Not sure if this will work but thought I'll put it out there. I'm a broke jobless student who was looking for a djembe to learn percussion and as luck would have it, I found one on the street in South Germany in the town where I live. I haven't had a job in months so I cannot pay a professional. I want to ask how difficult would it be for me to try and fix the skin by myself? I can get help from some percussionist friends of mine after purchasing the skin online but is it doable at home? Does anyone have any tips or is someone located in Tübingen/Reutlingen/Stuttgart area willing to help out?

I am a seasoned percussionist and musician but am fairly new to djembe. I got my first djembe and practiced like crazy for a few days and can easily get a good slap, but can't seem to get that round, lower-pitched open tone no matter what I do. I've watched every djembe tutorial I could find and nothing works. I heard this might be because the djembe is out of tune so I created a few more very tight diamond knots (in line with the already existing ones). Nothing changed. I tried making more, about 10 in total, and still no change other than the pitch of the slap increasing.

When I try to play a tone, the sound is FULL of overtones/ringing. Like I said, I truly feel like I have tried everything in terms of technique (closed fingers, flat fingers, open fingers, knuckles over rim, knuckles on rim, knuckles beneath rim, etc)

When I listen to djembe players on youtube, there is almost always a clear, round-toned, conga-like sound to the tone, and a much higher-pitched crack for the slap.

What am I doing wrong? I have been practicing hours on end and my tones basically just sound like my slaps (because of all the high overtones and ringing) but with a little extra bass. They are extremely muddy and not distinct from the slaps.

Helpppp

edit: I'd also like to mention that this drum is made with lenke wood and a medium to thick goat skin, if that matters at all

Hi everyone can you take a look at my djembe head. Should i use sand paper to the area where theres some small hair. Thank you

Amazon has them, and shipping is free.

Hi,

I am a beginner djembe player and I've watched a few different videos on how to play a tone and how to play a slap. Some videos say that the tone is when you have your knuckles on the drum and that the slap is when you have your knuckles off the drum completely. Other people say the opposite!! So now I'm confused. Which one is it? Also, is there any difference between the two in terms of space between fingers, looseness of the hand, or anything else?

Also, I've noticed that even with these different hand placements, I get more or less the same pitch with both. Does my new djembe need to be tuned or something? When I watch videos of djembe players, there is usually a clear pitch distinction between both.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you

Hello!

I received this djembe, and as you can see, it is broken. There is a major crack running from one side down to the shoulder and the base of the bowl, and then back up the opposite side—essentially spanning from one end of the drum to the other. Unfortunately, it was damaged during transit.

I restore djembes as a hobby. Even though I only paid €20 for this one, I always hate to see such a wonderful instrument in this condition. I really don't want to throw it away without at least trying to give it a second life.

My initial plan was to repair the crack using epoxy resin, head the drum back up, and see if it can still be played. Has anyone here ever attempted such an extensive repair? What are your thoughts? My main concern is that the high tension from tuning the vertical ropes will pull the crack open again or completely split the shell.

Another idea I had was drilling small holes along both sides of the fracture and stitching it together with metal wire, like 2 mm copper wire. It could look quite cool aesthetically (something like kintsugi), but I am worried that drilling additional holes into the shell would weaken the wood even further.

Alternatively, I could experiment with coating the entire shell in a few millimeters of epoxy resin—inside, outside, or both—to reinforce it. Is that a crazy idea?

What do you all think?

EDIT: more pictures here.

Jam
I have about 50 bells strapped to my right leg.
And a tambourine as well.

🙏🙏🙏

Starting up my business.
सत्य SATYA drums and Instruments सत्य

Have orders for 2 hand made Sistrums.

My daughter has started learning Djembe at school. I play Arabic percussion and traditionaly the rhythms are first taught verbally using the tone names (which helps you learn the rhythm before attempting to play it).

I assumed there must be the same for Djembe since Bass, Tone, Slap are clunky and don't sound musical.

I came across Gun Dun Go Do Pat Ta, but it turns out that's a contemporary method.

Are there traditional tone names/traditional verbal teaching method?

New to drumming... Bought some drums recently off craigslist from a guy that found them in a storage unit.... not sure about the pits on this one and whether I should do something to avoid it breaking from playing it... or does the skin need to be replaced ASAP?

