Thin cow skin or thick goat skin

[Djembe-nerd]

I have read on the net that a thicker goat skin will produce good tones, and so will the cow skin. The cow skin is harder on the hands, how much?

Is the thick goat skin also harder, or the skin of goat is softer no matter the thickness. What is the difference between a thick (or thickest) goat skin vs thin cow skin in terms of sound.

[Paul]

At the moment I play a very thick goat... I have it cranked but it still is definable as a goat skin, well to me anyway.. The tones are very sweet but its in the slaps I notice the difference..

Mind you I dont know if I have ever had a really thin cow.... Still waiting for a drum to break to try my horse skin.

[bops]

I've played almost exclusively on thin cow skins for the past three years. Thin is definitely the key. Even moderately thick cow skins will be difficult or extremely difficult to play.

If you're still developing your technique, it will be hard to get your sounds from a cow skin. In general, I would recommend sticking with goat.

[Carl]

Bops,

What made you switch to thin cow? and how exclusive are you?

C

[Djembe-nerd]

Thanks, Bops

I will stay with goat for some more time

(Doesn't sound right in the non-djembe world, should add this to "what djembefola should never say in public)

[bops]

Bops,

What made you switch to thin cow? and how exclusive are you?

I got hooked on cow during my last trip to Mali. I tried going back to goat just to see if I still liked it, and I did, but I prefer cow for the time being.

I like buying locally whenever possible, so I'm testing out deer also. Still too early to report on that, though. I'll let you know.

[Carl]

would be interested in hearing your opinion of deer. (live in Maine don't ya' know....)

C

[Djembe-nerd]

I haven't seen Mamady or Famoudou play on cow skin.

mamady alwasy plays on the white spotted goat skin, I don't know about Famoudou.

So is this cow skin sound is a new generation thing in West Africa.

[e2c]

I think - for me, at least - it's a question of what kinds of sounds you want to get from the drums. There's a full, rich tonality to calf and cow skin that isn't there with goat skin, and many things a good goat skin can provide that cow (imo) just doesn't.

I *love* the sound of cow/calf, but I also really like the sound of goat skin. My tradeoff (at the moment) is playing a bass djembe with cowskin (duns ditto) and "lead" djembes with nice goatskins. Works for me so far!

[Paul]

Hi Adam, Cow is big in Mali/burkina. I would reckon that as there are more melodic influence, balas, ngoni.. perhaps they want a lower/warmer sound djembe.. Well this is why I do it anyway...

I would use a bigger goat skin drum to be a guinea style soloist,, but maybe a cow on first accomp..
My burkina drums have smaller heads than guinea ones and are cow, so if your playing with others on guinea djembes you gotta work..

[Djembe-nerd]

so if your playing with others on guinea djembes you gotta work..

Thanks Paul,

I learnt this and its interesting you confirmed it too. When we practice soloing with our teacher, and I am soloing, he tells me to switch the djembe if I am playing the Guinea one, maybe its low pitch. But that doesn't happen with my Ivory Coast Iroko or Mali Hare one. I also noticed that I have to put more effort on the Guniea one than the others. Mali is 12.75", Iroko is 13.75" and Guniea is 13.25".

I am not yet going for cow, because I am already playing with tapes on my fingers and from what I heard here in the forum, it is harder on the hands.

[bops]

I would use a bigger goat skin drum to be a guinea style soloist,, but maybe a cow on first accomp..

That's interesting... my preference would be the reverse. I like the sound of goat skin for accompaniment; with its rich tonal colors. Cow skin has a distinct sound, a narrower spectrum that can really cut if it's tuned and played properly. You have to adjust your technique a bit to get a really good sound on cow.

To each his own, as the saying goes.

[e2c]

bops, I'm with you, although that said, I think there can be quite a bit of variance, what with individual drums and skins.

I guess I'm also used to playing bass djembe (which I love), and I prefer the warmth that cowskin brings to that particular accompaniment part.

[Djembe-nerd]

I would use a bigger goat skin drum to be a guinea style soloist,,

Why is that a bigger Guniea djembe will make it a solo djembe ?

I had the impression that smaller head dia will give more high pitch sounds than a bigger head dia.

[michi]

The pitch of the tones and slaps doesn't depend on the size of the drum, but on the tension of the skin. (The bass, in contrast, is fixed in pitch by the shell and does not change as you change the skin tension.)

Larger djembes are popular as solo drums because they are louder. The more volume in the bowl, the louder the drum. There is a limit to how large you can make them though because, for the same pitch, a smaller drum needs less tension on the skin than a larger one. So, as the drum gets larger, it gets more difficult to bring up the pitch to solo level without risking breaking the skin.

Cheers,

Michi.