by yalla » Tue Jun 29, 2004 1:38 pm
Well, that could be a good idea to have some unusual sounds, but I have something to point out...
First of all, to get a goods bass sound from a djembe, played with pedal, you should use a very large and soft beater, otherwise you will get a "konk!" sound instead of a "boom".
Djembes sound very good when played with brushes or blasticks, but will not sound as a djembe, since you will get no bass sounds.
A very interesting solution is to play with one free hand, and one brush (with plastic wires) in the other. Try it! I usually play with such technique in my "mixed" set. Try this: make a bass with one hand, the brush in the other hand just resting on the head, without applying any pressure: you will get a "bendir" like buzzing bass. Or: make an open tone when pressing the brush firmly against the head, towards the rim, you will get a snare sound. The brush slapped on the rim will give you a sound which is similar to a normal open tone, but brighter and dryer. Then, you can get several slightly different sounds with the brush, depending on how and where the strokes are made. Obviously, if the head surface is rough enough, you can play it with both brushes in a traditional jazzy style. Remo NuSkins are very good for this.
Now... what about cymbals? Well, obviously you can't play a hihat or a ride cymbal with the hand. Actually, I don't have any hihat at all, and when I need to ride on the cymbal I use brushes or blasticks in both hands. And I use only splash cymbals, because they are thin and responsive enough when hitted with fingertips.
To get a snare sound when using blasticks, I lay a tobillera on the djembe head, so that it rattles when i hit the djembe.
I know what you are thinking now.. "what the #### of a set.." I am very proud of it, so I will explain it thoroughly: the heart of the set is a 14" Paulo Mattioli Remo djembe, played as above explained, between my legs. In front of me, a LP Generation II bongo. A tambourine, mounted on a bassdrum pedal is played ith my left foot. Instead of the bassdrum, i use a "kick-tumba" drum, handmade: it's a regular fiberglass tumba, with about 12" height of bottom cutted off. In this way the bottom diameter is 16" wide: I fitted it with regular drumset lugs, rim and head. The upper side is fitted with regular tumba head, rim and lugs. The kicktumba is fitted with floortom legs, and on the legs I attached a bassdrum pedal, with a reversed chain so that the beater moves upwards.
Then, some UFIP splashes, one 16" crash/ride cymbal. Wind chimes, various shakers, caxixi, effects to complete.
...sorry for the long post... but... what do you think about?
Let me know?
nadie se salva de la rumba