I've played one on many occasions. It's a good deal simpler than some instruments to get going on, but I've heard plenty of people make it sound leaden and boring too.
There's loads of useful videos on youtube that show how to play one, but essentially the best technique IMO is to maintain a constant 8th-note or 16th-note rhythm and vary the position and force of your hits (in the centre of the drum for a bass tone, towards the top corners for a high/snare sound) to accent the right notes. The un-accented notes should be played very lightly in the top corners, and work like the hi-hat would on a drum kit, or like ghost notes on the snare.
When I bought one for my church a while back I was told that the very cheap ones (sub-£100) are noticeably worse than the slightly more expensive ones both in terms of build quality and sound (I bought a Natal model, which also has a switchable snare), so do aim to try some before you buy.
Oh, and it gets used to stand the ironing on when it's at our house
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Much useful stuff there, many thanks.Originally Posted by english_bob
I've played one on many occasions. It's a good deal simpler than some instruments to get going on, but I've heard plenty of people make it sound leaden and boring too.
There's loads of useful videos on youtube that show how to play one, but essentially the best technique IMO is to maintain a constant 8th-note or 16th-note rhythm and vary the position and force of your hits (in the centre of the drum for a bass tone, towards the top corners for a high/snare sound) to accent the right notes. The un-accented notes should be played very lightly in the top corners, and work like the hi-hat would on a drum kit, or like ghost notes on the snare.
When I bought one for my church a while back I was told that the very cheap ones (sub-£100) are noticeably worse than the slightly more expensive ones both in terms of build quality and sound (I bought a Natal model, which also has a switchable snare), so do aim to try some before you buy.
Oh, and it gets used to stand the ironing on when it's at our house
Breeding mammals with insects is my personal bugbear.
No problem, I'm a big cajon fan. My main reservation about them is that you don't really have the sort of dynamic range, variety and intensity you can get with a drum kit. They're great for keeping a groove going under a strummy acoustic guitar or something (and can sound quite drum kit-like when used that way), but that's about it.
Of course, you can use one alongside other hand percussion (at least in theory- I haven't tried it, but I don't see why you couldn't use a shaker or a tambourine or anything you could play one-handed along with the cajon), and apparently some drummers use them instead of a bass drum (with a wacky sort of backwards pedal arrangement) in small busking kits alongside a snare and hats.
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yes, I've seen it used alongside a hi hat and cymbals. I saw Seth Lakeman a couple of years ago and there was a full drum kit on stage. I saw him earlier this year and that had gone , replaced by a cajon and assorted percussion. I guess much less onstage volume for an acoustic set up as well.
Breeding mammals with insects is my personal bugbear.
Recently saw a band where the percussionist used one as part of his kit,instead of using his hands used a bass drium pedal leaving his hands free for his wave drum ..that worked.
One fact about of Cajon's is dogs hate em!
It would sit in the house pretty much next to the dog's bed....
Breeding mammals with insects is my personal bugbear.
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