How to Use a Djembe With a Bass Drum Pedal
The djembe, a classic African drum many thousands of years old in design, has recently come into vogue for use in conjunction with modern drum kits in place of a standard bass drum. Unfortunately, it can be quite a project to mount a djembe as a bass drum. The trouble comes from attempting to use a standard bass drum kick pedal on the significantly more delicate djembe, which was never designed to sit level on horizontal ground. Luckily, there is a simple method to make it work.
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Instructions
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Drill two holes carefully in the outer rim of your djembe near the bottom, and insert the adjustable-length bass-drum legs. Remove your djembe's head and tighten the nuts until the legs are secure and don't slide when pressure is put on them.
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Place the upper rim of the djembe (where the head would be if you hadn't removed it) on the padded clamp of the bass pedal. You'll get the best quality sound from a horizontal drum, much like the bass drum your djembe is replacing, but your individual sound might require a different angle. Adjust the length of the djembe's new legs until the drum is either perfectly horizontal or at your preferred angle.
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Secure the legs, reattach the djembe's head, clamp the drum securely into the bass pedal, and test your construction by gently pressing the bass pedal until the hammer strikes the djembe. Adjust your drum pedal's range of motion until the hammer strikes the drum head firmly but not overly so, to avoid doing damage to the drum.
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