Shopping for a Djembe Drum can be an overwhelming experience for anyone, and even more so if you are a newcomer to the market and don’t know where to begin or what questions are important. With so many options and opinions all vying for your attention we offer the following summary to help you learn and understand how to get what you need.
Read through the information below. Then you will be able to make a smarter decision on selecting a Djembe Drum.
Djembe Sizes
The traditional Djembe Drum has a playing surface of 12″-13″. Pro Djembe Drums are also available with smaller 10″-11″ or larger 13″-14″ of playing surface. Djembe Drums outside these sizes are primarily for children (7″-8″ playing surface), or very large people (16″-17″ playing surface). Djembe Drums range in height from 16″-26″ with the larger playing surface drums being taller then the smaller drums. The size of the playing surface will have a big impact on the tone of the instrument, with smaller drums producing a higher pitched note and larger drums producing a lower pitched note.
An example of good Djembe size selection would be for a person who is 5′7″ to play a 13″-14″ World Braid Djembe Drum with a height of 25″.
For a clear guide to selecting the right size Djembe Drum see the article: Which Size Djembe is Right for Me?
Djembe Drum Materials
Most Djembe Drums come from West Africa, and Indonesia where the availability of native trees make Djembe production a staple of the local economy. The best woods for making Djembe drums are hardwoods (hardwood is a class of woods with very dense cell structures) cut from the heart of the tree ( bottom 10′ of the trunk) and drums made from these hardwoods: African Mahogany, Lenke, Iroko, Guini-Hare, and Dugura heartwood are considered to be of the very best quality.
Many thousands of cheap Djembe Drum imitations are produced in other countries from soft woods or hardwood scrap (the top of the tree) . These consumer drums are prone to cracks and splitting, are assembled in sweat shops with cheap components, and sound dramaically inferior to quality hardwood Djembe Drums.
Traditional Djembe Drum shells are carved of a solid piece of wood, typically a tree trunk. Wood djembes will have a warmer and fuller sound than djembes made of fiberglass or PVC. That being said, fiberglass drum shells, are extremely durable and tend to more easily produce drum tones when played. This can make a fiberglass Djembe Drum ideal for a beginner whose playing technique is not yet developed. Many professional Djembe players find that fiberglass djembes produce a brighter sound and prefer to use them when playing in an amplified setting.
Most players still prefer the warmth and tone of wood Djembe Drums combined with the beauty of the hand-carved craftsmanship that goes into each shell.
Drum Heads
There are also two types of djembe drumheads. The first more traditional type is the goat skin drum head. Djembe drums that use goat skin heads produce a warmer and fuller tone. The second type of drumhead is a synthetic head. Synthetic heads are more durable, are waterproof, and tend to produce brighter crisp tones.
Tuning Systems
Traditional djembe drums are tuned using the Mali rope system. The idea is to tighten the drum head, when it becomes flat, by pulling the rope tighter around the head. A good rope system will have 36 pairs of rope strand holding the head, and use modern polyester braided core rope with a 3 ring head mount and a groove secured bottom ring. This high quality arrangement insures no head slippage and long lasting tuned performance.
By contrast a cheap imitation drum will have only 20 pairs of rope strand supporting the head, and use inferior thin cotton and nylon core rope with a 2 ring head mount and a free floating bottom ring. This inferior arrangement is prone to head slippage and loss of tension requiring regular tuning resulting in short head life. It can cost from $50 to $100 to restring and re-head a drum so in this way the so called “bargain” drum is really no bargain at all. In six months you’ll be spending what could have otherwise bought you a high quality djembe drum in the first place.
The other type of tuning system is a key-tuned system. A key-tuned system uses a metal rim and metal hooks that go around the djembe drum head. This type of system gives the drum a more metallic sound and decreases tuning time, requiring only a wrench to tighten each bolt around the head.
When you’re a beginner, it’s hard to tell if your djembe is in tune. As your technique gets better, so will your ear. Your ability to tune a djembe will improve as you gain more experience. The goal of tuning is to get the drum head to a level of tension where slaps, open tones, and bass strokes all sound good.
How Much Should I Spend?
The biggest mistake beginners make is buying the cheap drum package. Good Djembe drums are just not that expensive, and if you know what to look for (by reading this article) you can get an expertly crafted Djembe drum for near the same price. Djembe drums are musical instruments and like all musical instruments are detailed pieces of art. Better Djembe Drums not only sound better but also are easier to play. You will want to purchase a djembe that you can grow into as your skills increase. The beginning djembe player will have an easier time learning when playing a well-made djembe. The drum will sound better and make for a more enjoyable learning experience.
What Does Real Quality Look Like?
Freedom Djembe Drums are a cut above the rest. Created by professional drummers who set out to design and build the best Djembe Drums on the market. Using sophisticated analysis and hundreds of hours of testing with input from real djembe professionals, Freedom Drums designed what we think you will agree is a state of the art, and vastly superior djembe. We Djembe is proud to offer their full line of Pro Series Djembe Drums. Simply put, Freedom Djembe Drums are the best sounding, best playing, best built Djembe Drums on the market.
The Best Djembe Drums
Every We Djembe drum is carved from a single trunk of sustainably harvested (meaning a tree is planted for each tree cut) Mahogany Heartwood. All our drums are thoughtfully inspected, tuned, and tested before they are shipped. You can trust Freedom Djembe Drums to give you a lifetime of top quality performance and satisfaction. When you play Freedom Djembe Drums you are playing the culmination of all djembe heritage and the passion of hundreds of djembe craftsmen who dedicate their lives to creating the best djembe drums on earth.
Play often and enjoy! Next see: What Size Djembe is Right For Me?