How to Use a Stick to Play the Djembe Drum

Video Transcript

" Hello there my name is Aaron Moon and I’m here today on behalf of expertvillage.com. Today I’ve been discussing the Djembe, the Djembe is a hand drum you’re typically going to use your hand when you play it, that doesn’t mean you can’t use a stick to produce some different tones and different sounds. So here I have a stick kind of beat up, kind of chewed up, been played a lot and it doesn’t really matter what end of the stick you use. I would tend to if I’m going to be playing on actual head of the drum I would tend to use the butt end of the stick as opposed to the beating end of the stick, just because it’s a little thicker it’s not as likely to pierce the drum. So you can use the stick on the actual drum…like that, that’s probably not going to be the main use for a stick with a Djembe, you can use it to manipulate the sound like using a knuckle, like using a finger or like using an elbow. Like that…you can use it to provide the same sort of sound, it accomplishes the same thing. Now you can also use it on the outside of your drum to produce a kind of wood block type of sound it’s not going to be the same sound that you’re getting from the head of the drum it’s going to more a harsh sound so… So that’s one beat you could use on the side, you could use the beat by itself, you could use it in combination with playing the hand drum with your hand so… That just gives you another texture, another tone you can use to widen your pallet with the hand drum, it’s all not that common but you’re not going to be harming your drum as long as you’re not welling on it as hard as you can which I would suggest against. So that’s one way you could use the stick with the hand drum the Djembe I hope it’s been some use to you and I hope you feel free to use it to your liking. So thanks for joining me and take care have a good day."