The kalimba tines hurt my thumbs. What should I do?
OK, first thing is to grow your thumb nails. They will act as your picks and protect your thumb flesh. After a while, you will get some caluses which will help. With nails and caluses, I am able to play kalimba for 5-6 hours a day without experiencing any pain. Check out the Tuesday Tip Archives – between May and August 2008 there was a great series on thumb nail care for kalimba players. There is a new guitar finger pick called the Alaska pick which can fit onto your thumbs for protection. I can vouch for this solution. Check out these videos showing me playing the 8-note kalimba with Alaska picks: Alaska picks 1 Alaska picks 2 If you are a normal-sized adult, get XL (that would be for an XL finger, which fits on my normal-large thumbs; children might use M or L; S would be about right for a 2 year old).
