Hi, welcome to my darbuka tutorial and… …here is a picture of a blackboard we found on the net. So, first the playing position. The darbuka is a goblet drum. If you are right-handed, place it on your left lap. As close to your hip as possible. Search for balance, and finally tilt it inwards, so that it falls… …but, prevent it from falling with your right lap. In this position, the darbuka should be secure.
Check it, and if it is, place your left hand on top of it… …with the tips of your fingers touching the membrane, and the wrist on the shell here, and the elbow on the back of the shell. And avoid chairs that are too high. If they are the darbuka may roll down from your legs. And now for basic sounds, of which there are three: the base Dum, the right hand Tak, and the left hand Ka. The first sound is the Dum. It's a bass sound. You hit it with your fingertips: four or three of them, in the middle of the membrane… …and you release the membrane immediately to let it vibrate. Like this. The only problem is that your fingers need support. So what you actually do is you make an arch with your hand… And you hit simultaneously with your fingertips in the center, and with your wrist on the rim.
Like this. Find the right angle, because if you hit too strongly with your fingers or too strongly with your wrist, the sound won't come. Find the angle… and play. Back to blackboard. The next two sounds are the right hand Tak and the left hand Ka. Now, they are pretty much identical, but remember the darbuka is not a symetrical instrument like the African djembe, and it has separate strokes for both hands. So, what you do, you use your ring- or your ring- and middle-finger and you try to hit with your last joint exactly the edge of the membrane.
Like this. And try to use your wrist. Not your arm, but your wrist. The Ka is pretty much the same. You also hit it with this one or these two fingers: last joint right here. So… Wow ! did you see that !? That's amazing ! Of course, I can't really see it. I have a piece of paper right here. That's it ! Thanks for watching !.