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Easy Kalimba Songs for Beginners

Easy kalimba songs for beginners stay on the middle tines: Hot Cross Buns (3 2 1), Mary Had a Little Lamb, Ode to Joy and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. On a 17-key kalimba in C, number tabs write the notes C to B as 1 to 7, with a dot (° here) for each higher octave. All ten songs here are public domain.

Works in the UK and the US. This version uses UK music words (bar, crotchet, quaver, stave); the US version uses measure, quarter note, eighth note and staff. · US version of this page

Updated · By the Classfern Music Department

Key facts

  • A 17-key kalimba in C plays C4 to E6: the longest, middle tine is C4 (number 1).
  • Tines alternate left and right as they go up: C in the middle, D to its left, E to its right, F to the left of D, and so on.
  • Number notation: 1 = C, 2 = D, 3 = E, 4 = F, 5 = G, 6 = A, 7 = B. One dot above (written 1° here) = one octave higher; two dots = two octaves higher.
  • Play left-side tines with the left thumb and right-side tines with the right thumb, flicking each tine near its tip.
  • The kalimba is a modern thumb piano based on the African mbira family; it plays a C major scale with no sharps or flats.
  • All ten songs are traditional or by composers who died more than 70 years ago.

Tap the kalimba: every tine with its number

Classfern’s free online kalimba on lessonplanner.info: press a tine to hear it. The middle tine is 1 (C); the numbers go up left and right in turn, just like a real 17-key kalimba. When a song below plays, its tines light up here. Self-assessed Can you find 1, 3 and 5 without looking at the numbers?

Sounds are made in your browser. This page never uses the microphone, and nothing is recorded or sent.

What are the easiest kalimba songs?

Hot Cross Buns is the easiest kalimba song: just 3, 2 and 1 (E, D and C), the three tines in the middle. Then try Mary Had a Little Lamb (adds 5), Ode to Joy and Jingle Bells, which stay within the five middle notes 1 to 5.

Hot Cross Buns

Level 1 (3 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 · 4/4 · Traditional English street cry (printed by 1733) (public domain)

3E 2D 1C 3E 2D 1C 1C 1C 1C 1C 2D 2D 2D 2D 3E 2D 1C

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Level 1 (4 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 5 · 4/4 · Words: Sarah Josepha Hale (1830). Tune: traditional American (public domain)

3E 2D 1C 2D 3E 3E 3E 2D 2D 2D 3E 5G 5G 3E 2D 1C 2D 3E 3E 3E 3E 2D 2D 3E 2D 1C

Ode to Joy

Level 2 (5 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 · 4/4 · Ludwig van Beethoven (1824), from his 9th Symphony (public domain)

3E 3E 4F 5G 5G 4F 3E 2D 1C 1C 2D 3E 3E 2D 2D 3E 3E 4F 5G 5G 4F 3E 2D 1C 1C 2D 3E 2D 1C 1C

How do you read kalimba tabs?

Kalimba number tabs write each note as a number from 1 to 7 (C to B). A dot above a number means one octave higher, so 1° is the C above the middle C. Play the numbers from left to right; | marks the end of a bar.

Kalimba numbers and notes (17-key kalimba in C)
NumberNoteWhere the tine is
1C4 (261.6 Hz)Middle (longest tine)
2D4 (293.7 Hz)1 to the left of the middle
3E4 (329.6 Hz)1 to the right of the middle
4F4 (349.2 Hz)2 to the left of the middle
5G4 (392.0 Hz)2 to the right of the middle
6A4 (440.0 Hz)3 to the left of the middle
7B4 (493.9 Hz)3 to the right of the middle
1°C5 (523.3 Hz)4 to the left of the middle
2°D5 (587.3 Hz)4 to the right of the middle
3°E5 (659.3 Hz)5 to the left of the middle
4°F5 (698.5 Hz)5 to the right of the middle
5°G5 (784.0 Hz)6 to the left of the middle
6°A5 (880.0 Hz)6 to the right of the middle
7°B5 (987.8 Hz)7 to the left of the middle
1°°C6 (1046.5 Hz)7 to the right of the middle
2°°D6 (1174.7 Hz)8 to the left of the middle
3°°E6 (1318.5 Hz)8 to the right of the middle

Printed kalimba tabs put the dots above the number; on this page they are written as ° after it (1°, 1°°), so they can be read aloud and copied. Many tabs are also printed as a picture of the tines, top to bottom; the numbers are the same.

