Product Details

• Actors: John Sebastian
• Directors: Happy Traum
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Homespun Tapes
• DVD Release Date: June 1, 2005
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009IRKFQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #125,696 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Here’s a step-by-step learning guide to one of our most beautiful (and easiest) traditional instruments. John Sebastian, whose Autoharp was heard by millions on his hit songs with The Lovin’ Spoonful, teaches you everything you’ll need to make your own music - even if you’ve never played an instrument before!

This clear, easy-to-follow DVD lesson starts you off by showing you the right way to hold and tune your Autoharp and how to use the most efficient left-hand fingering to push down the chord buttons. Learning to play simple strums with the flatpick will enable you to easily create lovely song accompaniments to some all-time favorite traditional songs. By coordinating your fingers and thumb in fingerpicking patterns, you’ll start finding melody notes and scales so you can play full instrumental solos.

Whether you are using the Autoharp in the classroom, living room, or at folk and rock festivals, this lesson by one of America’s most beloved performers will get you started right away!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So slow -then so fast, July 24, 2007

By 

Henny Penny "MOM OF THREE" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DVD-Learn To Play Autoharp (DVD)

Ok, when this guy starts you think we are never going to get to play the harp here. He spends forever on tuning and talking up the harp. Then all of the sudden he is playing songs this way and that. You are supposed to play along, but there is no bouncing ball telling you what notes to play. Then he starts singing, which is not that great, so you are thinking what the heck is going on here.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good instructional video for beginners, January 17, 2007

By 

R. Asphaug (Centennial, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DVD-Learn To Play Autoharp (DVD)

John Sebastian gives a calm, relaxed instruction on how to use the autoharp. Using his techniques, I was able to astound my family - who thought I must have been practicing secretly for weeks! I wish he'd shown how to use the fine tuners as well as regular tuners, but other than that I have no quibbles. There's no substitute for actually seeing how the autoharp is to be played and tuned, and Sebastian's video fits the bill. (Note: I had trouble running this DVD on my Mac; it ran fine on my PC and DVD player.)

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for beginners, January 3, 2007

By 

Nihonkabu "Bibliophile" (Medfield, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DVD-Learn To Play Autoharp (DVD)

I did not think this DVD was helpful for a novice autoharp player. Yes, it was very detailed in showing how to tune the autoharp, but it did not explain well how to play. It also progressed much too rapidly. It needs to have more basic how-tos added. It also assumes that you know chords, chord progressions, etc. I must confess I was disappointed.