Got a New Instrument? Start Here

A first-week guide for each of the instruments people most often get as a present. Every one takes the same four steps — tune or check it, learn where the notes are, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan of ten minutes a day — with the tuner, a playable instrument and the songs built into the page.

• New kalimbaFour steps for your first week with a kalimba: check the tuning (and fix the buzz most new ones have), learn why the notes zigzag, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.
• New ukuleleFour steps for your first week with a ukulele: tune it (and learn why it will not stay in tune yet), find the four strings and your first chords, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.
• New ocarinaFour steps for your first week with an ocarina: find out which key it is in and whether a note is the ocarina or your breath, learn the fingerings, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.
• New harmonicaFour steps for your first week with a harmonica: check it without being fooled by how it was built, learn the ten holes and how tab is written, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.
• New recorderFour steps for your first week with a recorder: check it on the one note that matters, learn the first fingerings, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.
• New tongue drumFour steps for your first week with a steel tongue drum: check that it is in the scale it was sold as, learn what the numbers on the tongues mean, play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.
• New glockenspielFour steps for your first week with a glockenspiel or bell kit: check the bars, learn the layout — it is a piano keyboard made of steel — play five easy songs, and follow a seven-day plan that takes ten minutes a day.