Plonk

Stylophone: how to play, number tabs and easy songs

The Stylophone is a pocket-sized electronic instrument that you play by touching a metal keyboard strip with a stylus. It plays one note at a time with a buzzing sound, so a tune is a single line of key numbers.

Play a song on the stylophoneJust try the stylophonePrintable key stickers

Play on the screen, or on your real stylophone: Plonk listens through your microphone.

How do you play a song on the Stylophone?

Hold the stylus like a pen and touch the strip on the key you want; lifting it stops the note. The keys are printed with numbers, and a tab is simply the numbers in order, one note at a time.

On Plonk the stylophone is drawn with its strip of keys. The key that lights up is the one to touch, and the notes fall toward it the way they do on every instrument, so you can follow a song without reading music.

Why does a Stylophone tab have decimals?

Some keys are the black notes of a piano (the sharps), printed as a half number like 3.5, the key between 3 and 4. Everything else is a whole number. A song in the key of C uses whole numbers only.

Easy stylophone songs to start with

Stylophone songs with tabs

Questions

Can a Stylophone play chords?
No. The Stylophone plays one note at a time, so Plonk gives it a single melody line. For a song with a bass line or chords, pick the melody part.
Can I practise Stylophone songs without one?
Yes. Plonk draws a stylophone you can play with a finger, a mouse or the computer keyboard, in the browser and with no account.
Which songs are good to start on the Stylophone?
Slow melodies with few jumps, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Ode to Joy. Each song has a page here with its tab for the Stylophone.