Djembe Drum Set - Playing Djembes as a set

[mangorockfish]

Has anyone tried using one of those cradles and put one of the larger Djembes in it to use as a kick drum, and use the smaller ones for toms with one of Remos new mondo snares? I think it would look and sound pretty cool played with brushes or blasticks.

[yalla]

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?

[mangorockfish]

Hello yalla,
You have a very interesting kit. That is kinda what I'm wanting to do. Just some off-the-wall instruments put together to form a kit. i have my congas anda few percussion "toys". BTW What is a tobillera? Remo offers a kick/conga that looks like what yours probably does. Did they git it from you or did you get it from them ?:D I would have to have my hihat no matter what. I just got a set of 13" New Beats that are the best sounding cymbals I have ever heard. Could you not set a hihat next to your tamborine and switch off to give you another sound.
Let me know about the tobillera.

[vaconguero]

hey mrf,

I know of a guy here in Virginia who built a set with a djembe for the bass drum, and it actually sounds alright when miked at the bottom.

Richmond Music Center is the store that he owns, and Kip is his name. If nothing else, maybe you could trade ideas with him.

Lee

[Tonio]

Hola,
since you guys have mixed set ups, are your familiar with The LP Gajate bracket? its a bracket for the kick pedal, to strike a bell, etc.
Do any of you know where I can find a bell beater for this? Its like a large (5B?) stick shortened and fastened to the a rod. right now I'm using a Vater wooden kick drum beater and its too heavy for cowbells.

T

[mangorockfish]

Brother, it is a Vater model# PA057Bell. It is in the Interstate Music catalog. Call them at 1-800-in-a-band and ask for Nathan.
Hope this helps.
Mangorockfish

[yalla]

Hey Mangorockfish! Thank you! A tobillera is that rattler made with seed-shells, made in southamerica (Chile, Peru, Bolivia...) tied together to a colourful textile handle. You know? Normally it is played together with the bombo: one head plays the bombo with a beater, and the other holds a tobillera to keep tempo.
The Remo kick-conga would better have been named "kick-quinto" because of the measurementes. My Kick-tumba is much larger and have been handmade by a friend of mine, a wonderful guy living in Genova... fabrizio, he's a member of this forum too.
I decided NOT to incorporate a hihat primarily because my set is played both with free hands and brushes or blasticks (no need to say it's impossible to play hihat with fingertips) and also because I want my set to ssound different than a regular drumkit, as much as possible. Besides the tecnhnique I explained below, I often replace hihat function with shakers and caxixis. For instance, I play bossanova patterns in this way: a caxixi in my left hand, used horizontal as a shaker and hitted on the gourd on upbeat strokes. A blastick in my right hand plays the bossanova clave pattern on a LP jamblock, or cross-rim on the djembe. The right foot pedal plays the standard samba pattern on the lower head of the kick-tumba and the left foot pedal hits the tambourine on upbeat strokes when I need to push more.
And I use several kind of sticks to change sounds during a gig... I love Vater Whips (though hard to be found in Italy), blasticks of different brands and thickness, plastic brushes, soft mallets - now I'm looking for the new Promark Webs, but no shop around here seems to even know about them...
And also an Italian stick manufacturer is now distributing something which seems to be very useful for me: blasticks with an aluminium hollow handle, filles with some pellets. A blastick with a shaker sound...