How to play djembe and other hand drums

A hand drum is the quickest way into rhythm: no sticks, no pedals, no setup. The skill is in getting several different sounds out of one skin — and keeping them in time. This guide covers both, with four rhythms written out at the end that you can play today, even on a tabletop.

Which hand drum to start on

Djembe. A goblet-shaped drum from West Africa, with a goatskin or synthetic head tightened by rope or metal tuning. It gives the clearest difference between low, middle and high sounds, which makes it the best drum for learning the three basic strokes. Play it seated with the drum between your knees, tilted slightly away from you so the sound can escape from the bottom.

Cajon. A wooden box from Peru. You sit on it and play the front panel; most modern cajons have snare wires inside that add a buzz to the high strokes. It is the natural choice if you want to accompany songs — it stands in for a drum kit at acoustic gigs.

Darbuka. A goblet drum played across the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans (also called doumbek, or tabla in Egypt), held across the lap. It uses lighter, quicker finger strokes than a djembe, and its sounds have their own names: doum (low, in the centre), tek (high, at the edge with the strong hand) and ka (high, with the other hand).

Bongos. Two small joined drums from Cuba, held between the knees and played mostly with the fingers. They are bright and rhythmic but have almost no deep bass, so they teach less about the low-versus-high contrast that the other three are built on.

If you are unsure, start with a djembe or a cajon. Both have a real bass, both are forgiving, and everything you learn on them carries over.

How a hand drum differs from a drum kit

A drum kit spreads its jobs over separate instruments: the kick drum plays the low notes, the snare the backbeat, the hi-hat the steady pulse. You play them with sticks and a pedal, and the hard part is coordinating four limbs.

On a hand drum, one skin does all of those jobs. Where you strike and how your hand lands decide whether you get a low note, a ringing middle or a sharp accent. So the technique is in the hand itself: a loose wrist, the right part of the hand on the right part of the drum, and letting the hand bounce off rather than pressing into the skin.

Bass, tone and slap

These names come from djembe playing; the same three sounds exist on most hand drums.

On a cajon, the bass is in the middle of the front panel and the slap at the top corners. On a darbuka, doum plays the part of the bass and tek and ka the high strokes.

Tone and slap are where everyone gets stuck, because they are played in almost the same place. The difference is the hand: firm and flat for the tone, loose for the slap. Play eight tones, then eight slaps, one hand at a time, until you can tell them apart with your eyes closed.

Look after your hands. Take off rings, keep first sessions to fifteen or twenty minutes, and stop if your palms sting. Volume comes from relaxed speed, not force.

Four rhythms to play today

Each grid is one bar of 4/4 split into eight equal steps — count "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and". B is bass, T tone, S slap and · a rest. Start slowly, around 60 beats per minute, and loop each bar until you stop thinking about it. No drum yet? Play bass with a flat hand in the middle of a table and tones and slaps at its edge.

1. Steady pulse. A bass on every beat. It sounds too simple, and it is the most useful exercise here: it trains you to land exactly on the beat.

2. Bass and two tones. Bass on the beat, then two tones, alternating hands on the tones.

3. Backbeat. Bass on 1 and 3, slap on 2 and 4: the hand-drum version of a rock beat, and the pattern a cajon player uses under most pop songs. Once it is steady, add the extra bass in brackets.

4. Maqsum. One of the most common rhythms on the darbuka: doum, tek, (rest), tek, doum, (rest), tek, (rest). Here doum is written B and tek T. It works on a djembe too.

To hear what these subdivisions sound like, and tap them back, try the Rhythm Decoder. If beats and eighth notes are new to you, the rhythm lessons explain them from the start.

How to practise keeping time

• Count out loud. Saying "1 and 2 and" while you play shows you exactly where you drift.
• Use a metronome, slowly. Play at a tempo where every stroke lands on the click — usually slower than you think — and raise it by 5 bpm only when you have played the bar cleanly four times in a row.
• Keep your hands moving through the rests. A small movement in the air during a rest makes the next stroke arrive on time.
• Lead with each hand. If your strong hand plays louder, the rhythm sounds uneven even when it is in time. Practise every bar starting with either hand.
• Record yourself. A phone recording reveals rushing and dragging that you cannot hear while playing.
• Then play along with music. Once a pattern is steady with a click, play it under a song at a similar tempo.

The virtual drum kit lets you hear how the same patterns sound spread across a kit.