Mali Weave - variations

[James]

Someone recently showed me a far better way or doing the mali weave than i had been using.

It's like a mirror of the standard advice.

You go over the top of 2 verticles, back one and then under 2.

The beauty of this is that you can then stand your djembe upright, hold the end of the rope and kick downward on the string. THis makes it pop into lock, while also pushing the knot as far downwards are you're going to get.

If you stand rather than kick (less speed, more torque) it pushes the knot right down before it pops.

Anyone, come across this or other tips before. I've seen another friend, who seems to like tying up 4/5 verticles at a time. Not sure what the benefits of this are...

[Dugafola]

james,

i've seen that done by a couple people. it works fine but can be a pain in the ass taking your diamonds out.

there's also the 3-2-1-1-2 for the first row you can do. start off going under 3, then back over 2, then under 1, over 1, under 2 and then pull. then you start the next knot by going under the next 2 to make the 'under 3' to start. you'll see a lot of this in africa as it gets the skin pretty tight with just one set of knots. i've used it to help pull the rings down if they get set to high when it dries out.

[rachelnguyen]

Dugafola,

I have seen my teacher do this... but not just on the first row, I don't think. It is REALLY hard to pull when things get tight, LOL!

Rachel

[rachelnguyen]

I just wanted to add that my teacher lent me a drum this week and it has been tuned using that 3 rope method. He did a single row (the first row) and this thing is TIGHT. It sounds incredibly crisp.

I have a friend with a drum that doesn't have a lot of spare rope. Maybe with this method she can take out the existing diamonds and pull it far tighter.

Rachel

[Dugafola]

I just wanted to add that my teacher lent me a drum this week and it has been tuned using that 3 rope method. He did a single row (the first row) and this thing is TIGHT. It sounds incredibly crisp.

I have a friend with a drum that doesn't have a lot of spare rope. Maybe with this method she can take out the existing diamonds and pull it far tighter.

Rachel

cool. i'm not sure how you start a 2nd row using that method.

[rachelnguyen]

Me neither.

Maybe I'll check in with my teacher and see if he'll show me how. I'll keep you posted!

Love,
Rachel

[bops]

Someone recently showed me a far better way or doing the mali weave than i had been using.

It's like a mirror of the standard advice.

You go over the top of 2 verticles, back one and then under 2.

The beauty of this is that you can then stand your djembe upright, hold the end of the rope and kick downward on the string. THis makes it pop into lock, while also pushing the knot as far downwards are you're going to get.

I use this technique when the verticals get so tight that the diamonds won't hold. This way, the pressure of the second vertical pulling against the first locks it into place. I used that on my Malian drum, since there are five entire rows of diamonds...

I uploaded a picture to illustrate (diamonds were pulled from left to right):

[James]

5 rows?
Is it an old skin?

[bops]

5 rows?
Is it an old skin?

It's been on there for over a year... so yeah, it's been on there for a LONG time! However, I haven't needed to pull any diamonds on it since last year. It's a cow skin, so it's tough. Once it locks into place, it doesn't stretch. Here's a video of me playing on it last April ('07):

[rachelnguyen]

Bops,

What a great sound! And a great video, too!

[e2c]

Oh man - the sound is wonderful! I just got a kenkeni (sangban should be ready next week) and am totally in love with the sound of cowhide.

Thing is, I think a calfskin-headed bass djembe is the only way I can pull this off (in the longer term), as I have some problems with my wrist flexors and high-tension calfskin is hard on my hands/wrists.

But I've been taking some time to play my kenkeni with my hands (putting it across my lap and playing both heads), and it just sings.

[BobF]

[quote="Dugafola"]james,

i've seen that done by a couple people. it works fine but can be a pain in the ass taking your diamonds out.

there's also the 3-2-1-1-2 for the first row you can do. start off going under 3, then back over 2, then under 1, over 1, under 2 and then pull. then you start the next knot by going under the next 2 to make the 'under 3' to start. you'll see a lot of this in africa as it gets the skin pretty tight with just one set of knots. i've used it to help pull the rings down if they get set to high when it dries out.[/quote]

Dugafola, can you elaborate a bit on this? There's only 1 "back over" in the entire sequence? how many pairs should I be working with each time I do this? sorry for all the questions.

Bob

[bubudi]

go under 3
back over 1, continue under the original 2
forward again over the first, under the next one, over the next one, then under the next 2
back over the last one, continue under next, over next, under next
takes harder pulling to get this one
once you get used to it, it saves some time by pulling more verticals at once.

i would recommend doing this on the bottom row and continuing with regular mali weave rather than the other way around because the extra pull puts a lot of pressure on one area of the skin which can weaken or even snap your skin when it's already fairly taught. but many people get lost when doing it in that order. the trick is to finish a row properly.

[jqpublick]

Hello all:

I've noticed that when I pull threes (what bubdi is talking about) the end of the round is always a problem. Getting a second row of threes without skipping a vertical (which results in an uneven pull) is nearly impossible as far as I can tell. (Perhaps I'm not pulling the vertical ropes enough?)Having said that, I wonder if the number of ring rope loops is important. If it's an even number, pulling a round of threes always leaves a rope left over, and -I think- an odd number works out better. When I first started reheading drums, finishing a round of threes was always the moment of hopeful despair. I hoped it would work out, and usually despaired of the outcome. Often though, a round of threes is more than enough to settle the skin. Twos after that (the Mali weave) is usually good enough.

Bubudi said

go under 3
back over 1, continue under the original 2
forward again over the first, under the next one,

I'm with you up to here, but I'm at a bit of a loss after that. Usually when I pull this set I get a knot and the first vertical for the next knot, which holds the ropes and prevents the new knot from undoing itself. (That only happens when the vertical ropes are either too loose or way, way too tight.)

over the next one, then under the next 2
back over the last one, continue under next, over next, under next

This seems to be setting up the next knot. Is that right?

the trick is to finish a row properly.

Now this I am interested in. What do you do to finish off a round of threes?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Mark

[bubudi]

tricky stuff to explain. next time i head up with this method i'll make some pictures.