So, I Bought A Djembe. What Else Can I Do?

[PalaNIN]

OK, I bought a djembe off eBay the other week because I love the tribal jungle sound and wanted to have something acoustic to play every now and then:



I've been working out how to get all the sounds consistently (hitting the drum with the same part of your hand onto the same part of the drum each time isn't as easy as you think) and making up some pretty awesome beats, but I need more information.

Use this thread for the following:

• Recommending artists with good "tribal-sounding" drumming
• Posting websites, books, or anything to help learn about hand percussion, how to improve, etc
• Recommend things to do (band-wise) with it
• Show off your own little drums!

To finish off, here's a photo of me playing the thing:

[markjazzbassist]

cool man. i play a djembe sometimes at my church. besides hitting the drum with the standard way (the way you are in the 2nd picture), there is another good way to get some cool sounds.

to get some bass thumps out of it, tighten one hand into a fist, hit the drum with the bottom of your fist (the bottom part of your hand). just make a fist like your going to punch someone (with thumb out of fist and up) and pound that drum with it.

you can mix up those beats and get a great drumlike beat going.

[balzac]

Artist-wise, a good (and very logical) place to start would be to track down a whole bunch of afrobeat music, and stuff from West Africa. Some artists to look out for: Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti, Chief Ebenezer Obey, King Sunny Ade, Orchestra Baobab. Dub outfits like Afro-Celt Sound System are worth checking out too.

I think djembes can work well with any style of music, but it's real easy for them to take over, especially when you get 2 or three people pounding away. Those things can sound HUGE, especially the full-size ones. I've had my band almost drowned out by two Senegalese drummers going full throttle on full-size djembes before. Really easy to tenderise your fingers too, so try not to get too carried away :-)

Band-wise, a full percussion breakdown is always a good time (if you're lucky enough to have a guitarist with a sense of rhythm). A djembe or two, your drummer on the kit, cowbell, maracas ... whatever you can hit that makes a noise. Have a big box of percussion toys to hand out to cute girls in the crowd and encourage them to join in ...

I'm not sure how far you've got with this, so forgive me if you already know about these things, but in terms of playing techniques, try playing with one hand and a drumstick - just don't hit the skin too hard or at too sharp of an angle. Or use a couple of wooden chopsticks to use as mini drumsticks. Don't limit yourself to just the skin either. Hitting the sides of the drum can produce some cool sounds as well.

Also, if you're playing sitting down, like in the pic, turn the drum sideways, so it's across your left thigh, with the skin facing you. Make a fist with your left hand, and move it in and out of the barrel of the drum as you hit with your right hand - makes a cool 'bwaoh'-type sound. You can also cup your left hand and use it a bit like a trumpet cup-mute, opening and closing it over the mouth of the drum as you play. Tricky to work that into a standard beat, but fun to play around with.

Anyway, whatever you try, have fun :-)

[morf]

This is from my personal experience, I've been playing djembes since I've been 11, so take it with a grain of salt

First off, dont tilt the djembe towards you like that. Lay it on the ground, and sit on top of it, so you can play using the whole skin (your ddjembe is small so you probably wont be able to do that until you get a bigger one), or sit on a chair, and tilt it away from you instead of towards you. Make sure you're not sitting back, but rather leaning forward. It'll make things easier.

Try to play with your fingers as much as you can. Whats fun with djembes is that you can pretty much smack your fingers against them (close to the rim for example) to make tight and bright sounding breaks from playing the bass in the middle.

As far as fingers are concerned, dont hit too hard but dont be scared to give impulsion, thats whats fun and what will give you a nice sound.

Have fun! Djembes are awesome Try and alternate djembe/bass, you'll find it gives you the sense of rhythm you need when you pick up the bass, and you'll play in the pocket after some time spent on the djembe.

I've no pics of my djembes/darboukas/percussions but I'll try to take some eventually.

[Baryonyx]

Here I am, hidden behind my own dejembe!