Kalimba Thumb Piano 17 Keys, Portable Mbira Finger Piano Gifts for Kids and Adults Beginners Wood

This instrument is so fun ! It comes with a little song book with easy beginner tunes like happy birthday and instructions. Price was reasonable. The quality is fabulous ! The wood is polished and smooth. It comes a with a tuning hammer, some fingers guards and a little travel bag. The sound this Kalimba makes is so soothing. It’s fun to just sit on the couch while you’re watching tv and pluck away.

Well made. Looks nice and has a good sound to it. My boy loves it and so does my mother and now she wants one. My son loves musical instruments and has been learning new songs this is an easy one for him to take in the car or when we travel. Great value at the price point.

This is a wonderful & affordable instrument. My grandson (9) wanted to learn to play music, so I got this for myself, so he wouldn't be tempted to take it home & drive his parents nuts with the noise.No worries, this plays a lovely sound (almost like a Harp), & depending on how hard you strum it, it can be very quiet, too, while learning.He fell in LOVE with it, & asked repeatedly for one for his birthday. I actually liked it a lot, too, so I did get him one for his birthday, later this month. I know he's gonna love it, & this is the kind of thing that can grow with him. If he learns to actually play it, he can keep using it for life, vs one of those awful flute things they give kids, that drive every dog in the neighborhood insane, as well as the people.It comes very well packaged, had a hammer included to tune it, & some stickers to help you tell what note each key is supposed to be. The keys are embossed with their notes, but it's very hard to see, unless you hold it just so in the light. I put the stickers on mine, until I get the hang of it.It also includes 2 thumb guards for you to start. It's played with thumbs only, so you'll want to use those, at least until you can grow out your thumbnails. I'm nearly there growing mine out, and it's a lot easier to play with natural nails, instead of silicone guards or thumb picks. The keys are tightly packed, easy to accidentally bump the next key while you play a note, but once my nails grow out a bit more, I expect that to get a lot better.Tuning was pretty easy, as there are online sites that listen to you play the note, & tell you when you have it right. The site I found showed you if the note was high or low, so you just use the hammer to tap it up or down til you get the right pitch. Very gently tap it up if the note is too low, & visa versa. Keep checking with the online tuner, as you can actually end up with a different note, if you tap too much.The box it came with is perfect, so I decorated both boxes. Pictures shown, because these Kalimbas are lovely, but fragile if dropped. Keeping the box, & making it pretty, ensures it will be put away, each time, not left knocking around the bedroom.Both mine were in perfect condition upon arrival, & easily tuned. I love them.

My Kalimba arrived with everything you see in the pictue, the Kalimba, a box, a velvet protective bag to store it in, a carrying bag with shoulder strap, tuning hammer, a small 2 song book that also has instructions how to get the free app for tuning the instrument, two colors of stickers for the keys to learn playing easier (I already put the green ones on in this picture), some stickers for key names/numbers in case you have a hard time seeing the ones etched on the keys already, a cleaning cloth, and two thumb guards (I have not used).I have never seen one of these instruments before I saw a YouTube recommendation video that had one of them. I ordered this on impulse.It's surprisingly well made and very pretty. Even if you don't know how to play a single song, it sounds awesome just strumming random keys!! No kidding! Sounds like a music box. It's designed to be held without blocking the two sound holes in the back. If those are blocked or it's setting on a table or lap, it does not sound nearly as pretty.I do recommend a free app called Kalimba Connect that helped me to learn to play it and read the music. It has either a virtual Kalimba to learn on or (as I did) you can set the app to detect your actual Kalimba's notes as you play them, if it's tuned correctly.I did have to tune mine some, but it's easy. Lightly tap a few times down to lower the pitch, tap up to raise the pitch. The tuning app from Google Play will show you what note it's playing, and the key shows you what it should be. The book helps with this process. My understanding is how often you have to tune depends on how much you play it.With the free Kalimba Connect app from Google Play I was able to learn a whole single note at a time song by the end of the evening from memory!! Remember, I have never even seen or heard of one of these things until the day before I ordered it!! I'm not particulary inclined to musical instruments either.It should be fairy easy for most adults and older children to learn a few basic songs. Younger children will problably still enjoy making some very lovely but random sounds on it.It is made of hollow wood and reasonaly sturdy, however it probably wouldn't hold up to very young children who are still very rough with things yet. Meaning it probably wouldn't take being tossed around or dropped frequently very well.With care, I'd expect this to last a long time. It requires no batteries, no charging, it's portable for easy travel, sounds awesome even if you don't know what you're doing, is very beautiful, and a great conversation starter because it's rather unique.To be fair, this review is supposed to be compensated somewhat. Even if it isn't, I would have left this exact review even if it wasn't. I still purchased the item and do not regret doing so! I highly recommend this item! Really!

It will definitely take some practice to play this instrument. The kalimba itself was well made and had a great sound! I played it before giving it as a Christmas present to my granddaughter. The size was fine and the quality was good, but I think I would recommend it for someone a bit older.

I love this thing. It was amazingly in TUNE even though it sat outside and was frozen (Minnesota). I play trumpet and I wanted something to play next to a fire while camping. It's perfect for that. The tone is rich and mellow. It's small and lightweight for a backpack. I'll attach a wireless mic going to an amp for a little more volume. Take your time and play it slowly. Have fun!