"Learning to play kalimba," says Andrew Tracey, son of Hugh Tracey, the man who made the first kalimbas that were sent around the world in the late 1950's, "is best done by learning from someone who knows how to play kalimba."

But what if you don't know anyone who plays kalimba well?

You can get KTabS, musical notation software just for the kalimba, and instructional books using KTabS, that are a lot like looking over someone's shoulder to learn in detail exactly what they are doing. (Only KTabS doesn't complain when you ask it to repeat a section over and over so you can learn it at your own speed!)

There are great resources for beginners and advanced players alike in the How to Play pages for Alto kalimba, Treble kalimba, 8-Note kalimba, Pentatonic kalimba, African Tuned Karimba, and for the exotic Sansula. You'll be coming back to learn from this material for weeks or months to come.

If you are an advanced player, you may be interested in learning about playing the electric kalimba. The inexpensive pickups that are an option for the Hugh Tracey kalimbas can help you at performances, and they can facilitate adding cool digital effects and help you with recording.

If you would like some very basic instruction on how to get started on the kalimba, go to Fundamentals of the Kalimba, or contact me for some personal instruction.

The best thing to remember is to have fun on your journey!
—Mark Holdaway