[aw-toh-hahrp] 
| a zither having buttons that when depressed damp all strings except those to be sounded, the undamped strings being strummed to produce simple chords. |
| Au·to·harp (ô'tō-härp') A trademark used for a musical instrument similar to a zither. |
autoharp
stringedstringed instrument of the zither family popular for accompaniment in folk music and country and western music. A musician may position the instrument on a table, on the lap while seated, or resting against the left shoulder. An autoharp player strums the strings with a stiff felt or plastic pick held in the right hand or less commonly with the thumb of the right hand, while the left hand operates button-controlled bars that damp all strings except those of the selected chords. Autoharps may be tuned diatonically (i.e., using a scale or scales based on seven steps to the octave) or chromatically (i.e., using 12 semitones to the octave), and the number of chord bars varies from as few as 3 to as many as 27, with 15- and 21-chord models being the most popular. The instrument has been used for teaching simple harmony
Learn more about autoharp with a free trial on Britannica.com.
toʊˌhɑrp
