long reach from the D chord to the Em chord and one other chord that went beyond the normal three fingers. But, over all, I’m convinced.

Tuesday I couldn’t stand waiting any longer for the Autoharp Store to send me my “deluxe” tuner. So I went down to Acoustic Music and just bought one. It was pricey, but I’m tired of just pretending to play the strings while I focus on the bars. It took me the rest of Tuesday night to tune up the harp. I tuned it sharp in hopes that it would stretch out more quickly that way.

Tonight I found that Tuesday’s tuning sharp, paid off. It only took a little while to get all the strings on tune (or as close as I can come until I get a proper hex key for the fine tuner) and that’s probably good enough for my uneducated ear. Then I had my first real practice. I seem to have the coordination down for strumming and switching chord bars at the right time. I’ve got it pretty simple right now. The song I’m working with is in 4/4 time and I’m just strumming right across the strings. It sounds good to me. But I think some of the strings started going flat by the time the practice was finished. I guess it will be a while before the harp and its strings stabilize. I’m hoping one or two more practices and I’ll have this song down. I’m already getting really board hearing myself sing. Oh well. At least its nice to be making some sound.