Almost everyone just learning to play the kalimba goes through a stage lasting between about one week and one year where the kalimba's tines make your thumb flesh hurt. Over time, you will probably develop small callouses on your thumbs. I have one right under my right thumbnail, but my left thumb doesn't have one for some reason.

I recommend that people play with their thumbnail instead of the thumb flesh. Playing with your nail will permit you to play for hours without pain. Actually, I recommend that you lightly touch the tine first with your thumb flesh, to deaden any vibrations that might be ongoing (so the hard nail doesn't make an ugly sound when it touches a vibrating tine), and then drag the nail off of the tip of the tine, angling down as you come off, but not pushing down very hard at all.

A good length for a thumbnail.

This playing technique requires that you know a bit about thumbnail care. Fortunately, we have a series of Thumbnail Care tips that will help you become an expert in no time. For your convenience, we have condensed that series into the following list of quintessential thumbnail recommendations:

• If you can't grow your nails (you are a massage therapist, for example), use Alaska pics, which are available in guitar shops in your town or at the Kalimba Magic Shop.
• If you break a nail, you can perform thumbnail 'surgery' by clipping around the crack, or you can actually glue the nail back together using super glue.
• Speaking of super glue, you can actually paint your nails with super glue to strengthen them and help prevent breaks and to help slow nail errosion due to lots of kalimba playing.
• When you purchase super glue, be sure to get some that comes with a brush applicator, just like nail polish.
• If you play kalimba hard for an hour or two in one day, you will find that the thumbnail wears away at the place you tend to strike the kalimba tines. You will want to file your nail even to improve your playing the next time you play.
• If your nails are too long, they are liable to break. If they are too short, you can't do the glissando, or you will wear them down too quickly. So, there is an optimal nail length that gives you enough to work with, but not so much that you will break it off to nothing.
• I recently broke a nail while hauling equipment for a live performance - well, it only broke half way across, still attached to the other side of the nail. I did not have super glue, which would have solved the problem, so I folded the broken part of the nail under the solid part of the nail it broke off from, and it held for the hour-long performance.
• You can shape your nails differently for different kalimbas. The Pentatonic kalimba likes flatter nails, while the Treble kalimba with its small and close tines might prefer pointier nails.
• If your nails are too long and are not very stiff, you will hear them slapping back when you play - not a very nice sound. You can avoid that by painting with super glue, filing them back, or playing closer to the left or right side of the nail.
• After you clip your thumbnails, you will find there is a clicky attack to your kalimba playing. It will take a few days of life or a few hours of kalimba playing to smooth your nails enough to eliminate that clicky sound.

If the tips and links offered here don't address your questions about thumbnail care, feel free to contact me!