very non traditional style

[jzkornbluh]

Well, I picked up the djembe about 3 years ago and it has not left my side since then. When I cannot play a drum set, the djembe prevents me from going insane. I've just been wondering what other people thought of this weird style I've developed as a result of teaching myself everything on the djembe, and I finally found this site today!

[michi]

I like this a lot. That kid certainly has tons of aptitude and feel!

Cheers,

Michi.

[Nodrog]

Hi there,

I enjoyed that. Certainly as you say, not traditional but that is more the way I play mine. That finger flick off the edge to get a sharp slap sound is the same thing that I use but it's very hard to explain unusual technique in just words alone. I'm really glad you posted this video, a picture is worth a thousand words as they say...Main difference is, I think yours is tuned quite a bit higher than mine, I like a deep bass to tie in with the bass guitar.

I have not taken the traditional path with my djembe, I am first a guitar and bass player and more recently, an extreme novice on the bala. I bought my djembe to use on some recording projects where I didn't want to be stuck with mechanical drum machines for the drum track. That is where my djembe and cabasa and tambourine come in, even pans from the kitchen sometime. I play mainly reggae and South African style music with a strong influence of Celtic and 1950's rock'n'roll thrown in. Odd-ball is the best way to describe the end result.

I really like the way you play, any instrument to me is a blank slate just waiting for someone to coax interesting sounds out of it and that is for sure what you are doing right there.

What style of music do you play when on your kit?

Nice one, cheers, Gordon.

[jzkornbluh]

I mostly just take whatever knowledge I can from the spotty training I've had in jazz and orchestra and use that to try and translate emotion into noise on the drums. I guess my style would fall somewhere between jazz and rock...and whatever else I've been exposed to. I plan on trying to play music as a living...so at some point it would probably help to learn how to read music and the like.

[michi]

Any new style of drumming you expose yourself to, whether that's West African, or middle-Eastern, or Indian, or whatever, will give you new inspiration and impetus for your other music. Mandingue Music is quite challenging rhythmically, and even experienced jazz kit drummers are often surprised and challenged by its depth and complexity (especially Dundunbas).

If you take up traditional Mandingue drumming, I have no doubt that you'll have a lot of fun and also learn things that will come in handy for other styles of music. And there is no reason why you can't combine the techniques you invented yourself with more traditional technique to come up with a really unique style on the djembe.

I encourage you to give it a go--you clearly have a lot of aptitude and experience already, and you could go a long way with the djembe as well as experience a lot of personal growth.

Cheers,

Michi.

[FriendyAnil]

Hey that's awesome men great..I really like and I also learning guitar..I love music and dancing .

[Waraba]

Wow! You're going to soak it all up like a sponge. Keep going.