When Hugh Tracey started making his 17-Note Treble kalimbas in South Africa in 1954, the instruments had one out of every three tines painted, on each side of the kalimba. These Treble kalimbas ended up with five painted tines, in the key of G, with the low note being B.

Now, a new crop of 17-note kalimbas from China has surfaced under names such as Gecko, Donner, and Walter kalimbas. They are all in the key of C. So while looking exactly like the Treble Hugh Tracey kalimba, they are in a different key, which changes everything. These kalimbas come unpainted with decals for marking the tines, and the manufacturers recommend marking five tines - which is the exact Treble painting scheme. But this can be a problem and here is why:

Tine painting defines how a person learns to play a kalimba and tremendously eases the process of learning songs from kalimba tablature.  Hugh Tracey's Treble kalimba is in the key of G and has its own unique tine-painting layout. But you cannot use Treble instructional materials with your 17-note in C. In order for you to take advantage of the vast offering of Kalimba Magic books, instructional downloads and hundreds of songs that are applicable to the 17-note in C (including all downloads for the 10-note kalimba, 66 Songs for the 17-Note, plus the entire body of Alto kalimba literature) - the Treble's five-tine painting scheme will simply not work. 

By using the six-tine painting scheme outlined in this post, your 17-note becomes part of a world of song instruction, help, and community at your fingertips.

I have just finished "Easy Christmas" ebooks for each of four of my best selling kalimbas. Part of every ebook is the sound recordings for each song. So, I have a great data set for comparing these four popular kalimbas, side by side.

This collection of Christmas favorites has been arranged specifically for the Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba in G. We started with a set of generic arrangements, but refined several of them so all the songs are comfortable and easy to play on the 17-Note Hugh Tracey Treble kalimba.

I have been playing Christmas Carols on the kalimba for 20 years. Not only is it a fine way to learn your kalimba, working on songs you already know. It is also a fantastic way to cultivate feelings of joy and gratitude during the lead-up to the holiday season. It is also a great way to share joy with other people in your life.

This 59-page PDF download with clickable links to MP3 files has tablature for 32 different versions of 28 different carols. This book has enough easy songs to have you playing carols right away, and it has enough complex songs to keep you learning and playing carols each holiday season for years!

Two years ago, I made a video demonstration of my kalimba tablature (which I originally created in 2004 to facilitate learning and sharing music on kalimba), playing Greensleeves on the 8-Note kalimba. The illustration at the top of this article is from that video. Three of the kalimba's tines were painted red, and the three corresponding columns in the tablature were also colored red - the tablature is a replica of the kalimba, and each column represents a different tine.

What if you loved "Greensleeves" and wanted to play it on your 17-Note kalimba? Is it even possible to transfer music for one kalimba to a different one? Generally, you cannot play 17-Note kalimba music on an 8-Note kalimba; it just doesn't have all the notes you likely need. But you can generally do the opposite, which is to play 8-Note kalimba music on your 17-Note kalimba... if one crucial thing is true: that the 17-Note has tines painted in the same logical scheme. And this is possible even though the 17-Note is in C and the 8-Note is in D. Tine painting can make all things possible!

Come with me for a moment, to stand behind Hugh Tracey, circa 1952. For years before he began selling his kalimbas, Dr. Tracey worked at perfecting a new kalimba invention, creating over 100 prototypes, experimenting with various design features. When he finally settled on what worked and sounded best for his Treble kalimba, he had really accomplished a tremendous feat. Hugh Tracey kalimbas still look almost exactly as they did in 1954, when he started selling them to the world, and many kalimba makers across the globe copy the Hugh Tracey Treble design. Hugh Tracey's work is the standard by which modern kalimbas are judged.

One very significant change that Dr.Tracey made to traditional African instruments was to paint every third tine on his kalimba. Why? To help you find your way on its 17 otherwise indistinguishable tines.

Hugh Tracey kalimbas generally come with just RED or BLUE painted tines. But Kalimba Magic offers you LOTS MORE CHOICES...  including BLACK and _______.

The classic holiday song "Let it Snow" has a great trick that usually doesn't work on the kalimba. Some songs, including this one, modulate to a different key temporarily. Usually, when you modulate to another key, you have "accidentals" - that is, notes that are not in the original key, or even on the kalimba! Well, "Let it Snow" can be played happily on your kalimba with a bit of musical sleight-of-hand.

You can hear the modulation in "Let it Snow" - it happens in the bridge at 0:42 in the video. At that point, another note and another chord temporarily become "home base." How do you think I will navigate this?

 Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post about our "New and Improved Downloads." They are great and convenient - a single PDF file, easily downloaded, with live links to the MP3 files and to other helpful kalimba resources online.

