If you know very little about the kalimba, start here! We'll introduce you to the kalimba and some important things to know.

• Anatomy of the Kalimba
• Resonant Box or Flat Board?
• How the Notes are Arranged on a Kalimba
• Tuning Your Kalimba
• Fixing a Buzz
• Setting Up Your Kalimba
• Special Kalimba Tricks
• Where to Go Next?

Anatomy of the Kalimba

There are millions of people in the world who play the guitar and thousands of books have been written about playing the guitar, so there is considerable agreement on what to call the various parts of the guitar. Until very recently, there have been very few books about playing the kalimba, and people often don't share the same vocabulary when referring to the various parts of the kalimba. I have selected the most popular and most descriptive nomenclature to indicate components in the diagrams below, which illustrate the anatomy of the kalimba.

Kalimba, front view. Click for a PDF showing both views.

Kalimba back view. Click for a PDF showing both views.

A TM Alto kalimba is mounted on a board and has a flared base.

Resonant Box or Flat Board?

Not all kalimbas are mounted on a resonant box. Some are mounted on a flat board. The Hugh Tracey kalimbas that are mounted on a board are called the "celeste" models, with the exception of the board-mounted kalimbas that have a flare at the base—these are referred to as the "TM," or Trademark models, because they resemble the shape of the African Musical Instruments trademark.

How the Notes are Arranged on a Kalimba

The central instrument in western music is the piano - all the notes that exist in western music are laid out in front of you, ordered from lowest on the left to highest on the right. However, the kalimba is a bit different in that the low notes are in the center and the high notes are found on the far right and the far left.

Adjacent notes in the scale are found on opposite sides of the kalimba.

While Hugh Tracey was studying the dozens of traditional African kalimba note layouts, he found one, the likemba, which used a fairly regularly left-right alternating note layout, and this became the basis of the Hugh Tracey kalimba. There are two fundamental consequences of this note layout: scales are difficult, in that notes right next to each other in the scale are far apart (on opposite sides) on the kalimba, but chords are easy in that two or three or four adjacent notes on the kalimba will always sound very nice together.

While most of the kalimbas sold at Kalimba Magic use this alternating left-right note layout, not all do! The karimba and sansula are two instruments which break this arrangement. Their idiosyncratic note layouts are based on ancient tunings.

Tuning your Kalimba

Each type of kalimba is tuned to different notes, and you can find the standard tuning chart for any kalimba on that kalimba's How to Play page. To learn about the mechanics of tuning a kalimba, visit the How to Tune the Kalimba page.

Fixing a Buzz

Most people who have played kalimba for a month or more now know about the buzzing that can occur on a few notes on the kalimba. One day the buzz will appear out of the blue - it is strange how that happens. While the Africans loved the buzzing sound, and even went to great lengths to include shells or bottle caps on their kalimbas to make buzzing sounds, most western ears don't appreciate the buzzing, especially if the buzz is only on a few of the notes and the rest ring clear. Fortunately, there are several ways you can fix the buzzing.

First Try Wiggling the Buzzing Tine

Often a buzz can be fixed by shifting the buzzy tine to the left or the right. Try grinding the tine into the bridge as you shift it. If this method works, the buzz will probably go away when the tine is shifted away from its original position but will probably return when the tine is back in its original position. If so, then you have to move the neighboring tines to get them all nicely alligned again. If this method doesn't work, go on to the "paper method".

Next, Try the "Paper Method" at the Bridge

Cut a piece of regular office paper, or even a sticky pad page, to about 1/8 inch by 1 inch. Lift the buzzy tine up and off of the bridge rod, and slide the tip of your paper strip under the tine and above the bridge rod. Lower the tine until it traps the paper between the tine and the bridge rod. Tear off the excess paper. This technique works very well for the lower 2/3 of the kalimba, but less well for the upper notes.

Most buzzes can be fixed with a narrow strip of paper between the under side of the tine and the bridge rod.

Then, Try the "Paper Method" at the "Z-bracket"

Every once in a while, there is a really bad buzz that can only be fixed with a piece of paper between the tine and the "z-bracket".

About 2% of the buzzes can be fixed by inserting a bit of paper between the upper side of the tine and the "z-bracket".

Last, Try the "Torque Method"

Sometimes the buzz is caused by the tine not being level horizontally. The backstop is not quite level because the top of the tines dig into it and compress part of the wood. So, an unlevel bit of backstop can result in a tine that is tilted a bit and does not rest perfectly flat on the bridge. If you find this situation, you can grasp the tine with pliers and torque the tine in the opposite direction, sort of mashing some of the wood on the backstop and to get it closer to a level tine on the bridge.

Setting Up Your Kalimba

There is a long series of Tips of the Day on setting up your kalimba to optimize it for playing. Tuning and adjusting buzzes is part of that, but there is much more to learn about keeping your kalimba in top working order!

Special Kalimba Tricks

There is so much time ahead of you for learning the hard stuff. So let's start with a few things that are easy and fun and sound amazing, even if you have no idea what you are doing.

Make a glissando by stroking your thumb nail over two or more adjacent tines.

Make a vibrato by covering and uncovering the back sound holes while you play.

Make a wah wah effect by playing notes on one side of the kalimba and covering and uncovering the front sound hole with your other thumb.

Where to go next?

We have resource pages for most of the kalimbas we sell. You can learn more for the Alto kalimba, Treble kalimba, African-tuned karimba, Student karimba, the Sansula, Pentatonic kalimba, 8-Note kalimba, the 12-Note kalimba, the Thomas Bothe 2B/9 and 2B/14 kalimbas and the Chromatic kalimba.

If you aren't interested in detailed instruction, read about intuitive learning on the kalimba.

And, if you still have questions, you can always contact us.