I haven’t had the dream in years, but I still remember it: I would be somewhere not out of the ordinary (in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, where I grew up) doing general dream business, and I would somehow come across a small trail of sand. This small trail would lead to a larger trail, which […]

Blergh #4: How to Attach a Djembe Strap, and Stands Drum Stands: There are a lot of Djembe stands on the market and many of them will do the job just fine. One of the brands we highly recommend is Gibraltar. We have had a lot of good luck with them over the years. They […]

Blergh #2: Practicing Slaps Much like with our last exercise on tones, practicing slaps can help build stamina and rhythm. When practicing slaps, you’re going to follow the same basic steps as you did in the tone practice. You can refer to that exercise for more information. So what makes a good slap? These are the […]

Blergh #2: Practising Tones It’s time to practice your tones. Before you get started, there are a few things to remember when learning or practising your technique to ensure all the parts are correct: 1. Bring Your Hand back. Make sure you are starting in the proper position with your hand flat, fingers straight, and […]

Blergh# 1: Tricks for Drumming Practice and Stamina Part of learning to drum is picking up on all the little tips and tricks that make your practice sessions easier and more effective. We’ve outlined a few tricks to get you started on your first couple of practice sessions. 1. Volume Control If you live in […]

Tips for Drumming Practice and Stamina Welcome to the African Drumming Online Blergh – a series of videos with some practice tips, new ideas, and more. This is a summary of the first episode of the Blergh, which can be found by logging in to African Drumming Online, and clicking on the Blergh link, or […]

In case you aren’t aware of how the nations of West Africa came to be, we put together a brief summary of how de-colonisation happened in the area, focusing on Ghana as the first decolonised country. The decolonisation period is one of the most important aspects of contemporary African history. During the 19thcentury Scramble and […]

HI! In this post, we’re going to revisit our Introduction to 12/8 Time video, which is our attempt to explain what the term ’12/8 time’ means, and how it relates to African drumming – you can find this video in the Technique > Rhythmic Concepts section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/technique/rhythmic-concepts/ If you haven’t already watched our Introduction […]

In this post, we’re going to revisit our Introduction to 4/4 Time video, which is our attempt to explain what the term ‘4/4 time’ means, and how it relates to African drumming – you can find this video in the Technique > Rhythmic Concepts section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/technique/rhythmic-concepts/ We thought it would be a good […]

Good hello! In this post, we’re going to revisit our Pitter Patter video, which is an extra technique video to help you improve your feel when drumming – you can find this video in the Technique > Other Instruments section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/technique/otherinstruments/ We thought it would be a good idea to develop a blog […]

Welcome to the African Drumming Online Blog! In this post, we’re going to revisit our Slap Technique video, which is our beginner’s lesson for how to play a slap on djembe– you can find this video, along with the other technique videos, in the Technique > Djembe Technique section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/technique/djembe-technique/ We thought it […]

Salutations. In this post, we’re going to revisit our Tone Technique video, which covers how to play a tone on the djembe – you can find this video, along with the other technique videos, in the Technique > Djembe Technique section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/technique/djembe-technique/ We thought it would be a good idea to develop a […]

Greetings! Today, we’re going to revisit our Bass Technique video, which covers how to play the djembe bass sound – you can find this video, along with the other technique videos, in the Technique > Djembe Technique section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/technique/djembe-technique/ We thought it would be a good idea to develop a blog series where […]

Yo Dawg. In this post, we’re going to revisit our 12/8 Soloing – Licks – One Tone, Two Slaps video, which is one of our advanced videos containing solo ideas – you can find this video in the Soloing > Improvised Soloing Tips and Ideas section of African Drumming Online: https://africandrummingonline.com/soloing/improvised-soloing-tips-and-ideas/ We thought it would be a […]

Hello! We thought it would be a good idea to develop a blog series where we take some of our most popular free videos, and distill the info into text form as best we can. Different people learn in different ways, so we hope this helps some of you! Today, we’re going to revisit our […]

Afrіса іѕ саllеd thе “drum continent,” bесаuѕе іt’ѕ hоmе to ѕо mаnу types оf dіffеrеnt drums as to make it difficult tо name thеm аll. Pеrсuѕѕіоn іѕ thе fоundаtіоn оf Afrісаn muѕіс. Drums іn Afrіса аrе mаdе by hand, аnd drum рlауіng іѕ a large раrt оf thе culture. I gathered together some common aspects […]

  You’ve signed up for online lessons, and have been doing OK so far without a drum, but it’s finally time to get one. “How do I find a good djembe to buy?” is one of the most common questions we hear from students, so we gathered together a list of things we think you […]