Kalimba Magic's older downloads were and still are sent out as ZIP files. Many people have no problem navigating the ZIP file. In recent times I have sold hundreds of the "66 Songs for 17-Note Kalimba in C" (ZIP file) download, and several people have had issues with opening it. So I am addressing this issue here.

This collection of Christmas favorites has been arranged specifically for the 17-Note kalimba in C.

I have been playing Christmas Carols on the kalimba for 20 years. Not only is it a fine way to learn your kalimba, working on songs you already know. It is also a fantastic way to cultivate feelings of joy and gratitude during the lead-up to the holiday season. It is also a great way to share joy with other people in your life.

This 59-page PDF download with clickable links to MP3 files has tablature for 32 different versions of 28 different carols. This book has enough easy songs to have you playing carols right away, and it has enough complex songs to keep you learning carols each holiday season for years!

I often get asked "Hey, what kalimba should I get for my kids?"  My response is to say that it depends on how old they are. And the rule of thumb above is a good one.

People love to think of their kids as more advanced than they actually are. Maybe what we parents do is to see our child's potential rather than their actuality. I know for a fact that I was sometimes disadvantaged by my own parents' excessive belief in my abilities, and I did get a lot of gifts that were, frankly, a bit beyond me. In the beginning it's often better to be great on a simple thing than to get lost in a complicated one.

OK - so what kalimba will be right for your kids?

This collection of Christmas favorites has been arranged specifically for the Hugh Tracey Alto Kalimba in G. We started with a set of generic arrangements, but refined several of them so all the songs are comfortable and easy to play on the 15-Note Alto.

I myself have been playing Christmas Carols on the kalimba for 20 years. Playing carols is a fine way to learn your kalimba, working on songs you already know. It is also a great way to learn about classical harmony. Playing carols is a fantastic way to cultivate feelings of joy and gratitude during the leadup to the holiday season. It is also a great way to share joy with other people in your life.

This 59-page PDF download with clickable links to MP3 files has tablature for 32 different versions of 28 different carols. This book has enough easy songs to have you playing carols right away, and it has enough complex songs to keep you learning carols each holiday season for years!

I should have known better than to post a video of a kalimba in a strange new tuning, and then not also make that tuning available to everyone. Several folks have requested the Dajari-F B11 tuning, so here it is.

The initial plan for this year was to make instructional downloads for each of six exotic B11 tunings, to demonstrate the breadth of music that is possible on this otherwise unassuming but beautiful kalimba... but then Christmas came knocking, and with it came the creation of four new books of Easy Christmas Carols... to get this done, several items had to be put on hold including the exotic B11 project and the Dajari-F tuning.

We regret the delay, but now you are invited to explore this very clean and positive B11 tuning.

I write this blog post as a gift to the five people who have asked for the tablature.

I made a video of this song a few months ago to demo the 17-Note Heart Kalimba in C, but I wrote the song about 15 years ago. Originally, it was called "Chorale," and I wrote it originally on piano, as a love song for my sweetie, Deb.

The first 16 measures were included in my first kalimba book "Kalimba Fundamentals for the Alto Kalimba" under the name "Chorale." A longer version was included in the "Advanced Alto Download."

Are you wondering why I call this song "Forgiveness" now, and not "Chorale"?

A Kalimba Magic customer recently expressed the desire to play the eternally popular "Love Me Tender" on their 17-Note Kalimba in C, and the result is this blog post and free tablature for everyone to learn it. The 17-Note C Kalimba tablature is also usable with a 15-Note ALTO kalimba, and if you have Alto kalimba tablature, you can use it for your 17-Note in C - just be aware that the note names will be shifted by a 4th.

What's cool about this post is that we break the music down into three versions (on tablature AND on video!) - melody only, melody plus chords, and melody plus fully chromatic chords. This makes it so easy for you that it practically plays itself. Give it a look!

You may very well know that right now, the most popular kalimba video in the world is by Acoustic Trench, playing "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" (made most famous by Elvis Presley in 1961) on an alternatively-tuned 17-Note kalimba. Trench's tuning made a bass scale, going from the center to the far left - and a treble scale, going from the center to the far right. He played melody on the right and accompaniment on the left.

Well now - let's just say that right now you are sitting in the catbird seat, because you have choices. You can learn to play the song in this alternative tuning; or you could learn to play it in the generic tuning for the 17-note kalimba, where both thumbs are involved in playing the melody.

My idea of kalimba playing perfection is being able to know exactly where every tine is on my kalimba without looking. To be able to leap across from one side to the other, or to be able to jump large intervals from a low tine to a high tine... perfectly! To be able to play amazingly, quickly, accurately, and crisply, all by feel and memory.

