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This is one magical tuning Click to download the 4-page tablature PDF The Hokema B11 Kalimba – also called the “Melody Kalimba” – has a lot of untapped potential. In its standard G major tuning, it does a lot of nice music. But so many other exotic tunings are also possible, and those exotic tunings have not really been explored at all – until now. Today we are taking another look at the exotic B11 tuning that I call “The Wizard.” Last summer when I created an instructional download for the B11 Wizard tuning, I did things in the wrong order. After the download came out, I wrote an enchanting

Classical – African – Americana – Spirituals – And more! Click to Purchase the new “33 Intermediate Songs” Download Learn to play kalimba like a pro, by learning from a pro – that’s me, Mark Holdaway! If you have been working your way through the “44 Beginner Songs” download, then “33 Intermediate Songs” is the next purchase to continue your progress. This 82-page single PDF download contains the kalimba tablature for all of the songs, and live links to enable you to download the sound recordings I have made to demonstrate each song. Says one recent happy customer: “I am very impressed with the quality of the ebook I just

The kalimba shapes their compositions. They shape the kalimba’s sound in their recording process. Anna Donahoo and Bob Guido are ABNA BON Anna Donahoo and Bob Guido are ABNA BON. This husband-wife duo produces cool ambient music for various soundtrack projects, and their music includes live drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, violins, voice… and of course, kalimba. They have an ethereal sound all their own. Part of that sound comes from their philosophy, part of the sound comes from their recording techniques, and part just comes from the inherent nature of the kalimba. “With the kalimba, melody and rhythm are kind of the same. You can’t think of melody on the

I learned so much from dealing with a recently broken thumb nail Click to go to Alaska Pik product page Don’t you hate it when people write about an experience as if they have had it, when they haven’t? OK, that was me last month, but I got religion in recent weeks. Last month I wrote a blog post on how to fine tune your Alaska Piks to your thumb. This month I broke a thumb nail, but I was obliged to play kalimba anyway… Let’s just say I now have a whole lot more useful information on using Alaska Piks with the kalimba. And lots of illustrations! So, if you

This technique can get you a lower bass note to better support the music Making a chord is simple on a diatonic kalimba: Pick the note you want the chord to be based on – let’s say C – and then play that note and the next two shorter tines on the same side of the kalimba. Those three tines will make a triad with the notes 1 – 3 – 5. Will it be major or minor, or even diminished? It depends on which key you are in and what note you started on – but it will always be a beautiful chord. (“Diatonic” means your kalimba plays only

Its amazing music puts you in the headspace of Ancient Africa One of the most important things I can say about the kalimba (including the karimba and mbira) is that the understanding of how to play these instruments comes to dwell in my thumbs, while the interpretation of the music into phrases or pulses takes place in my ear or my head. The brain’s frontal cortex is where we slowly puzzle out the music when we’re first starting to learn it.  But once we get rolling, it is a different, more primitive part of the brain that is making the music happen – I am guessing it is the cerebellum, which

You can totally learn how to play this song! Download tablature PDF for “Karimba Walk” One of my good habits is to walk about 2 miles every morning while I play kalimba. This is time by myself, with the sky above me and the earth below me. It is time with a kalimba in my hands and a song in my heart. It is an essential element of my mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. Most mornings, I stick with one song for most or all of the walk. I find the song deepens as my walk proceeds. On good mornings, I get an entire new song. And sometimes, I record

44 Beginner Songs Replaces Clunky 66-Song Download Click to Purchase the new “44 Beginner Songs” Download At the end of last summer, Amazon sales of inexpensive Chinese-made 17-Note kalimbas tuned to the key of C started to spike. These kalimbas were delivered to people with either a short instructional manual in Chinese, or no instructions at all. Peeved customers who bought from Amazon found me, vented their frustrations, and begged me for an English version of the short Chinese manual. Of course, I saw a great opportunity. I shot from the hip and made a “primitive” Zip file download for the 17-Note in C from an earlier version of “66 Songs” for a

Careful, precise, and planned – or Wild, Free, In-the-moment – both are important Orderly and planned…. or wild and free? How about BOTH? When I’m asked how I learned kalimba, I tell this story: while I had known what a kalimba was since the age of two, I only discovered how wonderful kalimba music could be when I was 24 and I witnessed an amazing player close up. I immediately went out and bought a kalimba, and then I wandered alone in the wilderness for 10 years, finding my own way. In that wandering, I found that my path branched in two opposing directions. On one, I tried to learn songs