Cigar Box Kalimba BLUES! How to change the tuning to an A Minor Blues Scale

Try this alternate Kalimba tuning for an authentic world music sound.

Last week, I bought the  C. B. Gitty Kalimba/Thumb Piano Kit as a way to break-out from building stringed instruments for a while. I was looking for an instrument that I've never made before and something that I could add to my collection. 

The kalimba (also known as a mbira or thumb piano) is an African idiophone that has its roots in the Congo and Zimbabwe. I like them because they deliver serious world music vibe to any performance!

The entire kit building process was smooth and allowed me to add my own design touches, including F-Holes traced with C. B. Gitty F-Hole Templates and an electric pickup. 

I decided on an antique cigar box to make the instrument an authentic piece of art. Each step of the building process was simple (this is a really fun project), and I was thrilled at the outcome. Except for the tuning...

My Dilemma 

The instructions showed how to tune the 15 musical tines to a C Major tuning. However, when I went to play it, I kept finding my thumbs plucking out "Doe, a deer... a female deer. Re, a drop of golden sun..." 

That's not exactly the world music sound I was searching for.

The Solution

Knowing that the blues scale has its roots in the African Pentatonic (5 note) scale, I decided to re-tune my kalimba to the A Minor Blues Scale. Here's how I did it:

The photo above shows my tuning for a modified A Blues scale. To tune this correctly, use the measurements as a starting point. Then clip on a guitar tuner to the backside of one of the tines and fine-tune the kalimba. It takes a bit to get the tines tuned correctly. Don't rush it.

Tuning Trade-offs

In the lower octave, it delivers the entire blues scale in the key of A: A-C-D-Eb-E-G-A. Because the kalimba has only 12 tines, I had to skip a note in the second octave. After playing all kinds of blues harmonica-inspired riffs, I decided to omit the C note in the upper register. It was the least used of all the notes. The second octave is tuned A-D-Eb-E-G-A.

What's your favorite Kalimba tuning?