Aside from my iPod Touch I have a new favorite toy. I recently invested in a Cajon (pronounced ka-hone). It’s basically a wood box with a hole on the back. You use it as a drum and play with your hands kind of like bongos only it sounds like a kick and snare. It’s soooo much fun for someone like me who never followed through on those dreaded music lessons as a kid. The best part is it takes up no room because you sit on it to play. When you are done just throw it in it’s bag and walk away with it… no fuss no muss. My model has an adjustment to lift the snare wires off the face for a more bongo sound to the drum.
I picked mine up because I’ve always been a rhythm guy, pounding out beats on my steering wheel usually and I wanted something I could offer acoustically at church, but not have to invest thousands of dollars in a full kit especially since I can’t play a full kit LOL. The best part is there are no rules on how to play except keep things left/right 2 hand as much as possible and play off the head to get the resonance. Other than that if your hands can move you can mimic most beats. Add some egg shakers in one of your socks for a high hat sound and maybe a cymbal on a stand and you are rocking.
There’s even a model with a 1/4″ jack in the back so you can run it through a sound board for total control. I’ve wondered if it could be run through a pedal or to to maybe distort the sound a bit, but I dunno.
Anyway, if you are looking for a great acoustic percussion option that doesn’t break the bank I’d consider a cajon. At the very least you have a conversation piece. Search YouTube too for ‘cajon’ and check out what you can do with it.
Filed under: Music | Tagged: box, cajon, drum, Music | Leave a comment »