Do you love or hate a cajon?

[morgansterne]

I only have ever seen it used well once, a singer songwriter who had a trio with ac guitar, bass, and cajon. I remember they did a cover of the police song "walking in your footsteps." The box was mic'ed up which helped a lot.

You can get pretty creative with regular drums. The drummer from Guster plays with his hands and fingertips sometimes, mixing regular drumset with congas, shakers, etc.
I also love the sound of brushes on a drum kit and i'd rather have that than a cajon anyday.

 

[Lava]

Both.
In the right hands, it's great. I've played with some phenomenal drummers who utilize it beautifully. In the wrong hands, the experience is not much more than someone smacking a box.

 

[Charlzm]

Or is it something in-between? I have an opinion but I first would like to hear a few of yours.

Editing to specify that I mean a cajon being used in lieu of a full drum kit. Not a cajon in the abstract.

The kind of music I write/play/enjoy listening to is not suited to cajon.

 

[Jim Kernan]

Like a lot of people in this thread I like them when used well.

 

[Joebone]

It's the cajonist, not the cajon!

 

[HotelX]

I like them because they are quieter than a regular drum kit.

I regularly sub for a band that has a trap drummer, a cajon/conga player, and a conga/percussionist. They generally meld nicely.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

Cajon is cool. Especially in a stripped down, "acoustic" scenario. Here's a outdoor restaurant gig recording I did with an acoustic guitar, me on bass (Rob Allen Deep 4 fretless) and cajon. I put a Shure Beta 91A boundary microphone inside the cajon and rested on the bottom atop a cloth rag. The bass cab was mic'd with a condenser and I took a DI feed off the guitar pickup. Sent everything through a mixer into one PA cab placed inside the restaurant for those diners.

 

[Bassndrums73]

To me it’s an even poorer excuse for acoustic drum replacement than electronic drums are. I’ll leave it at that.

 

[growlypants]

I have no problem with them. But, you do have to know how to play it!

 

[Scott Loveless]

Or is it something in-between? I have an opinion but I first would like to hear a few of yours.

Editing to specify that I mean a cajon being used in lieu of a full drum kit. Not a cajon in the abstract.

Hate it in lieu of. Hate it in abstract. Hate's a strong word, but it's accurate here.

 

[Paul New]

No. A good drummer can play quietly, and if a drummer isn't needed, then a drummer isn't needed. I especially dislike when they are added to bluegrass instrumentation. Corn.

 

[Jared Houseman]

i like cajons played by cajon players. Cajons played by drummers are just okay. They are a convenient substitute for a drum set but not the real thing. Just like EUBs are a convenient substitute for DBs

 

[lowfreqgeek]

It's the cajonist, not the cajon!

It's both. A wooden box is not a cajon. There are good cajons and there are wooden boxes. True cajonists play cajons. Kit drummers often play a wooden box.

 

[LBS-bass]

It's both. A wooden box is not a cajon. There are good cajons and there are wooden boxes. True cajonists play cajons. Kit drummers often play a wooden box.

Yep, that's another good point. The sound of a cajon, most of the time, is not musical to me. It doesn't have musical resonance, just sounds like "tic-tic-tic" like someone drumming on their desk in grade school.

I have heard better sounding cajons that have some resonance, but from what I know they tend to be pricey and no one on the local scene is spending that kind of money on a cajon. And home builds tend to be even worse because just about anyone can slap four pieces of plywood together.

 

[Matt Dean]

Yeah... not so much of a fan.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Yep, that's another good point. The sound of a cajon, most of the time, is not musical to me. It doesn't have musical resonance, just sounds like "tic-tic-tic" like someone drumming on their desk in grade school.

I have heard better sounding cajons that have some resonance, but from what I know they tend to be pricey and no one on the local scene is spending that kind of money on a cajon. And home builds tend to be even worse because just about anyone can slap four pieces of plywood together.

One of the local drummer/percussionists who used to tour with Ottmar Liebert, and is a carpenter, also builds some very sought-after cajons. They are built with carefully selected woods which have been thinned to the right thickness for the resonance he's after. He also leaves certain edges open to get the right click when it's hit on that edge. In the hands of the right player, they sound great.

I know other guys with plywood boxes, though. I'll just leave that one alone.

 

[BarfanyShart]

I knew this old jazz drummer in Florida called The Captain (he wore a captain's hat) and he had an epic cocktail kit - which is where I first saw a Cajon. He sat on the cajon, had his snare and high hat, a floor tom with a pedal, cymbal and wood blocks attached, and the real show stopper was a milk crate full of random percussion toys (mostly literal children's toys) that he would be pulling out in the middle of songs to groove with when it was time to change the texture. That guy was so economical (also the first guy i knee who bought a KIA) with his kit, and the cajon as throne was a big part of what he was doing. Other than that guy, I haven't seen a lot of other guys fit it into a gigging setting in an extremely useful way.

 

[Eric Swaim]

Cajon does not bother me, I dislike steel drums with a passsion.

 

[brianrost]

About 15 years ago I was in a band with two percussionists and no kit drummer. One guy had a cajon (first one I ever saw) and various djembe-ish middle eastern drums, the other guy had congas and an Irish bodhran. I can tell you I did not miss a drum kit in that band at all.

Recently the drummer in one of my bands had to bow out of a gig at the very last minute for medical reasons so we got a percussionist to show up with a cajon and a pile of other things to beat on. It worked out well enough we used him on two more gigs.

What's the best cajon for metal?

 

[BarfanyShart]

Best cajon for metal:
Der König von Cajón: 2013