Basic Doumbek African Drum Strikes: The Tek

Video Transcript

"Hi. This is Alex Spurkel with Naked Rhythm and Universal Drumming on behalf of Expert Village. In this clip, we're going to be talking about how to play the tek on the Doumbek. The tek is a strike, the high pitched sound that you get on the edge of the drum. Here's how it works. Okay, and the way you want to approach that is, you want to have your hand held relatively flat, and your fingers loose. Okay, so your fingers don't necessarily have to be touching, but hold them somewhat close together, but loose. You want to make sure that there's some mobility in your fingers and wrists. That you're not stiff and rigid. What you're going to do is, you're going to come down and you're going to hit so that the tips of your finger hit the edge just inside the edge of the drum. About in that far. No further than that. That's where the sweet spot is for the tek. Strike and release, bouncing off just like we did for the doum. Don't worry if your fingers sting and tingle a little bit when you're first doing it. It takes a little bit, a while for your skin to get used to it. It'll toughen up as you play. Just don't overdo it. Don't hit it too hard. Just get enough to get the sound that you're looking for. And then additional volume will come with practice."