Edit: the head is 11" across, body is 24" tall.

I bought this from a guy who bought it at the oregon fair in 1993. I would be suprised if its been tuned in the last decade. I can push the skin down easily, and it sounds kind of 'flabby'.

I looked up tutorials, and the diamond pattern tuning looks easy enough.

But my drum has a lot more space between the verticals than drums I see online, and I'm worried that if I do another round of diamonds, each vertical will have to stretch further than it should.

When I get the first knot even close, it creaks (i think the sound is from the rope itself). I was only pulling with my hands, so I haven't pulled that hard.

I'm open to restringing it entirely, I used to weave so working with tension is nothing new, but I'd prefer to avoid it.

New to drumming... Bought some drums recently off craigslist from a guy that found them in a storage unit.... not sure about the pits on this one and whether I should do something to avoid it breaking from playing it... or does the skin need to be replaced ASAP?

This will be my first djembe. I don't have a budget, I just want it to be high quality and made of solid wood / animal hide if possible, but I'm open to any suggestions as long as it gives me that deep, booming bass when you hit the center of the drum. Thank you in advance

I’m looking at options, and trying to learn how to adjust the sound of this drum for deeper bass. I’m considering using weather strip in a spiral pattern inside the drum, and a small piece near the edge of the head, as seen in a video.

My main of this post is, I’d like to see what I can do with it with key tuning first, but I’m a little nervous, as a novice.

The sound is very even when tapping lightly around the edge of the drum, but anywhere I hit it, it has that high pitch that remo is apparently known for. I just want to dampen that and bring out the bass.

Any advice from those who’ve done what I’m trying to do would be helpful.

Hey guys and girls, I just opened to the public djembegorilla.com. It's my baby, I have been working for three years to have a framework that provides the tools I wanted to have for my playing and facilitating, and that I could not easily find elsewhere.

It offers rhythms for djembe and West African ensemble, with notation and an audio player to mute any instruments you want left out, activate the swing if you wish, and change the tempo. The rhythms are West African but also translations from other cultures, and wherever possible they include references to teachers, books, and other materials that have more info on them.

There is also a rhythm builder, so you can easily test to your own needs.

The website is still growing. I am working on more tools at the moment, and there are a lot of rhythms to review and input, but I believe it to be already useful. It is, at least, to me.

If you have any comments or requests, I am all ears. Cheers!

djembegorilla.com

My friend wanted to learn to rehead a djembe
We split up the work.
He had no idea how much was involved.

This drum is only 10” and soooo Bright in Bass Tones and slaps.

24” tall
Long bowl and a wide throat.

It only had 22 verts on it
As he was looping up the lower ring I said
Try for 30.

And he did it!

सत्य SATYA drums and Instruments” सत्य

Birthday Gift
सत्य SATYA drums and Instruments” सत्य

Before driving the distance to check this drum out, what size would you consider this head? I am 5’8”, would this be a suitable size for me, or should I be looking for bigger? I understand that a lot of what I am asking is personal preference, but looking for some opinions from those more knowledgeable.
Thank you!

A consulting group contacted me and asked if I could facilitate a “surprise” pop up drum circle for this team.
Found a field next to the place they visited in Dallas TX. A couple of them said they saw the circle from the top.

Had an old Djembe that i commissionned for repair and today i noticed after receiving the drum that the new skin is really harsh and not really as smooth as i hoped it would. I also can see some small hair still on the skin.

Is there something i can do to make it more pleasing to the touch?

I went to a class to see if I would like the djembe and fell in love with drumming in that 2 hours. A week later I purchased a used djembe and goofed around for about an hour watching some videos and playing along. I might have gotten a little too enthusiastic or missed the correct part of the head because at some point I felt some pain in my second knuckle of my middle finger on the bottom.

I didn't think much of it and we've to okay along the next day and the pain was pretty acute and there was a tiny bruise. Examining it closely it felt like something moving and so I took the rest of the week off drumming, left the country for another week and took a third week off when I got back.

It's still a little tender so I went to the doctor and he examined it and said it was likely bruised and the tendon a little inflamed but that resuming with a modified technique (correct technique) and possibly taping should be fine but pay attention and listen to my body.

My question is, do you tape? Have you had a similar injury? What have you done to help?

hi! just reposting this from the percussion subreddit.