Jingle Bells kalimba tabs

For a 17-key kalimba tuned to C major. 51 notes on 5 tines, from C5 up to G5.

Play along on the online kalimba Play it on a kalimba in G

newellabs.com/play/kalimba/tabs/jingle/

Number tab

The number tab read aloud, group by group. “High” stands for one dot above the number and “very high” for two.

high 3, high 3, high 3.
high 3, high 3, high 3.
high 3, high 5, high 1, high 2.
high 3.
high 4, high 4, high 4, high 4.
high 4, high 3, high 3, high 3, high 3.
high 3, high 2, high 2, high 3.
high 2, high 5.
high 3, high 3, high 3.
high 3, high 3, high 3.
high 3, high 5, high 1, high 2.
high 3.
high 4, high 4, high 4, high 4.
high 4, high 3, high 3, high 3, high 3.
high 5, high 5, high 4, high 2.
high 1.

Letter notes

E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅G₅C₅D₅E₅F₅F₅F₅F₅F₅E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅D₅D₅E₅D₅G₅E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅E₅G₅C₅D₅E₅F₅F₅F₅F₅F₅E₅E₅E₅E₅G₅G₅F₅D₅C₅

Tines you need

The long tine in the middle is 1 (C4). Notes climb outward, alternating left and right, so neighbours on the same side are two steps apart.

How to read this tab

Numbers are steps of the C scale, 1 (C) to 7 (B), and each dot above a number means one octave higher; the tab shows which tine to play, not how long to hold it. Each numbered group is one bar of music, or more than one where a note lasts across a bar line.

How to read kalimba tabs

About the song

Written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857. This tab is the chorus. The melody is in the public domain.

Playing tips

It opens with E5 (3̇) seven times in a row, on one tine, across groups 1 to 3.
The second half starts again with the seven E5 (3̇) notes: groups 9 to 14 repeat groups 1 to 6 note for note, and only the ending is new, G5 G5 F5 D5 (5̇ 5̇ 4̇ 2̇) and then C5 (1̇).
The widest jump comes in groups 3 and 11: G5 (5̇) down to C5 (1̇), both on the left with E5 (3̇) between them.

Piano letter notes

On a piano this tab uses the 5 white keys from C5 to G5 and no black keys, all in the octave above middle C, so every piano letter below has a dot above it.

The piano letter notes are the letter notes above, with octave dots in place of octave numbers.

On 8 colour bells

Played one octave lower than the tab, this tune uses bells 1 to 5 of a set of 8, numbered from C up to high C: 1 C red, 2 D orange, 3 E yellow, 4 F green and 5 G light blue (colours differ between sets, so play by the number and the letter).

The bell numbers read aloud, group by group.

3, 3, 3.
3, 3, 3.
3, 5, 1, 2.
3.
4, 4, 4, 4.
4, 3, 3, 3, 3.
3, 2, 2, 3.
2, 5.
3, 3, 3.
3, 3, 3.
3, 5, 1, 2.
3.
4, 4, 4, 4.
4, 3, 3, 3, 3.
5, 5, 4, 2.
1.

History of the song

James Pierpont’s song was published in Boston by Oliver Ditson & Co. in 1857 as “The One Horse Open Sleigh”, dedicated to John P. Ordway.[1][2] Its four verses tell of sleigh rides, a spill in a snowdrift, a fall in the snow and a race, and call it a “sleighing song”; none of them mentions Christmas.[1] Ditson also printed it as “Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh”; “Jingle Bells” is the name it is known by today.[2][3]

Sources

Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University, “The One Horse Open Sleigh. Song and Chorus”, Box 062, Item 044 (record and page scans).
Pat Padua, “Jingle Bells”, In the Muse, Library of Congress Music Division, 23 December 2010.
Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University, “Jingle Bells, or, The One Horse Open Sleigh. Song & Chorus”, Box 062, Item 029 (record and page scans).

Also in our two kalimba songbooks, with every note’s length marked.

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