For this instrument, many friends may not be familiar with it, want to learn a lot of friends, but for how to pick a handy Kalimba or a lot of confusion, today this article I will give you a comprehensive explanation of how to choose a good Kalimba thumb piano, which is the most suitable for newcomers, let's take a look!
What are the types of fingerstyle thumb piano? How to choose a good one?
Currently, there are two main types of kalimba on the market: the box type and the board type. The box style as the name implies is with a hollow resonance box, and the slab style is the whole box is a solid wooden board. These two different types of instruments have different tones. Comparatively speaking, a box-type instrument has a box, so the sound resonates strongly when the keys are plucked, and the fingers move around the tremolo holes to produce the "wua wua" tremolo, which gives a variety of playing techniques. The board piano has no case, so the resonance is weaker and the "wua wua" effect cannot be achieved.
Board thumb piano finger piano (left) Box thumb piano finger piano (right)
For beginners, the box type is the better choice of the two types and is the mainstay of the market because of its better sound. The plate type is only available in a few different shapes, like the non-mainstream crystal-proof acrylic Kalimba.
What are the Kalimba materials? Which is the best choice for a beginner?
Kalimba is made up of two parts: the case and the keys. The keys are made of ore metal, and there is not much difference between brands. For newcomers, there is a wide range of Kalimba case materials on the market, which one is more suitable? According to my understanding, the thumb piano material on the market is mainly wood, and some other non-mainstream materials like acrylic also have a few. The wood is generally dominated by mahogany, acacia, rosewood and walnut.
Different materials of Kalimba thumb piano
These materials have different tones depending on the material, among these materials rosewood has a sweet and pleasant tone, walnut carimba is warm and soft, acacia thumb piano is crisp and bright, and mahogany finger piano is warm and full, depending on the material the price is also different, where the price from low to high are mahogany, acacia, walnut and rosewood. For newbies, you can choose which one according to your preference. Before buying, you can listen to the timbre characteristics of different materials and choose the one you like.
What is the difference between 17 and 20 tones? Which one is suitable for newcomers?
Many newcomers often ask about the number of keys on a kalimba, and the most common question is the difference between 17 and 20 tones. In fact, in addition to 17 and 20 notes, there are also 8, 10 and 15 notes on the kalimba. 17 notes means that the thumb piano has 17 keys. So how do you choose these keys?
For beginners, the 8, 10, and 15 keys can be used to play simple pieces or sing, but the range is narrow. 20 keys are usually double-layered, which can be difficult to play, and are not suitable for playing difficult pieces. If you want to play more complex tunes, it is recommended to buy a 17-note, and the common brands on the market are mainly 17-note, this number of keys takes into account the ease of playing and a wider range, which is very suitable for newcomers.
17-note Kalimba
In fact, for the newcomer, the key selection should take into account not only the number of keys, but also the craftsmanship of the keys. It is very important for a novice to be able to use the keys well, and with this in mind, many brands will give you some key note stickers when you purchase the instrument, which will make it easier to play against the kalimba score.
But in fact, there are many disadvantages to stickers, one is that thumb piano keys are relatively small stickers need to be posted one by one against the other will be more trouble, the second is that long-term use of stickers are easy to wear, decoupling, later maintenance is more trouble, so it is recommended that newcomers in the purchase of a direct choice of a piano keys with notes engraved on the kalimba, the practicality will be stronger. Among the mainstream musical instrument brands on the market today, gorilla kalimba uses keys with engraved frets across the board.
Gorilla kalimba with fret carved keys
In addition, there are many technical flaws in the production of kalimba keys on the market, which is reflected in the fact that new kalimba instruments from the mainstream kalimba brands are often noisy. The reason for this is that most manufacturers use flat shrapnel, which has a large contact area with the shrapnel, making it easy for the shrapnel and the shrapnel to be pressed together poorly and misaligned.
gorilla gorilla musical instruments second generation of karimba shrapnel technology
I learned from the professional musical instrument brand gorilla gorilla, in order to want to press and shrapnel completely fit, pressed firmly to solve the murmur situation, it is necessary to shrapnel and shrapnel exist a suitable arc. gorilla gorilla musical instruments original second generation of carimba shrapnel is based on this through a number of experiments to obtain accurate arc data, so that the shrapnel and shrapnel can be effectively pressed together, thus very This is a good solution to the common situation of the kalimba on the market.
For newcomers, it is not difficult to easily choose a suitable finger piano after understanding the above aspects, so if you want to buy a suitable kalimba, you must take a good look at this article and read it to choose a thumb piano to your satisfaction!
