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EntertainmentHow to Play African Drums

How to Play Muffled Slaps on Djembe

Transcript

Male 1: We’re going to learn how to play the Muffled Slap on the Djembe. This is not as common, but sometimes it’s used with the bass Djembe parts, or the soloists can use it to embellish what they’re playing on the lead parts. My drum I have here is a low tune drum. It’s a bass Djembe. So it’s low. Bimba.

Bimba: This is the solo Djembe.

Male 1: That’s the solo Djembe. So a Muffled Slap is like a closed slap. And the way we do that is by keeping our hand against the skin of the drum. You’ll see my thumb is out of the way. And I slide my hand all the way up, until my pinky knuckle lines up with the rim. And I also make sure that there’s one space for the right, one space for the left. If you find that your hands are covering the same space, either your technique is faulty, or your drum is too small. So the Muffled Slap chokes the drum like this. And sometimes, you put your other hand to even make it tighter like this. Sounds different on Bimba’s drum.

Bimba: Because my Djembe is a solo Djembe, very high. So my Muffle is a little different, because as soon as I use it, you can hear how high the drum is done. See? See? No different Muffle. Different one. Another one. Yet another one. You got a this one. So you got three different muffles. The longer you been playing the Djembe the longer you got to hold that technique.

Male 1: That’s how you play the Muffled Slap on the Djembe.


Lessons in this Guide

How to Play African Drums with Wula Drum

Balafon Beginner Techniques

How to Play the Balafon

How to Play the Log Drum

What Is a Log Drum?

How to Play African Shakers

How to Play the Shekere

How to Play Claves

How to Play the Kalimba & Mbira

How to Play the Sangba Kuku Rhythm

How to Play the Dundun Kuku Rhythm

How to Play the Dundun

What Is a Dundun?

How to Tune a Conga

How to Play a Shuffle on the Conga

How to Play a Muted Tone on the Conga

How to Play a Slap Tone on the Conga

How to Play a Bass Tone on the Conga

How to Play an Open Tone on the Conga

What Is a Conga?

Djembe vs. Conga

How to Maintain a Djembe

How to Tune a Djembe

How a Djembe Is Made

How to Pick a Djembe Drum

How to Play 2 Djembe Drums Together

How to Play the Djembe Kuku Break

How to Play the Djembe Kuku Rhythms Combined

How to Play the Djembe Kuku Rhythm 2nd Accompaniment

How to Play the Djembe Kuku Rhythm 1st Accompaniment

Advanced Djembe Drum Solos

Beginner Djembe Drum Solos

Djembe Drumming Patterns for Beginners

How to Play Djembe Warm-Up Exercises

How to Play the Flam on Djembe

How to Play Muffled Slaps on Djembe

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