Ah, it's a lovely dream. But after playing for 32 years, I still like to rely on visual cues to help me keep my place and find my way on the kalimba.

This blog post describes five different ways in which painted tines can help you play better kalimba.

This collection of Christmas favorites has been arranged specifically for the 10-Note kalimba in C.

This 59-page PDF download with clickable links to MP3 files has tablature for 28 different carols. Now that is quite something, really... so few notes and such a huge repertoire! Read on to find my secret technique for expanding the range of this tiny instrument. This book has enough to keep you learning carols each holiday season for years!

Last week, someone emailed me asking: "I've looked at a lot of your music, and I cannot find the African music! Is there any actual African music for the kalimba?"

The answer is YES! Although admittedly, I do provide a lot of other types of music - Sansula music, folk tunes, Christmas songs, Elvis songs, nursery rhymes, New Age music... and it is easy to get lost. But there is plenty of African stuff here!

'Way back around 10 years ago, I was embarrassed about how little I knew about African music, and how little of it I offered at Kalimba Magic. But now, after a lot of work, learning and playing, all of that has changed, and we actually have a LOT about African music.

When they get an order, most of the world's kalimba purveyors just pull an instrument off the shelf, pack it in a box, and put a label on it.

At Kalimba Magic, we do so much more. We fine-tune the instrument. We paint the tines for guidance. Sometimes we retune the instrument to a different tuning.

And sometimes we just take the whole thing apart, rearrange the kalimba, and rebuild it as a totally different beast.

That is how we make the Celtic D Kalimba, SaReGaMa karimbas, and a whole host of custom-tuned instruments.

Follow along as I work my magic to create a Celtic D:

People have literally been dreaming about this instrument for over 10 years, and now it is here.

The Sansula, with its 9 charmingly exotic, crystal-clear notes, was an instant hit, but people wanted more - more notes and more musical possibilities. I have heard dozens of people express their wish for a "bigger sansula" and today that instrument is here.

Hokema (its creator) calls it the Melody Sansula, but I call it the B11 Sansula. I think my name tells more about this instrument.

The sansula is a wonderful, mysterious contradiction.

Whatever you play on the sansula sounds great...and the sansula also has a limited capability.

This download goes below the sweet, fluffy outer layer of the sansula's character and gives you the understandings needed to really work the instrument's potential, resulting in a lot more joy and music! Included in the ebook: the essential chord progression and melodies of the sansula in standard tuning; play along with surprisingly diverse chord progressions; accompanying another instrument; and alternative tunings - all these give you and your sansula a much wider scope of possibilities.

This ebook is a total rewrite of the 2009 book "Playing the Sansula." The download is a 53-page PDF containing live links to 49 MP3 sound files and to web pages that can help you to understand how to read tablature or how to tune your sansula.

Where do the Mbira and the Karimba come from? It’s easy to say – Zimbabwe. It’s even easier to follow up with – somewhere in Africa. The Zambezi valley. Or, maybe – who knows? Versions of striking metal on wood could perhaps be found anywhere, really. People always find a good excuse and a good way of making music. Why is the history so important? Maybe it isn’t, true. But the legends are very significant, because they tell us about the self-understanding of the people who made them: no musical instrument comes to us without reason, purpose, and style, and those can be woven into the legends.

The B11 is a really cool kalimba concept. Even though it has only two more notes than the Sansula on which it was modeled, it can go to many, many more places, musically, emotionally, and vibrationally.

Just as the Sansula does, the B11 naturally leads you down pleasing avenues of discovery. The lower notes work together one way, the upper notes work together another way, and the upper and lower notes can dance together in many ways.

But the arrangement of those notes - the exact order in which they are laid out - has a tremendous effect on a kalimba's music and its meaning to us.  Click through to hear and see the musics that several different B11 kalimba tunings can create.

Over the years, we have created a lot of books, instructional materials, videos, and articles about playing Christmas music on your kalimba.

For your pre-pre-Christmas consideration, I have collected it all in one place for you. If you want to spend money, we have plenty of books and CDs for you to take advantage of. If you don't want to spend money, we have created a lot of free resources, and they are all listed here.

Once you have made the investment and bought a nice kalimba, your choices for how to protect it have been somewhat limited.

I have long recommended that kalimba owners who want a protective kalimba case should take a trip to Target in August, visit the "Back to School" section, and purchase a shapely padded lunch bag for under $10.

While the lunch box option is effective and surely economical, it is a bit soulless. Well, at least you didn't buy from Walmart... or did you?

Anyway, I have a much more soulful solution to your kalimba protection and carrying needs.