Chords for Coffee-Can Kalimba - DIY Musical Instrument

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_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ I [Eb] was over at a friend's house the other day and I found this kalimba, which I had made
for him _ in _ _ 2005.
_ It's just made out of a coffee can, _ chock [Db] full of nuts.
This is a [N] nice can because it's painted.
Most cans nowadays have a plastic wrap instead of a painted _ _ logo on them. _ _ _
_ _ _ These are just _ heavy bobby pins.
I got this at Walmart. _
_ This _ plate with the hole is actually a clipboard.
It's the front of a clipboard.
_ _ And then I think that [Eb] this is a paintbrush handle, a little paintbrush handle, piece
of brass wire here [Db] and here, and this is a little block of wood.
And a couple of screws that come from the bottom up to the top.
So it was pretty easy to make.
All I did is _
[N] this _ ridge right here, a little above it, I just trimmed the coffee can off.
_ Then I made this board _ and I turned it on a drill, spun it to get it round to where
it would just slip down into the coffee can.
Once it was down in the coffee can, tight against this groove, then I trimmed it with the clippers.
I trimmed it the same level all the way around.
_ And then I just took a hammer and tapped the edge over and tapped it all down tight.
_ _ And then these are just bobby pins.
You can see I just clipped the _ _ _ _ bent curvy end off the side.
_ And then these little rods keep it from sitting on the wood.
It just helps it resonate a little more.
And then just these screws that hold.
If these are not tight, then these will _ _ buzz a little bit on the rod.
So just tighten them down until they are tight so it's all clamped together onto the board.
I drilled this hole to let a little more sound resonate out of there.
And then there's a lot of tunings that you can use, but [Bbm] what I found out was that this
can has a resonant frequency _ that's about here. _
This is really the loudest one. _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] See how loud that is?
That's a F.
[F] So I just tuned this in a straight C.
So it's C D E F G, C D [D] E F G A B C [Eb] D.
I have nine _ keys on it.
[Gb] It's just tuned in a straight C.
So [E] I _ guess you could play a song, _ _
_ _ [Bbm] something _ _ _ _
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_ _ [Bm] _ like that.
[Eb] But mainly you play chords.
So a chord is, this would be your root, and then just like a piano, you go up two, and
then you go up to five.
So, or _ _ two and four.
Well it's really one, three, five.
So you're starting at [C] one, you go use three and five.
So there's your, you know that would be a C.
[Bb] Here would be a D minor.
_ _ [D] You know, an E minor.
_ _ _ [Bbm] Here's your F. _
_ _ [G] And a G. _ _ _ _
And this would be, well, okay to do an A.
So you can also go backwards.
So if this is your root, you can go back two, or you know, jump back two, and [F] that.
So _ like _ that.
[E] So you know, you basically just pick your chords.
The nice thing about [Bbm] it though, see it's just a scale in C, so you can't really, you can
do anything you want. _ _ _ _ _
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[D] It's like a mountain balsam, where you can't really _ mess it up.
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_ _ _ _ [G] It just makes a nice sound.
It's a fun thing to play.
I mean, you take a bunch of junk, and you put it together, [Eb] and you know, that's what
really what the spirit of the kalimba is.
You make something beautiful out of something, you know, out of just what you have around,
[Cm] you know. _ _
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_ _ _ [N] Okay.
Try it yourself.
If you want to, you know, I just used a little guitar tuner like this.
You know, clip it on here, and that's what I use to tune it.
If it's, you know, if _ _ it's sharp, you _ make this longer.
If it's flat, you make this shorter, and you just tune it in.
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