Inside a Shaker - I'm Making a New Shaker This Week

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Postby Chupacabra » Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:10 am

I was at a concert last night and the percussionist had a really nice sounding shaker that had a nice, mildly raspy but quick shish when he used it and I was quite impressed. Also impressive was the fact that it was cut from a piece of bamboo. The size looked like just under 2" diameter by about 10" long and the actual chamber looked to be about 8 out of the 10 inches.

I have decided that I am going to make one out of some more bamboo that I have had sitting around for months and want to use it up.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can use for the "jingle"? I don't know the right word for the bits that give the shaker it's sound. I've made a rattle out of hide before and used rounded beach pebbles but it just sounds like pebbles rattling around, I've tried some seeds and dried beans and wasn't impressed. There are just too many things to try out there so I would like to try and narrow it down to maybe 10 possibilities if I can.

I bet there must be someone out there who can help me out!
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Postby Garvin » Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:52 pm

Well, depending on how "live" you want it to sound, you could try using bb's. I don't know if you want to stick to all natural stuff though. Popcorn kernels are pretty bright too.
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Postby burke » Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:09 pm

My favourite shaker is a pringles can with popcorn I made 15 years ago in about 3 minutes. Used popcorn. I've bought shakers but they never sound as good.
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Postby Garvin » Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:47 pm

Yeah, one of my sons favorite toys is a little Dasani water bottle filled about half way with popcorn kernels.
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Postby OLSONGO » Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:29 pm

Chupacabra, down here in Florida we have this small brown seeds that fall off a palm tree and they are all over the place, thats what I put in my Caxixis. But if I want a finer sandy sound, I use xtra- small glass beads.

Paz
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Postby Sakuntu » Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:54 pm

I use glass beads too. To me they give the best "fine" sound.
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Postby Chupacabra » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:15 am

Thank you all for your replies; The popcorn, seeds, and B.Bs will be among the first that I experiment with. The length of bamboo that I have should give me enough for about 5 or 6 shakers so I think I'll just have to cut them up and drill 'em, fill 'em and shake 'em with several different bits and pieces I find around here until I have a "Eureka!" moment.
Like the catas that I made, I'll probably keep one or two and give the rest away.
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