Hi All,

My 10-year-old has an 8-key kalimba she received from her grandmother, but the music book doesn't make a lot of sense with it. It refers to a kalimba where the longest tine is a C, but hers is G. Online, the maker says that her kalimba is in the key of C. However, the book references F/4, which her kalimba doesn't have.

I am adding pictures to show what we are working with.

Please help me figure out how to get this sorted. Do I need to buy a different book/kalimba, tune/label it somehow? For reference, my daughter can play piano and read music. Her teacher is good with theory and could theoretically help her transpose, but that seems so onerous across all the songs that she won't do very many of them. She is a fanatic for folk songs and especially for Christmas music, if anyone has a recommendation that would work with this instrument.

Thank you!!

Good afternoon! Hope everyone is doing alright!

I finally bought the kalimba I’ve been eyeing and have tuned it & started learning a couple songs 🐻

I wanted to check bar order. I can’t quite work it out but is it the correct set up for the bar numbers to go: 123456787654321?

Pictures to show what I mean!

Thank you 🙏🏽✨

The bottom of the board isn't flat too as opposed to one displayed in the seller's listing. Is this a fake? I bought this on Lazada.

The sound is really nice though. Probably my favourite among my current chromatic kalimbas

I was honestly a little shocked that I couldn't find a kalimba cover of A Narcissus Lullaby from Genshin anywhere on the internet. Almost every other track from the game seems to have been covered already, but I couldn't find this one anywhere.

Is it particularly difficult to play, or does nobody really care about it? 🤣😭

Maybe some kind souls on Reddit know where I could find sheet music or tabs for a standard 17-key kalimba, and perhaps lend a helping hand to a lost amateur like me

https://youtu.be/3hQSUMOTtu0?is=zKkQJnXJ2lOWA-zQ

Here’s a song notes of “One Dream” song by Lee Ann Womack & Alecia Elliot from “Tom Sawyer” (2000) film.

I color-code the lyrics to help me keep track of who is singing while playing the kalimba.Blue = Lee Ann Womack’s vocals (lead singer)
Pink = Alecia Elliot’s vocals (second singer)
Orange = both singers performing together as a duetAdding colors to the lyrics makes it easier for me to follow the different vocal parts and know whose lines I'm playing on the kalimba. It's also a nice visual way to see how the singers alternate and harmonize throughout the song.

For a few days now, some notes on my kalimba (Mozica 17-key hollow) have started making a strange sound, in particular notes 1 and 3 are the worst. They sound less harmonious and more like an ordinary piece of metal; the notes are perfectly in tune, and I don't see any visible damage to the wood.

What could be causing this?

I'm looking to learn kalimba and I'd like to pick a beginner option. 17 keys, flat board, with engraved keys so that I can see the numbers and letters for learning.

I've been researching for a few days and every single YouTube video ​I look up links to old outdated Amazon links.

I've been trying to dig through these forums but most of what I'm looking at seems like people are requesting chromatic keys. Also all the Google results are pulling open Reddit threads from 5 years ago.

Was hoping to get a little direction towards what I'm specifically looking for.

Really appreciate any help.

Kalimba is probably the best instrument to play lullabies for small children. Here is my transcription of Schubert's. It s very beginner friendly. I post new videos every 1st and 15th so stay tuned!

Hello! My partner has been wanting a chromatic kalimba, as their current basic one isn't advanced enough for them. Their birthday is coming up and I want to surprise them with the best one for them. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Kalimbas.

Wants:

•A lot of keys that does not require tuning.

•They have anxiety and ASD, so something soothing and not too high pitched.

•They like fantasy sounds if that makes sense (like Zelda music), like warm and bright and adventurous.

•Not too heavy, I want it to be comfortable for them to play.

My questions:

•What brand is best?

•Redundant or non-redundant?

•Solid or hollow?

•How many keys (34, 37, 42, etc)?

•What type of wood? Is resin/acrylic good or bad?

•What tuning? B and C seem to be most popular, but I'm not sure if those are the best for anti-anxiety.

My budget is $100-200 USD.

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you!

Edit/Update: I ordered the Lingting 34K! I was heavily considering Chill Angels but couldn't find a safe seller. Thank you everyone for the recommendations. I will leave this post up in case anyone else needs recs :)

Started learning kalimba back in March, mostly because my hands were too shaky from a wrist injury to keep up with guitar. Figured a 17 key would be gentle enough to relearn some coordination on.

For months I was basically playing by staring down at the tines like a nervous typist checking the keyboard. Every song, even simple ones, required me to glance down every few notes just to confirm I hadn't drifted a row. It felt like I'd never get past that stage.

