It is very important for your left hand fingers to be able to touch exactly the right place on the strings so that you play every note in perfect tune. The fingering system on the morin khuur is probably different to other instruments you may have played, so lots of practice is essential, no matter how boring that may be! Just as with every instrument anyone has invented, practice makes perfect – so you have to practice so that you find the right note at the right time every time!

Mongolian Traditional Song

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Most ordinary morin khuur players restrict themselves mostly to the 1st and 2nd Octaves. This calls for use of all the fingers without great difficulty. The 3rd Octave is more difficult. Because it is high up on the neck of the morin khuur, the distance between each note is very small, exact placement becomes critical and slight mistakes are much more obvious – and painful to the ear! The fingers must go under the thick string to reach the thin string for the 3rd Octave.

Doh is played by the nail of the 2nd finger.
Re is played with the tip of the 3rd finger.
Mi and all the next notes are played by the tip of the little finger.

In the further, you should learn to play with the thumb. One of the traditional methods of playing morin khuur is playing “ZEE” position with the thumb. The thumb pushing the thin string plays the role in sound lowering and highering of the thin string and making multiple sound of various ornamentation and rhythm.

For example: This position of pushing the 1-line octave “Fa” note by the thumb and the little finger in the center of the morin khuur neck.