A Progress Report Concerning Djembe, Bass, and Guitar. (With Samples.)

My Les Paul electric guitar, fretless bass, Epiphone Jack Casady bass, and two djembes.

I have been working on making new sounds.

I like to play around. Sometimes you never know until you mess with something if it’s fun or if it sticks. I had a djembe drum forever. But, it wasn’t until I actually played it that I realized what a blast it is. Now I have two, double the pleasure, double the fun. Along with djembe, I have been messing around with fretless bass. All that plus my Les Paul accounts for most of my time.

The djembe really gets me going.

Djembe

When I got symptoms from TD and I still wanted to make music, I dragged out the djembe drum. I quickly learned it was more versatile than previously thought and managed to play some fretless along to some patterns I was learning. I knew early on that the djembe was “a thing” with me from playing percussion in school and a little after. It felt like I was connecting with myself then by relearning some things and zoning out on patterns. It is the patterns with djembe that I love. I experiment with different accents and fills. But the actual playing of a pattern for several minutes helps my brain out somehow. It just seems comforting to make a pattern in a world of chaos, I suppose.

Bass

I’ve had basses forever but only recently have I begun taking it seriously. When I got a couple of basses I really loved, I had to play them everyday. A custom fretless and an Epiphone Jack Casady are my bass guitars. I especially love making up bass lines on top of djembe previously recorded. It somehow puts my mind in a place I like to visit.

The Fretless bass has Danelectro pickups. It’s enough by itself with the Djembe and a bit of delay to convey some serious Twin Peaks-ish vibes.

Guitar

I have played guitar a while. I go through phases, like with anything. I’m a singer/songwriter type. I have a background in classic rock to punk. I found my groove like many with Uncle Tupelo. As soon as I heard them, in fact, I traded my electrics for acoustics and bought some books. Funny thing is djembe has me back at electric. No complaints. But the vibe is different. Too much listening to Fela Kuti, if there’s such a thing.

I love the acoustic guitar. I hope I hear it in my head soon with this arrangement. But if I don’t, I’m still very happy to have made this little band. I jam with it all a lot. I play with various aspects of mixing. No computer instruments needed. It feels pure, somehow, like I tapped a vein and this is what comes out.

Me playing djembe, fretless bass, maraca, and electric guitar to make a funky rhythm for fun.

Time to beef up on better sound.

I’m enjoying the band. I got some improvements for recording as well. I got some gobos. 6ft sound panels that slide around on rollers. The djembe sounds better with them. Also, vocals are going to rock. It is amazing since I have been doing this how reducing or eliminating echo hitting the mic makes everything sound better. I highly recommend putting some effort into sound design and insulation. I loved my mics before, but without as much echo hitting them, they’re fabulous!

These are the gobos that were given to me. Thank you so much, you know who you are!

Ready to rock!

Yesterday I decided to make some more rock with djembe, but I used 2 djembes. I could have overdubbed the same djembe. I like both of them together. The slight difference in their sound give me a “band” vibe when hearing it, as if two people playing. I like that. Also, I used my Epiphone Jack Casady bass because I like its meaty tone. I’m a big fan of the ’59 Epiphone Les Paul. It has the Burstbucker pickups and I tend to gravitate toward that sound.

Mixing-wise I found that “thwack” sound for djembe 1 I like. The other djembe is pretty much raw. Again, I like them sounding different, not the same. I had the same reverb on a bus, but they’re different. The bass was just my favorite amp setting I made for that hollow body and phat pickup. The guitar is another amp setting I made starting with a sim deluxe reverb.

Now that’s out of the way.

After finding my rhythm pattern on Djembe, I played it on the other djembe. Then I had a blast just playing bass to my favorite section on loop until I wanted to record something. Then I wanted to play different but matching things on the guitar. Here’s what happened:

I call this, “The Case for Djembe in Rock.”

In case you would like a Soundcloud link,

I have a bunch of stuff on Soundcloud. It is handy.

It really is a journey

I often say that I am on a journey. So far, we’ve managed to discover things I really enjoy. It takes process and planning, but there’s also a lot to be said for following instincts. The fun part is doing it then finding something else. This mindset has helped me navigate difficult waters in music with the spirit of adventure. That always beats defeat.

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I hope you get a few journeys in.