Let’s start with the basic sounds on the
drum. First one we’re going to look at is a bass,
like this. A low pitched sound, played in the middle
of the drum, and using the palm of our hands. So, as a rough guide, you’re sort of aiming
to hit this paddy bit here, where hopefully you’ve got some sort of padding, and, start
above the drum, coming straight down, hitting in the middle of the drum, and letting your
hand come back like that. And that gives you a low pitched sound, called
a bass. And when we’re learning the rhythms, generally
I’ll sing it – the general words that apply to a bass are ‘goong’, or ‘doong’,
or something like that. You’ll work it out as we go. So if I’m going to play ‘goong goong’
– two basses… like that.
Not too difficult, just hit the middle of
the drum, palm of your hand. And remember your fingers are sort of together,
not too tight, not too floppy, palm of your hand, and your fingers hit the drum but you’re
not really worrying about them too much, you’re mainly worrying about this bit of your hand
hitting in the middle. If you want to get really complicated, something
that will help you move between sounds, we’ll get to later, is if you hit the drum and then
imagine your hand kind of rocking backwards so you’re almost coming down like this – your
hand’s hitting the drum, and then bending from your wrist backwards. And what that does is get your hand ready
for the next hit.. So you play a bass, and then your hand comes
back like this. Rather than playing a bass like that, and
then when you have to play a different sound you have to move somewhere, you incorporate
the backswing into your hit. So, if you’re just practising basses, practise
coming back here. So you’re playing from here, and that’s
a bass. – Learn how to play djembe and other African
drumming with African Drumming Online