Otamatone: how to play, number tabs and easy songs
The Otamatone is a small Japanese electronic instrument shaped like a musical note with a face. You drag along its stem to change the pitch, so there are no keys: a tune is a smooth slide from one place on the stem to the next.
Play on the screen, or on your real otamatone: Plonk listens through your microphone.
How do you play a song on the Otamatone?
Touch the stem to start a note and drag up or down to change the pitch; let go to stop. The notes of a tune are places along the stem, so playing a song means finding each place and moving between them in time.
On Plonk the stem is drawn as one long strip. The notes fall toward the strip, a dot marks the place to slide to, and a knob follows your finger. Plonk draws three octaves, from A3 to A6; a real Otamatone may reach a little differently. The real toy also has a mouth you squeeze to open and close the sound, a wah that Plonk does not play: it follows only the pitch.
Easy otamatone songs to start with
Otamatone songs with tabs
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Hot Cross Buns
- Au clair de la lune
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Ode to Joy
- Happy Birthday to You
- Frère Jacques
- Silent Night
- Jingle Bells
- Amazing Grace
- Reed Dance
- Twang Beat
- Row, Row, Row Your Boat
- Canon, the opening theme
- Rain on the Roof
- Music Box Waltz
- Kazoo Parade
- London Bridge Is Falling Down
- Joy to the World
- Dusty Trail
- Noon Showdown
- Campfire Boing
- Oh! Susanna
- Red River Valley
- Home on the Range
Questions
- Can I practise Otamatone songs without an Otamatone?
- Yes. Plonk draws the stem on the screen and plays it when you drag along it with a finger or a mouse, in the browser and with no account.
- Why is the Otamatone hard to play in tune?
- Nothing on the stem marks the notes, so you find each pitch by ear and by feel. Start with slow songs that stay in a few neighbouring notes, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and watch where the dot lands.