6 Tips for Tuning your Kalimba
When you buy a kalimba online, the description will often imply that it’s already tuned but don’t put off tuning it. Although it sounds good either way your kalimba will always sound better when it’s in tune. Like most instruments, tuning the kalimba is a pain. There are plenty of sites and videos out there that teach you how to do it, but here is what I did and some tricks I learned:
- Use the flat round side of the hammer.
- Rest your hand on the longer tines to stop them ringing out and drowning out the sound of the one you are plucking.
- Use your thumb or a finger to lightly hold the tine you are tuning, so that it actually slides backwards or forwards (as you want it to get shorter or longer), instead of it getting bent up or down or to the side. This also dulls it’s noisiness a bit.
- Eliminate background noise in your room or tune it sitting under your duvet.
- Don’t be afraid to try different tuning apps. A lot of apps also have a setting you can switch on and off that eliminates background noise which is very useful and worth trying.
- If you are using a smart phone to tune it, make sure to have it’s microphone as close to your instrument as possible.
I ended up using my guitar tuner to tune it. It has a clip with a silicone grip that conducts the sound from the wood directly into the gadget, without any need for a microphone that detects vibrations in the air. Usually you would clip it to the head of the guitar, but I put it on the sound hole of my Kalimba. I ended up accidentally breaking the tuner when I twisted the clip in the wrong direction, so if you try this method be careful- remember that guitar tuners are intended for guitars.
Now play the notes and notice their fresh beautiful sound. Tuning your kalimba may be daunting but, once it’s over, it’ll be worth it.