London Bridge Is Falling Down

Level 2 (6 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 · 4/4 · Traditional English nursery song (printed by 1744) (public domain)

5G 6A 5G 4F 3E 4F 5G 2D 3E 4F 3E 4F 5G 5G 6A 5G 4F 3E 4F 5G 2D 5G 3E 1C

Jingle Bells (chorus)

Level 2 (5 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 · 4/4 · James Lord Pierpont (1857) (public domain)

3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 5G 1C 2D 3E 4F 4F 4F 4F 4F 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 2D 2D 3E 2D 5G 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 5G 1C 2D 3E 4F 4F 4F 4F 4F 3E 3E 3E 3E 5G 5G 4F 2D 1C

How do you play the kalimba for beginners?

Hold the kalimba in both hands with your thumbs on the tines and flick each tine down near its tip with the edge of your thumbnail. Left-side tines are played by the left thumb, right-side tines by the right thumb.

  1. Hold the kalimba with your fingers behind it and your thumbs resting on the front.
  2. Flick the middle tine (1) with your left or right thumb, near the tip, then let it ring.
  3. Play 1 2 3 (C D E): left, left, right. Neighbouring notes swap thumbs.
  4. Play 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 slowly until the swaps are automatic.
  5. Pick a song above and play along with the sound.
Mr Chopin, Classfern’s head of music (grey hair, round glasses, sage-green cardigan and bow tie), smiling warmly

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Level 2 (6 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 · 4/4 · French melody (1761); words by Jane Taylor (1806) (public domain)

1C 1C 5G 5G 6A 6A 5G 4F 4F 3E 3E 2D 2D 1C 5G 5G 4F 4F 3E 3E 2D 5G 5G 4F 4F 3E 3E 2D 1C 1C 5G 5G 6A 6A 5G 4F 4F 3E 3E 2D 2D 1C

Lightly Row

Level 2 (5 tines) · Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 · 4/4 · Traditional German tune (public domain)

5G 3E 3E 4F 2D 2D 1C 2D 3E 4F 5G 5G 5G 5G 3E 3E 4F 2D 2D 1C 3E 5G 5G 3E 2D 2D 2D 2D 2D 3E 4F 3E 3E 3E 3E 3E 4F 5G 5G 3E 3E 4F 2D 2D 1C 3E 5G 5G 1C

What songs can you play on a 17-key kalimba?

Any tune that uses the C major scale between C4 and E6, such as folk songs, hymns, nursery songs and classical themes. Tunes in G or F major also fit, as long as they avoid the sharp or flat notes the kalimba does not have.

Frère Jacques is written here in G major and Amazing Grace and Auld Lang Syne in F major, all on the white-key notes a C kalimba has. Many popular songs are still in copyright, so Classfern does not publish their tabs.

Frère Jacques (Are You Sleeping?)

Level 3 (G major) · Notes: 2 5 6 7 1° 2° 3° · 4/4 · Traditional French round (18th century) (public domain)

5G 6A 7B 5G 5G 6A 7B 5G 7B 1°C 2°D 7B 1°C 2°D 2°D 3°E 2°D 1°C 7B 5G 2°D 3°E 2°D 1°C 7B 5G 5G 2D 5G 5G 2D 5G

Amazing Grace

Level 3 (F major) · Notes: 1 2 4 5 6 1° · 3/4 · Words: John Newton (1779). Tune: “New Britain”, American (1829) (public domain)

1C 4F 6A 4F 6A 5G 4F 2D 1C 1C 4F 6A 4F 6A 5G 1°C 1°C 6A 1°C 6A 4F 6A 5G 4F 2D 1C 1C 4F 6A 4F 6A 5G 4F

Auld Lang Syne

Level 3 (F major) · Notes: 1 2 4 5 6 1° 2° · 4/4 · Words: Robert Burns (1788). Tune: traditional Scottish (public domain)

1C 4F 4F 4F 6A 5G 4F 5G 6A 4F 4F 6A 1°C 2°D 2°D 1°C 6A 6A 4F 5G 4F 5G 6A 4F 2D 2D 1C 4F

How do you tune a kalimba?

Tap a tine further into the bridge with a small tuning hammer to make it longer and lower, or out to make it shorter and higher. Check each tine against a tuner or a reference note, such as the tines on this page.

Only move a tine a tiny amount at a time. Tuning the middle C (1) first, then the rest, keeps the whole kalimba in tune with itself. The note names and frequencies in the table above are standard concert pitch, A4 = 440 Hz.

A 10-minute kalimba practice plan

  1. 2 minutes: 1 2 3 4 5 up and down, slowly, swapping thumbs.
  2. 3 minutes: one Level 1 song.
  3. 3 minutes: a new song, one bar at a time.
  4. 2 minutes: play your favourite song from memory.

Self-assessed Tick each step when you can do it twice without a wrong tine. Like the sound? Try the same tunes on the glockenspiel or the ocarina.

Miss Clara Schumann (auburn curls with a teal bow, dark green jacket, tartan skirt), waving hello

Quick quiz: reading kalimba numbers

Six questions on numbers, dots and thumbs. Marked by Classfern Your score stays in this browser.

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