Brahms Lullaby Kalimba Tab — Letter Notes & Numbered Tabs
The full Brahms Lullaby arrangement for a 17-key kalimba in C major, written out in both letter notes and numbered notation — with an honest difficulty note and practice tips for the parts that need them.
Difficulty
Beginner
Key
C Major (17-key)
Range
F4 – E5
Tempo
80 BPM
Johannes Brahms wrote his Wiegenlied — cradle song — in 1868 for a friend's newborn child, and it may now be the most sung lullaby in the Western world. Generations of children have fallen asleep to its first four notes. On a kalimba, with its soft plucked attack and long decay, the melody finally sounds like the music box it always seemed to be written for.
This arrangement is unusually kind to beginners. The whole piece is built from one short phrase — three gentle notes, a leap up, and a slow settle downward — repeated again and again, exactly the way lullabies are sung. You learn a small, beautiful pattern and get a complete, soothing song out of it.
The tab is in C major for a standard 17-key kalimba and stays in a narrow band from F4 to E5, right in the comfortable heart of the instrument. Below you get the full letter-note version and the numbered notation, plus a difficulty guide and tips for a soft, sleepy performance.
Hear Brahms Lullaby first
Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott's beloved recording. Notice how softly each phrase begins — that same gentle touch is what the tab below asks of your thumbs.
Video: Lullaby (Brahms) — Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott (YouTube). Want to test the fingerings as you listen? Open our virtual kalimba in a second tab and pluck along with the recording.
Brahms Lullaby Kalimba Tabs — Letter Notes
How to read the letter tabs: each note shows the letter and the octave, like C4 or G5. On a 17-key kalimba in C, the lowest tine is C4 and the highest is E6, so the octave number tells you which side of the instrument to play on — smaller numbers are the longer, lower tines. A dash after a note (C4 -) means let it ring.
| G4 F4 G4 E5 C5 A4 | G4 G4 F4 G4 E5 | | C5 A4 G4 G4 F4 | G4 E5 C5 A4 G4 | | G4 F4 G4 E5 C5 A4 | G4 G4 F4 G4 E5 | | C5 A4 G4 G4 F4 | G4 E5 C5 A4 G4 | | G4 F4 G4 E5 C5 A4 | G4 G4 F4 G4 E5 | | C5 A4 G4 G4 F4 | G4 E5 C5 A4 G4 | | G4 F4 G4 E5 C5 A4 | G4 G4 F4 G4 E5 | | C5 A4 G4 G4 F4 | G4 E5 C5 A4 G4 |
Brahms Lullaby Kalimba Tabs — Numbered Notation
How to read the numbered tabs: numbers 1–7 are the scale notes (1 = C, 2 = D, and so on). 1° is the low octave tine, plain 1 is the middle one, and 1′ is the high one — the same markings you see next to the numbers on your kalimba. Notes in parentheses ( ) play together, and a dash after a number means let it ring.
| 5° 4° 5° 3 1 6° | 5° 5° 4° 5° 3 | | 1 6° 5° 5° 4° | 5° 3 1 6° 5° | | 5° 4° 5° 3 1 6° | 5° 5° 4° 5° 3 | | 1 6° 5° 5° 4° | 5° 3 1 6° 5° | | 5° 4° 5° 3 1 6° | 5° 5° 4° 5° 3 | | 1 6° 5° 5° 4° | 5° 3 1 6° 5° | | 5° 4° 5° 3 1 6° | 5° 5° 4° 5° 3 | | 1 6° 5° 5° 4° | 5° 3 1 6° 5° |
Prefer to hear it first? Open Brahms Lullaby in the interactive player and follow along while it plays. For more songs in the same style, browse the free kalimba tabs hub.
How hard is Brahms Lullaby on kalimba?
We rate this arrangement Beginner. We rate this arrangement Beginner, and its repetition makes it one of the fastest songs in our library to memorize. The one detail worth careful practice is the rhythm of the opening: the three notes G4 F4 G4 lean into the leap up to E5, and that little lilt is what makes the phrase rock like a cradle. The tempo is a slow 80 BPM.
Learning path: phrase by phrase
Work through these phrases in order. Each one is short enough to master in a few minutes, and together they cover the whole song.
“Lullaby and good night”
G4 F4 G4 E5 C5 A4 G4. Two light notes, a strong one, then the leap and the long settle. This is the most famous phrase in the piece, and it returns throughout.
The answering line
The melody repeats its opening question and answers it with the same falling settle — C5 A4 G4. The phrases embrace each other; play the answer slightly softer than the question.
The fading close
The final phrases sink gently and end on a held G4. Do not rush it — the last note should fade like a light being switched off at the edge of the room.
Playing tips
- Learn the opening cell once and you know the song: G4 F4 G4, then the leap to E5. The first two notes are quick and light, the third is strong, and the E5 lands like a sigh. That shape is the entire lullaby.
- The answer phrase C5 A4 G4 settles every line. Let those notes ring longer than feels natural — a lullaby should never be in a hurry to arrive anywhere.
- Play quieter than you think you should. The kalimba's sustain carries soft notes beautifully, and a light touch is what turns the melody from an exercise into something a child could fall asleep to.
- Rock with the rhythm. The song moves in a gentle three-beat sway; count one-two-three quietly as you play and let the first beat of each group lean slightly. The cradling motion does the rest.
Brahms Lullaby kalimba FAQ
Is Brahms' Lullaby a good first song for a child?
One of the best. The phrase is short, the repetition is built in, the range is small, and the tune is already familiar to most kids. It teaches rhythm, hand position, and dynamics while producing something that sounds finished from day one.
Why does the arrangement repeat the same phrase so many times?
Because that is how lullabies work — repetition is the soothing mechanism. Musically, treat each repeat as a chance to vary something small: the volume, the pauses, or how long you let the settling notes ring.
Can I play it on a smaller kalimba?
Check your lowest tine. The arrangement needs F4 at the bottom, and most 10-key and 15-key C-major instruments include it. Every 17-key kalimba covers the range comfortably.
What should I learn next?
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is the classic next step for very young players. For adults, Amazing Grace and Edelweiss share the same slow three-beat sway and calm, held notes — both feel like natural sequels to this song.
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Related tabs & guides
- Amazing Grace kalimba tabs — the other slow classic with wide, singing phrases; it pairs beautifully with this song at gatherings.
- 7 note kalimba songs — melodies that fit on small kalimbas, if you are playing on fewer than 17 tines.
- Kalimba tabs with numbers — more practice reading the numbered notation used in the tab above.
- 17-key kalimba tabs — arrangements written for the standard layout, including the high and low tines.