Autoharp

Music & lyrics by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings.

Note: The final verse of this song is supposed to be a half-step higher than the first two. However, the only major keys my autoharp has that are half a step apart are E and F, and I don't have all the necessary chords to play it in E. So what I have notated instead is F to G, going up a whole step on the last note of the bridge.

This is a waltz arrangement of the Super Mario Bros theme song. Although I can play the melody notes, I'm only providing the accompaniment chords at this time. Each chord shown below represents a full measure of three beats (or two beats, if you're playing it the traditional way).

After playing just the melody notes through once, I like to play this a second time with twice as many strokes... it fills the song out somehow.

See below for an MP3 of this arrangement.

Note that this is in 3/4 time, with the first beat of each line held over from the previous measure.

Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings

Note that this is in 3/4 time with the first beat of each line held over from the previous measure, so that you should start counting time with the word "say."

I like to play this with the more rollicking rhythm of the original song, "To Anacreon in Heav'n." Click through for a recording of my arrangement... it took two takes, so there's a hiccup in the middle.

By Carolyn McDade
Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings

For some reason when I play this ordinarily sedate hymn as an instrumental, I like to use a sort of calypso rhythm. Don't ask me why. Click through for a recording.

Music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg.
Autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings.
Click through to listen to this arrangement.

by John Phillip Souza
a.k.a. the theme song of Monty Python's Flying Circus
autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings

This tune has no lyrics, but here's the fully orchestrated tune in case you're unfamiliar. Note that this recording is in the key of F while the transcription below is in G... unless your 'harp has an A#7 (Bb7) chord button, you won't be able to hit all the melody notes in F. But you could practice playing backup along with the music, if you like.

by Mario Lanza
autoharp arrangement by Ben Stallings
see below an MP3 of this arrangement

This is a good warm-up piece before attempting the Liberty Bell March, since it uses some of the same chord progressions. Click through for a recording of this arrangement.

When I was first teaching myself to play the autoharp, I got to feeling pretty cocky about my ability to play by ear. I brought it along to a church youth conference I was chaparoning and asked a teenage boy to pick a tune so I could demonstrate. I was expecting him to choose a rock song, I guess, but hearing a rock song butchered on the autoharp was not his priority: much better to make himself look smart and take me down a notch! He asked for "Greensleeves," and I was stumped... it took me about 5 years to work out this arrangement, and I don't ask teenagers for requests anymore.