Could use some advice...

[mIkHaIL]

Hi I'm a beginner percussionist and I just wanna ask if a djembe was ok for a beginner or if there is/are alternative choices, which would be better?
I'm from the Phillippines btw. :o

[ROBB283DT]

That is a good choice. Perhaps you may want to consider a cheap 100% oak wood congas. I suggest either the Toca player series or the LP aspires.

[DrumNinja]

mIkHaIL,

The world of hand drumming is endless. The best place to start is literally wherever you want. In my opinion, what it really comes down to is what sounds you like. Somewhat unlike drumset, hand percussion is very culturally oriented (though many of us are trying to open people up to traditional sounds in untraditional genres and vice-versa). What kind of music do you like and listen to? Perhaps the most popular latin and afro-cuban drums are the congas and the bongos. Djembes are African. Doumbeks and tablas are Middle Eastern/Indian. Klong Yaws are Asian. Another thing to consider is playing technique - smaller drums are often played with fingers as opposed to hands, such as bongos.

Experiment with this stuff long enough and you'll come to learn what tones you like, and what combinations sound good. Djembes and doumbeks sound great together. Doumbeks also add an interesting flavor to congas.

Brand- and price-wise, pretty much everyone makes cheap-to-expensive everything. Pearl has a nice selection of congas and djembes, as does Latin Percussion. A supplier of the more exotic stuff (like doumbeks, klong yaws, talking drums, etc) is Remo, who currently has absolutely zero world percussion up on their site (curse their souls). I admit to having pretty much no knowledge of Toca. I suppose it ultimately comes down to what you can get in the Phillippines (something else I'll admit to being naïve of).

So, as a first drum, I recommend getting a) what sounds good to your ear, and b) what feels comfortable. What you do with it from there is limitless, and ultimately up to you.

~DrumNinja

[zaragemca]

The main point is what kind of music you want to start playing,for some music you have to pick up specifics kind of percussion instrument,and then it comes the buget for the quality of the brand.Gerry Zaragemca.

[mIkHaIL]

hi, thanks for the ideas and opinions. i haven't bought my congas yet, however, i'm using a k-hon (cajon) right now and learning about it...

[MusicMan]

Mikhail -

As Zara said, it depends upon the kind of music you intend to play. Personally, I think a set of moderately priced congas is the best way to begin (they are used more often than a cajon or djembe in popular music).

[DD_drummer44]

Hi I'm a beginner percussionist and I just wanna ask if a djembe was ok for a beginner or if there is/are alternative choices, which would be better?
I'm from the Phillippines btw. :o

Yes!!! more Filipinos on the Forums! i'm about 1/2 Cebuano so if you round it, i'm full Filipino. Anyways, i highly reccomend the Djembe or Congas. Both are great instruments but i lean towards the Djembe. Our school has a 14" Remo Djembe and it has a full range of highs and lows depending on how you hit the head.

Problem... when my parents and I went to the Philippines (home :) ), I could not find any well decent drums/percussion instruments there. We went to 2-3 Cebu malls and a couple in the southern island (name slips my memory). When we traveled to Boracay (by far the most beautiful place i've been) the only thing i saw was a Djembe with Cannabis leaves and a couple of small Tribal drums from the Tribal store.

I find the Philippines more towards the stringed instruments, mainly acoustic guitars, instead of percussion.

Hope this helps,
Duane

[Caljam]

I would say that the Djembe is a good choice but in my personal opinion I would say to buy a real handmade drum and not a factory produced one as too get the feel of the true sound. If your going to start out with the Djembe I would say that it is important to know the drum as you learn and this requires learning to tune it the way it should be and the way you like and so forth. Later when you start playing more frequent you might want to buy a Toca or whatever manufactured brand Djembe for the point of quick tuning and set up.

[mIkHaIL]

wow! thanks for the comments. never thought i'd meet a filipino here, but anyways, as far as i know most of the percussion instruments are found in manila. here in davao it's a bit short in supply, i can practically name only 2-3 stores here that have those kinds of instruments. btw did you mean mindanao when you mentioned that southern island thing...

[DD_drummer44]

My mom's friend is from Davao (40% sure) so i think we went there. We didn't check around much. I wanted to go to Manila sooo bad because i knew everything was there (concerts, millions of stores, Percussion instruments!) but my mom refused. Maybe because of different dialect (sp?) and tons of terrorists (main reason).

[iplaydjembe]

I have an 18" Remo djembe, and I think that a djembe is the way to go. They have bass, and high edges. I LOVE djembes, and I learned on one. I am self taught, and I had a great drum as an assistant! I reccomend you get a 14" because they sound good, but are a lot easier to lug around than an 18". I do think an 18" sounds better, but I don't know if you will 1) be taking it places 2) be able to get one in the phillipines. Hope that helps. ~JUSTIN

[mIkHaIL]

hi! it's sure been a while since i got to post here again... anyway, the djembe never pushed through... though a friend of mine sorta lent me her bongos... i'm still learning to put rhythms together when i play... any tips or advice you guys can give? to add, i never manage to practice the martillo rhythm properly... is that good or bad? thanks for your comments again... salamat masyado...

[mIkHaIL]

ei guys!!! really need help... i'm kinda looking fr some cowbell patterns and notations... we just bought a cowbell... and i'm at a loss on some of the basic patterns... could use some help in getting info...

[zaragemca]

Right now there are a lot of media-help for bongos including DVD, so you could do a search for what you need. I do teach Afrocuban Percussion,Gerry Zaragemca.