Canon by Johann Pachelbel is a famous German melody that was first published in 1919. The song is commonly used during wedding ceremonies but is also a piece of music that a lot of musicians will learn to play when starting out on the violin or piano. The repetition of the basso notes has subtle changes throughout, which makes it easy on the ear.
Whilst the original is complex to play, there are so many variations of it that are great for beginners, and this Kalimba tab is no exception. Playing beautiful pieces of music doesn’t have to be difficult, especially when it can be simplified. Modern pop musicians have supposedly ripped off this famous piece by stealing its melodies, but this is not uncommon. For example, the band Maroon 5 made the song called memories which is said to be copied from canon. They likely copied, in the hope of improving the sound, but most of the time, the original is the best.
The original piece of music had 3 violins, basso and is played in the key of D major. It was composed by Johann Pachelbel in 1680. Popularity of this song is said to be from its continued use over the years during wedding ceremonies and other religious traditions. The song was also the soundtrack of the 1980 film Ordinary People. Since the songs release it has been repurposed for most instruments and is a great song to use when trying to learn the piano or with the notation below you can play it on the kalimba.
Letter Notes
(Eº C E G) (D G B Dº)
(Cº A E) (E G B)
(A F C) (C E G)
(A F C) (D G B) Cº Dº
(Eº C E G) C E Eº
(D G B Dº) D G Dº
(Cº A E) E A Cº
(E G B) E G B
(A F C) C F A
(C E G) C E G
(A F C) C F A
(D G B) D G B
(Cº C E G) C Eº E
(Gº G B) G Fº B
(A Cº Eº) A Cº Eº
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