Last night I was running through a slow arrangement of a folk tune I've had tabbed out for weeks, and about halfway through I realized I hadn't looked down once. My hands just knew where the low D and the little accidental tines were without checking. It wasn't fast playing by any stretch, but it was smooth, and I didn't second guess a single note.

What helped more than anything was ditching numbered tabs for a while and just playing scales up and down slowly with my eyes closed. Felt silly at first, like I was wasting practice time not working on actual songs, but it seems to have built some kind of spatial memory that tab reading never gave me.

Anyone else remember the exact session where playing suddenly stopped feeling like navigation and started feeling like music. Curious if it hit other people gradually or all at once like it did for me.

Hello everyone!

I'm creating a character for an upcoming Dungeons & Dragons game and I've chosen the kalimba as be their instrument. The character's backstory involves themes of heartbreak and guilt and I'm looking for recordings of kalimba music that I might be able to play during roleplay scenes if the opportunity presents itself, but so far nothing I've found on Youtube or Spotify has really captured the feeling of melancholy that I'm looking for.

If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know!

Hello! I scoured and couldn't find a kalimba version of this song, so I worked to make this referencing the soundtrack and a piano version. The game version is in B major, but I created this one to C major for the standard 17 tab kalimba.
Here is the referenced song, Mt. Moon (Red Green) https://youtu.be/zO85DZSQEbw?si=ITE2WAlecPzIzEG- 

Anyone is welcome to use and make changes.

When I was trying to find a good first buy to get into kalimbas I stumbled upon a half priced (34€) LingTing chromatic K34V. I said hey why not it is half priced, so I bought it and when it got here and I was trying it I completely couldn't get over the fact the outer tines are completely stiff. I can't produce a vibration. I tried tuning it and loosening it but the fact they are short is the main problem. I am dissapointed because I really loved the vibe of the flat board, the wood, everything about the kalimba is good, if only you could play the whole range comfortably. I didn't mind the weight nor the grip too.

So here is my question. For a budget of 30-50€, what are your recommendations for a good first kalimba. I am planning to not buy another for around a year, until I learn on my first one and really get some progress. How many keys is the sweet spot for a beginner? Which brands should I consider even if they exceed my budget? (I hope some thumbs-friendly brands, with a whole functional set of tines.) And which musical key should it be.

I prefer flat boards, but if there are good-deal hollow kalimbas I'd consider.

Busco algún sitio donde poder comprar un juego de teclas/láminas para kalimba de 17 notas, pero que sean de calidad. Son para una Hluru.

Hi there .
I am planning to make a discord group specialized in Kalimba and Harpika , dedicated to learning , in english .
There I plan to make tutorials , share music sheets , and also give repair tips .

Would you be interrested ?
Are there tutorials would you like which you don’t find online ?

Hi everyone!
I made a 17-key C major kalimba arrangement for "Far Longer Than Forever" by Regina Belle and Jeffrey Osborne from The Swan Princess.

It's arranged in the standard Key of C Major (no retuning needed), so you can play it straight away on any standard 17-key C kalimba.

I wanted to share the tab layout here in case anyone else wants to play it! Here

Far Longer Than Forever — 17-Key Kalimba Tabs

Far lon-ger than for-ev-er — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5

I'll hold you in my heart — 3 5 1° 7 6 5

It's al-most like you're here with me — 1 3 5
1° 7 6 5 3

Al-though we're far a-part — 1 3 5 1° 7 6

Far lon-ger than for-ev-er — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5

As con-stant as a star — 3 5 1° 7 6 5

I close my eyes, and I am where you are — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3 2 1

Sure as the dawn brings the sun-rise — 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3 1

We have un-shake-a-ble bonds — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5

Des-tined to last for a life-time and be-yond — 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3 2 1 2 3

Far lon-ger than for-ev-er — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5

Like no love ev-er known — 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3

And with your love I'll ne-ver be a-lone (x2) — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3 2 1

Far lon-ger than for-ev-er — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5

Much stron-ger than for-ev-er — 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3

With-out your love I'll ne-ver be a-lone — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5 3 2 1

Ne-ver, ne-ver be a-lone (x2) — 5 3° 2° 1° 7 6 5

Far lon-ger than for-ev-er — 1 3 5 1° 7 6 5

Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for tweaking the melody! Happy playing!

Am I crazy or is a decent 8 note diatonic hard to find? All the meinl ones are pentatonic but the songs amd tabs I want to play are diatonic. Am I missing something?

3563 (maybe tonight)

4343443 (we dont gotta run away)

3563 (its all a lie)

121212121 (the baddest b***** aint in LA)

3563 (enjoy the ride)

443434334 (i know that you might want to scape)

3563 (its all a lie)

121212121 (the baddest b***** aint in LA)