Cajon Drummming

Cajon Building - Big Images

cajonkeith — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 13:06:27 +0000

As requested here are some much larger pictures of my diy Cajon.

Cajon Building - Stage 3

cajonkeith — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:42:31 +0000

The next part of my diy cajon project was working out how to get a good snare sound on the drum. I purchased a 12″ snare off the web from Thomann which I planned to string across the drum.

Unfortunately the snare was still a little too long so I ended up screwing one side of the snare into the front frame. Two small strips of wood were then glued to either side to add strength. I then attached the snare string on the other side to a simple homemade tensioning system. For the tensioning system I cut a grove in the side of the drum and then put two small pieces of wood either side with a bolt through the middle.

The snare string goes over the top of the drum seated in two small saw cuts and attaches to one of the pieces of wood. To tension the snare you loosen the wing nut and simply pullback and re-tighten.

Cajon Building - Stage 2

cajonkeith — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 10:48:35 +0000

Continuing my diy cajon project I have now cut the front and back side of the drum. The front side is made of 3mm plywood and the back 6mm. For the back of the drum I have cut two 70mm diameter sound holes. Ideally I would have gone with the one diameter 140mm hole but didn’t have a large enough hole cutter.

Cajon Video - Drum and Bass

cajonkeith — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:18:33 +0000

Here’s a cool drum and bass beat played on the cajon spotted by one of the guys on the Mike Dolbear forums. I love the shap crack the player gets at the top of the drum and the constant finger rolling.

Cajon Building - Stage 1

cajonkeith — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 17:48:05 +0000

I’ve now started my own diy Cajon effort. I’ll put together some proper plans for this once they are all finalised but for starters I’ve gone a 500mm high version with length and breadth 300mm.

The two sides and the top and bottom are made from 12mm plywood. To try and give a bit more resonance I’m using a thinner 6mm plywood for the back. For the playing surface I’m going with 4mm plywood.

Stage 1
After cutting the wood to the relevant sizes I began by making the initial frame of the drum. I’m using glue to try and hold most of the drum together and so after checking for accuracy the sides were glued to the top and bottom. To try and get a strong bond the frame was clamped together with sash clamps and left over night.

So I now have something that looks like this :-

Cajon Video - Saori Sendou

cajonkeith — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 12:09:18 +0000

Cajon Video - Saori Sendou
I spotted this great video on Youtube and itâ€™s become one of my favourites. I’ve not heard of the player before but she has some amazing skills. I liked the idea of the bass drum kick she uses so Iâ€™ll be giving that a go.

Cajon Technique - Basic Slap

cajonkeith — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 22:35:42 +0000

This is a simple Cajon slap to deliver a solid standard sound which can be used for all types of beats and fills. With a snare type Cajon this gives a good snare drum type sound.

Technique
Slap the drum with the fingers around 2-3 inches from the top of the drum. Experiment with the position and try and obtain a note that is similar when played with each hand. If you have a snare type Cajon make sure you also find a position which gives a good snare effect. For accents simply hit harder.

Video Example
[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Cajon Technique - Finger Roll

cajonkeith — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 22:03:00 +0000

Finger Roll
This uses the fingers to give a fast and roll sound. These can be worked in to many of the rhythms to add a bit of colour. When combined with the other hand you can make a drum roll effect.

Technique
Hit the drum with each fingers of you hand alternating between the fingers in succession. I find that a finger roll sounds best when ended with a single hit, either a high slap or bass hit sounds good. To generate a slightly shorter roll you can leave out the little finger and use three.

Video Example
[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Cajon Building

cajonkeith — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 13:28:49 +0000

I’ve recently spotted a great thread discussing some diy Cajon projects on the Mike Dolbear forums. Check it out here.

Cajon Technique - Foot Bend

cajonkeith — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 23:37:40 +0000

A nice little technique which give a pitch bending sound. Useful for fills and impressing a crowd.

Technique
Play the drum with your hands about a third of the way down around the same position of a standard slap. You want to try and aim for a sound which has a bit but not too much bass. Then with the heel of one of you feet slide it up the face of the drum with a little pressure while continuing to play the drum with your hands. This should create a pitch bending type sound. Try not to do this with both feet as you’ll fall off.

Video Example
[See post to watch QuickTime movie]