Welcome to the African Drumming Online Sampler – a selection of technique videos, djembe drum lessons, African rhythms, and more.
This site is a preview of what’s available on African Drumming Online. If you want to learn African drumming, are looking for a well-organised collection of high-quality djembe drum lessons, and want to improve your playing and understanding, check out this sampler, then sign up to African Drumming Online today.
If you’re sick of hunting through Youtube for random videos to help you improve, and if you want to be able to learn and practise, on demand, wherever and whenever suits you, African Drumming Online can help.
Check out the Beginner Basics section for some videos to get you started on technique, and developing your sounds and understanding. In the full site, there are many more videos broken up into sections focusing on Djembe Technique, Technique Exercises, and Other Instruments.
The Rhythmic Concepts section contains some videos explaining time signatures – 4/4 and 12/8 – and an exercise for developing your ‘Rhythm Power’. The full site also contains videos which explain fundamental concepts of music, how ‘calls’ work in African rhythms, and a variety of different 12/8 bell patterns.
This Soloing section contains a simple idea for a ‘lick’ you can practise and develop to use in your soloing. The full website has more ideas like this – including rolls, ideas to help you build your own solos in 4/4 or 12/8, and how to use 12/8 bell patterns as a basis for soloing– as well as playalong videos to help you practise. This section also includes a video of some awesome shaker playing at a Fetish (religious) ritual in Ghana.
The Rhythms section is a collection of previews of the rhythms available in the full site of African Drumming Online. Each rhythm is broken down into a series of lessons for all the parts, explaining the context of the rhythms, and breaking down the solos and complicated parts, as well as a full collection of playalong videos which you can use to practise all the parts.