Hand percussion???

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:05 am

Say I wanted to get a hand drum, like a Djembe, Conga, or Bongo. Or similar. Anyone have any advice or recommendations on what's a good deal (less than $200 ideally), or which one of the above is better for a beginner? Been toying with the idea for awhile, but figured I'd ask for advice beore diving in too deep on researching this.

Thanks.

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:13 am

i heard in terms of conga and bongos....latin percussion is a great beginner to intermediate brand to use. Are you trying to do more african rhythms or more of a samba groove?

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:19 am

Congas are not good for much other than playing afro/cuban rhythms. Bongos are nice because you get 2 tones and can play more melodically, but there is no bass which makes them less fun. djembes are great because you've got the bass and the high note, which is KIND of like having 2 tones. Most doumbeks are great, too. They can be played like djembes with a nice bass tone and high tone. I like playing a djembe and a doumbek at the same time (or 2 djembes). I like sitting on / straddling the djembe on the floor and having the doumbek on my right. This gives me good bass tones and 2 high melodic tones to choose from.

A great author/series I can recommend is Alan Dworsky's books. All great for beginners. "A rhythmic vocabulary" is great. "how to play djembe" is great. And I see there's now one called "hip grooves for hand drums" . His non-djembe books are good because they are applicable to anything you can bang your hands on. Really easy reading and you're instantly playing rhythms even if you can't read music.

Jekblad · Post by **Jekblad** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:24 am

Djembe if u want to jam with ur acoustic guitar hippie buddies.
Conga/bongo if ur playing with your....latin buddies. I think these are a little more fun and easy to record.

Check out a cajon. It's an Irish intrument I think, and it's bad ass. I think I'm way off on the origin. Either way, it's the drum you sit on, anyone can make it sound awesome, just throw a mic in there.

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:28 am

Also: It's not hard to find a nice wood djembe for $200, but you usually have to find them used (craigs list is better than ebay - because you can try it out before buying). Stores will rip you off charging 300-400 for the same drum. You can always go Remo. They have good high tones but not so good bass tones. But they stay in tune in damp climates (because of their special heads), where skinned drums will sound like crap until they warmup and dry out. You might need to get a used Remo to stay in your price range and still get a decent sized drum. Or if you don't mind being a beginner for a while you can settle for a cheaper 12" Remo. 14" or bigger will have a much nicer bass tone.

Lazos · Post by **Lazos** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:49 am

I'd also suggest checking out a doumbek or darbuka. The cast aluminum Egyptian-style doumbeks or Turkish darbukas are usually around $200 (or usually less) and aren't affected by moisture at all. Depends on what kind of hand percussion sounds you like the most or gravitate towards.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 2:27 pm

Thanks everyone. I'm honestly not sure yet what type of tone I'm looking for, but I guess it's good to know the Remo stuff is not universally panned for being crap. I like the idea of low maintenance, even at the expense of a little tone.

Heiko · Post by **Heiko** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 2:38 pm

Music is Sound......

Go to a good percussion shop.......check out the drum you like the most.......and play Your Rhythm!

Enjoy!

Cajon is from Peru originally, now famous with Flamenco music.......lovely instrument, easy to play
Darbuka is always fun, hard to play good though.....
Djembe is solid deep and nice
Framedrums have amazing sound...................Try the bigger Remo ones, or find some nice Shaman to dive in or fly with the Eagle HeartBeat......
Myself a Tabla player.......the Ultimate percussion.....You'll start enjoying after minimum 3 years of lessons and daily practice!

Kind Grtz,

Heiko

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 2:50 pm

cajon es la hostia. superduper instrument. It's just a wooden box with a kind of brush inside that gives this snare noise. Some people get a kind of crazy d&b-sound out of it. Great! Can replace a drummer without problems.

There is a lot of nice stuf on youtube, check out this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDFb6t1R ... re=related

beats me · Post by **beats me** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:01 pm

Great topic and information. I think a lot of us have wanted to bang away on something that isn't a MIDI pad controller triggering percussion samples. I wouldn't know where to begin either.

Just out of curiosity have any of you percussion players messed around with the Roland Handsonics? What's your opinion on those in the general scheme of things?

Alextronica · Post by **Alextronica** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:28 pm

This is awesome because I'm coming from the other end of things

I love djembe's and I've been banging away since I was in junior high.

a year ago I got Ableton and I'm trying to learn production but give me a handdrum and I'm right at home

Seattle has a festival called Rhythm Fest in April, Its a great spot to buy a drum

http://www.earthtribepercussion.com/

this is my friend Mike's website I got a sweet 12 inch djembe that cracks for $150

Check out my friend Thoine Diop, This kid is a master

Enjoy

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:42 pm

Thanks man, I'll definitely have to go check out Rhythm Fest!

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:20 pm

Remo released new instrument last week and it is rather amazing. Together with well Indian percussionist Selva Ganesh ( of John Mclaughlin Shakti) they recreated kanjira- tradidtional Indian instrument that was endangered species since the lizard skin used for those became prohibitted. Kanjira is small and light but can have amazing bass, that was the secret of the lizard skin which could be tuned through sprinkling and spreading small amounts of water- it works like a filter..
Have no idea how Remo did it (computer scanning was part of it) but the surface feels exactly like original but the new instrument is even better since there are better tuning options. It is not like pandeiro-high pitch, you get amazingly loud bass too, just like from tabla.
Anyway just see/ hear it in action, recorded last week at the Messe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GBxy-4o ... annel_page

terragong · Post by **terragong** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:43 pm

look around here -great knowhow ....
http://www.drumdojo.com/djskin.htm

nowtime · Post by **nowtime** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 5:03 pm

beats me wrote:Great topic and information. I think a lot of us have wanted to bang away on something that isn't a MIDI pad controller triggering percussion samples. I wouldn't know where to begin either.

Just out of curiosity have any of you percussion players messed around with the Roland Handsonics? What's your opinion on those in the general scheme of things?

A total joy. They are an instrument unto themselves. Although I would rename it Roland Fingersonic. I don't really play it with full hands like a hand drum (although I did spend a little time with the smaller HPD-10 which I could do more full hand stuff with more successfully - probably because there are less pads and maybe the patches are designed a little differently). I have heard people play conga patches on the HPD-15 with full hands pretty convincingly.

It's got some great sounds and dynamics. I am often most expressive with it playing a few pads with one hand while manipulating pitch and other controls with the other.

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