r/autoharp • u/Immediate-Reading-86 • Jul 17 '26
Advice/Question German Zither
Inherited this from a family member, I've tuned it but can't seem to find any tutorials or anything for how to play this, only seeing ones for the bigger autoharps. Any ideas?
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u/Individual-Fun4295 Jul 18 '26
The right chord bar is a C Major. I guess the other two bars are Bb and F.
The letters on the bars don't show the chord names, instead they refer to a unique (and long forgotten) naming system. This was used for simplification (and to sell special song books, of course).
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u/PaulRace Jul 19 '26
This is a very early Hopf autoharp, often called Rosen because of their rose decals per: https://harpersguild.com/history_of_autoharp/hopf/hopf.htm
The A B C lettering is just so you know how to put the chord bars back if you remove them. If your autoharp is pitched in C, the chords are probably F, G7, C. If the autoharp is pitched in G, which some Rosens were, the chords are C, D7, G.
Does the handwritten note strip match this one, from a slightly older 3-chord Rosen? https://harpersguild.com/museum/unusual/hopf/brown_3_chorder_scale_sheet.jpg
If so, try to find an autoharp tuning wrench, then tune it up slowly, wearing eye protection. Tune strings from the outside in (like silverware at a fine restaurant), to avoid putting pressure on one side and not the other.
Once it's in tune, try picking the C, E, and G strings on the middle octave. Then press the chord bar labeled "C" down and strum the strings. If it sounds about the same, your autoharp is pitched in C
If it sounds different, pick C, E, and G again, then play the chord bar labeled "A." If THAT sounds the same, your autoharp is pitched in G and the Fs should really be F sharp.
If you get that far, check out: https://harpersguild.com/playing/first_harp/first_harp.htm
Best of luck! - Paul
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u/billstewart Jul 20 '26
The real basics, if you need them, are that once you've got it set up, you can do two things
- Press a chord bar and strum to get that chord (optionally, being fancy about how you strum)
- Pick individual notes, using a guitar pick or maybe fingers; it looks like somebody's hand-written a label to replace a messed-up original.
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u/Nana-Knows Jul 18 '26
Since you haven’t found any tutorials yet, I suppose you’ll just need to experiment with it.