Kalimba tabs

99 public-domain songs for a 17-key kalimba in C, written in numbers and letter notes. Every tab opens in the online kalimba, where the next tine glows as you play.

How to read these tabs

Christmas and holiday songs

Angels We Have Heard on High 77 notes, G4–A5
Auld Lang Syne 56 notes, G4–A5
Away in a Manger 44 notes, G4–G5
Carol of the Bells (Shchedryk) 92 notes, E4–A5 · simplified
Deck the Halls 68 notes, B4–C6 · simplified
Ding Dong Merrily on High 68 notes, G4–G5
The First Noel 72 notes, C4–C5
Go Tell It on the Mountain 56 notes, G4–A5
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen 67 notes, G4–A5
Good Christian Men, Rejoice (In dulci jubilo) 58 notes, A4–A5
Good King Wenceslas 53 notes, G4–G5
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 76 notes, G4–A5
Here We Come A-wassailing 65 notes, B4–C6
The Holly and the Ivy 60 notes, G4–A5
I Saw Three Ships 32 notes, G4–G5
In the Bleak Midwinter 45 notes, A4–A5
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear 66 notes, E4–E5 · simplified
Jingle Bells 51 notes, C5–G5
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas 48 notes, G4–E5
Joy to the World 57 notes, C4–C5
O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum) 46 notes, G4–A5
O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) 62 notes, G4–G5
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel 59 notes, G4–G5
O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël) 96 notes, C4–E5 · simplified
O Little Town of Bethlehem 57 notes, G4–A5 · simplified
Once in Royal David’s City 54 notes, G4–A5
Silent Night 46 notes, C4–F5
The Twelve Days of Christmas 92 notes, G4–A5 · simplified
Up on the Housetop 66 notes, C4–A4
We Three Kings 62 notes, G4–G5

Easy first songs

Easiest first: the songs that use the fewest tines come first.

Hot Cross Buns 17 notes, C4–E4
Mary Had a Little Lamb 26 notes, C4–G4
Old MacDonald Had a Farm 59 notes, G4–E5
London Bridge Is Falling Down 24 notes, C4–A4
Alle meine Entchen (All My Little Ducklings) 27 notes, C4–A4
Pop Goes the Weasel 27 notes, C4–A4
Row, Row, Row Your Boat 27 notes, C4–C5
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 42 notes, C4–A4
The Alphabet Song (ABC) 43 notes, C4–A4
Au Clair de la Lune 44 notes, G4–E5
Frère Jacques 32 notes, G4–A5
Happy Birthday 25 notes, G4–G5
Hickory Dickory Dock 30 notes, C4–C5
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep 38 notes, C4–C5
Rock-a-bye Baby 37 notes, E4–F5

Folk and traditional songs

America the Beautiful 56 notes, D4–E5 · simplified
Battle Hymn of the Republic 81 notes, E4–E5
Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two) 52 notes, G4–G5
Danny Boy (Londonderry Air) 92 notes, G4–E6 · simplified
Drunken Sailor 63 notes, C4–D5
Greensleeves (What Child Is This) 71 notes, E4–G5 · simplified
Korobeiniki (Russian folk song) 51 notes, E4–A5 · simplified
La Cucaracha 34 notes, G4–A5
Loch Lomond 91 notes, G4–A5
My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean 58 notes, E4–E5
Oh My Darling, Clementine 60 notes, G4–G5
Oh! Susanna 85 notes, C4–A4
Red River Valley 38 notes, G4–G5
Sakura Sakura 50 notes, B4–C6
Shenandoah 38 notes, G4–C6
The Star-Spangled Banner 101 notes, C4–G5 · simplified
Waltzing Matilda 90 notes, G4–C6
Yankee Doodle 55 notes, E4–F5

Hymns and spirituals

Abide with Me 40 notes, C4–A4 · simplified
Amazing Grace 35 notes, G4–G5
Be Thou My Vision 47 notes, G4–C6
Blessed Assurance 73 notes, B4–D6 · simplified
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing 63 notes, C4–C5
Holy, Holy, Holy 45 notes, C4–C5
It Is Well with My Soul 55 notes, D4–D5 · simplified
Jesus Loves Me 49 notes, C4–C5
Nearer, My God, to Thee 44 notes, G4–A5
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 71 notes, G4–A5
What a Friend We Have in Jesus 60 notes, G4–A5 · simplified
When the Saints Go Marching In 32 notes, C4–G4

Classical themes

Ave Maria (Schubert) 49 notes, G4–G5 · simplified
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (opening) 48 notes, B4–E6
The Blue Danube (Strauss) 68 notes, C4–C6 · simplified
Brahms’ Lullaby (Wiegenlied) 51 notes, C4–C5 · simplified
Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride, Wagner) 36 notes, G4–G5
Clair de Lune (Debussy) 36 notes, A4–A5 · simplified
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Mozart) 18 notes, G4–G5
The Entertainer (Joplin) 33 notes, D4–E6 · simplified
Für Elise (Beethoven) 35 notes, C4–E5 · simplified
Gymnopédie No. 1 (Satie) 22 notes, D4–G5
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Grieg) 52 notes, A4–A5 · simplified
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Bach) 72 notes, G4–C6
Minuet in G (Petzold) 64 notes, B4–C6
Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven) 60 notes, C4–D5 · simplified
Morning Mood (Grieg) 48 notes, C4–A5 · simplified
Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 (first theme) 20 notes, D5–C6
New World Symphony Largo (Dvořák) 22 notes, C4–G4
Ode to Joy (Beethoven) 62 notes, G4–G5
Pachelbel’s Canon 33 notes, D4–A5
Spring (Vivaldi, The Four Seasons) 73 notes, G4–A5
Swan Lake Theme (Tchaikovsky) 35 notes, F4–E5
Turkish March (Rondo alla Turca, Mozart) 38 notes, G4–C6 · simplified
Westminster Chimes 16 notes, G4–E5
Winter, Largo (Vivaldi, The Four Seasons) 72 notes, F4–B5 · simplified

How to read these tabs

Numbers are steps of the scale. 1 is C, 2 is D, up to 7 for B. A dot above a number means one octave higher; two dots, two octaves higher. The long tine in the middle of a 17-key kalimba is 1 (C4), and the notes climb outward, alternating left and right.
Letter notes name the same notes with their octave. C4 is the long tine in the middle, and C5 is the C one octave above it.
Gaps split each tab into numbered groups. A group is one bar of music. The tabs have no rest signs: each note lasts until the next one starts, and a kalimba tine keeps ringing anyway. Where a note lasts across a bar line (held, or followed by rests), those bars stay together in one group, so a few groups are longer than one bar; a tab whose groups are not bars says so on its page.
The tabs show which tine to play, not how long to hold it. Open a song in the online kalimba and press Listen to hear the rhythm.
Other kalimbas. On an 8-, 10- or 21-key kalimba in C the numbers mean the same notes, as long as the tines you need are there.
Simplified tabs. Tabs marked “simplified” change or leave out a few notes, mostly sharps and flats that a kalimba in C doesn’t have. Each of those pages says what was changed.

Songbooks. Newel Labs publishes two songbooks made from these tabs, the Kalimba Christmas Songbook and The Complete Kalimba Songbook, with every note’s length marked.

About the songbooks