Jingle Bells on the kalimba: tabs
Jingle Bells is a easy song on the kalimba: 51 notes over 16 bars in 4/4 at 124 BPM, about 30 seconds. It uses 5 different keys. It fits the keys as it is, with no transposing.
Jingle Bells kalimba tab in numbers
| 3 3 3 - | 3 3 3 - | | 3 5 1 2 | 3 - - r | | 4 4 4 4 | 4 3 3 33 | | 3 2 2 3 | 2 - 5 - | | 3 3 3 - | 3 3 3 - | | 3 5 1 2 | 3 - - r | | 4 4 4 4 | 4 3 3 33 | | 5 5 4 2 | 1 - - |
Jingle Bells kalimba tab in letters
| E4 E4 E4 - | E4 E4 E4 - | | E4 G4 C4 D4 | E4 - - r | | F4 F4 F4 F4 | F4 E4 E4 E4E4 | | E4 D4 D4 E4 | D4 - G4 - | | E4 E4 E4 - | E4 E4 E4 - | | E4 G4 C4 D4 | E4 - - r | | F4 F4 F4 F4 | F4 E4 E4 E4E4 | | G4 G4 F4 D4 | C4 - - |
Jingle Bells kalimba tab in solfège
| Mi4 Mi4 Mi4 - | Mi4 Mi4 Mi4 - | | Mi4 Sol4 Do4 Ré4 | Mi4 - - r | | Fa4 Fa4 Fa4 Fa4 | Fa4 Mi4 Mi4 Mi4Mi4 | | Mi4 Ré4 Ré4 Mi4 | Ré4 - Sol4 - | | Mi4 Mi4 Mi4 - | Mi4 Mi4 Mi4 - | | Mi4 Sol4 Do4 Ré4 | Mi4 - - r | | Fa4 Fa4 Fa4 Fa4 | Fa4 Mi4 Mi4 Mi4Mi4 | | Sol4 Sol4 Fa4 Ré4 | Do4 - - |
What to watch for
- The most played key is 3, used for 26 of the 51 notes. The tune goes from 1 up to 5.
- The widest jump is from 5 to 1 (7 semitones): slow down there the first times.
- A note is played again straight after itself 29 times: keep the beat steady rather than rushing the repeats.
How to read this tab
A vertical bar is a bar line. A dash keeps the last note ringing, an r is a silent beat, and notes in brackets are played together. It shows the melody part. The kalimba page explains the notes in more detail.