The drummer strikes the surface, then brings the stick up to full stroke or down stroke position.
They are produced by different movements. Save $$ on Roots Jam rhythm books and audio (digital formats) - Order combo bundles direct from this site.The basic strokes produce a single hit or notes while resulting in different sounds. “You have to always play the Djembe to get a new spirit.” – Alpha Oulare “The Djembe will make you suffer, but it can show you the way to obtain knowledge of nature…
List of basic drum beats free#
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See free djembe lessons (YouTube videos) on technique, also basic accompaniment parts in 4/4 and 6/8. Your mastery of it will never be done, but you will get better! Whatever your method, practicing technique is the surest way to improve as a drummer. It is sometimes taught by master drummers that the best way to produce the desired beat is simply by “thinking” it as you play. The tone is hit with the middle part of the fingers and produces a full, woody sound the slap is hit with the fingertips and produces a sharp, cracking sound. Here’s a simple dunun pattern that illustrates all three kinds of notes:Īgain, with this simple notation you can access virtually any dunun rhythm.įor beginners and experienced djembe players alike, the first work is to improve your technique – the quality of distinctive sounds separating the tone and the slap. See the full rhythm notation system with examples Basic Dunun beatsįor the dununs, the drum beats can be open (O) or muted (M), and are struck with an accompanying bell note bell notes (x) also mark time when no dunun beats are struck. You can now read, write and remember any basic djembe rhythm using the above notation system. The so-called “box notation” system gives us a visual aid to the timing: Let’s drop the bass beats, and repeat the above phrase using the same timing of eight notes. When we use pauses in the timing of the rhythm, rather than playing every note, we’ll drop some of the notes and substitute rests (-). (Capital letters indicate the more dominant notes, slaps or bass notes, and allow us to distinguish “go/do” from “Gun/Dun.”) Since we know what the letters mean, when we read and play the above pattern in shorthand notation, we can still say the whole words, “ Pa Ta go do Pa Ta Gun Dun.” To notate this rhythm with equal spacing, we just use the first letter, like so: See YouTube video on basic djembe technique and vocabulary. Playing all these notes on alternate hands (R, L) then produces a rhythm that rolls off the tongue: Since we play djembe with both hands, let’s use the above for the right hand, and call the left-hand version, “ Dun, do, Ta.” You can mimic these sounds by saying, “ Gun, go, Pa.” Basic djembe beats & notationįor the djembe, the primary notes are bass, tone and slap. The language of the West African drums, the djembe and dununs (with attached bells if played in the traditional way), can be learned with a simple vocabulary of a few basic beats. Basic vocabulary of the West African drum language
With smart phones and tablets, referencing your collection of drum rhythms becomes even more convenient. The collected tradition of West African drum rhythms is vast, so it helps the memory to have a written book of notation sheets for handy reference and study. West African polyrhythms can be quite complex, not only with interlocking notes of the basic parts, but also with djembe solo phrases and dunun variations. For others it helps to have a visual reference with written notation for djembe rhythms and dunun parts. Some people find it easy to learn by listening and copying new drum patterns by ear and feel. If you are skilled there will be chances to perform with other drummers, to teach drum lessons, to drum for dance classes, and to sit in with bands of many kinds needing hand drums and percussion. If you travel with a djembe you will find others to jam with, and sharing drum rhythms will lead quickly to new friendships. Originating in Guinea and neighboring countries of the former Mali empire, the rhythms of the djembe (jembe) and dununs (dunduns) can now be heard everywhere. West African drumming has become a kind of universal language around the world. Introduction to djembe beats & technique, vocabulary & written notation A universal language