Djembe

**Reindeer** · 07-16-2009, 07:29 PM

I started my drumming on the Djembe before moving to concert snare and then kit. I recently bought a new fiberglass Djembe and I was hoping you guys could teach me a few more advanced rhythms. I also have been practicing some clave rhythms that Midgard gave me, and would like to take a look at some more.

Here's my Djembe by the way, you might see my claves too.

~Cheers

**midgard** · 07-16-2009, 10:57 PM

There are several good books and videos out there. One of the many is the book conga joy by Bill Matthews. He has a youtube channel as well at http://www.youtube.com/user/congajoy While the book is called conga joy, you can play it all on the djembe (it has stuff from west africa, cuba, hati, etc).

Another awesome book/dvd is the "The Tomas Cruz Conga Method Volume 1,2 and 3".

For a more traditional approach to djembe, I have heard that the Mamady Keita Dvds are good, but I don't have any experience with them.

But enough of references...how about a cool beat or two?

This is one that should be in every hand drummer's bag of tricks:

Code:

Tumbao (The basis of mambo music)
|1 e & a|2 e & a|3 e & a|4 e & a|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|H|T|S|T|H|T|O|O|H|T|S|T|H|T|O|O|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

here is a decent video talking about the heel/toe and tumbao: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLD26mdnLq0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLD26mdnLq0[/ame]

And another fun one

Code:

Son Clave ala Bo Diddley
|1 e & a|2 e & a|3 e & a|4 e & a|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|S|O|O|S|O|O|S|O|O|O|S|O|S|O|O|O|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+