Boom Drum

All the Pieces of My Personal Cajon Setup Revealed, and Broken Down

I recently received an inquiry about my personal cajon setup. I was asked to explain all of the pieces of my “cajon kit,” so this post will address exactly that. I must apologize for not being more prompt about this post, the last few days were unexpectedly crazy!

In the last few months, I have had to expand my cajon setup to accommodate new artists, and some bigger venues. It’s been a blast for me to tinker around with new, interesting pieces, and come up with some rather unconventional parts in order to replicate recorded sounds. Below I will take you through each piece, and tell you what exactly I use it for.

Bird’s Eye View of my (Mostly) Complete Cajon Setup

This is, for the most part, my whole cajon kit. It includes:

1. Meinl Cajon
2. Rhythm Tech Mountable Tambourine
3. LP Egg Shaker
4. Zildjian 20″ K Constantinople Flat Ride with “Poor Man’s Sizzle” (For more info on this please refer to this post)
5. Throne
6. LP Softshake
7. Vic Firth Brushes
8. Regal Tip Wood Handle Blast Sticks (With Plastic Rods)

1) Meinl Cajon

This is the centerpiece of the whole kit. This is my bass drum and snare drum tones, and throne.

2) Rhythm Tech Mountable Tambourine

This tambourine stays under my left foot on my cajon kit. I add it to certain sections of songs (usually choruses and sometimes bridges) to lift the dynamic feel of that section. It’s pivotal in separating quiet parts from loud parts, and can really bring emphasis to sections that need it. I treat it much like bouncing a hi-hat, as I typically add it only under the backbeat, or keep a quarter, or 8th note pulse with it through an entire section.

3) LP Egg Shaker

I have found a fairly unconventional way of adding an extra shaker part to certain sections, and that is by rolling an LP Egg back and forth on the ground under my right foot. I like the dynamic response and feel of an egg shaker for this purpose. I feel it brings up the volume and textural thickness of the groove just enough in most cases; however, any shaker will do as long as it’s round and sturdy enough to sustain the weight and movement of your foot on top of it. Again, I usually bring this in to add an extra texture where needed in a tune. It’s much more subtle than adding a tambourine, and can help you delicately separate certain parts from others. The result I get from this can also be achieved with the (linked here ->) Meinl Foot Cabasa which is a foot shaker of sorts.

4) Zildjian 20″ K Constantinople Flat Ride with “Poor Man’s Sizzle”

This is the newest addition to my kit. I added it to achieve the release I would normally get from a crash cymbal on a full drum set. I knew a crash would be to loud and obnoxious among all of these delicate textures, so I chose to use my 20″ flat ride which is extremely dry, and increase it’s sustain by adding my own sizzle. This gives me the perfect release at the end of sections.

5-8) Throne, LP Softshake, Vic Firth Brushes, Regal Tip Wood Handle Blast Sticks (With Plastic Rods)

These are my time keepers. These are the tools that I use to simulate my hi-hat, and ride cymbal tones (besides my throne which is just my table for everything) For the most part I use a brush in my right hand, and leave my left hand bare. I will play the front of the cajon with a brush much like I would play my hi-hats on a full kit, but I will often bring out kick drum accents with the brush as well. I leave my left hand bare to get the proper attack for a backbeat, and to help with certain bass drum accents. I will sometimes use brushes in both hands for train grooves, or any tunes with a driving 16th note feel. I use the LP Softshake for choruses, or parts of songs that I want to be the biggest. In this case I will use the shaker in my right hand, and leave my left hand bare. I only use the regal tip blast sticks when I want a different kind of attack for my backbeat or hi-hat tone.

There are a few other items I sometimes use that are not pictured here. I will occasionally put a cowbell right next to my cajon on the left side, and use that as my backbeat for tunes with a reggae, or island feel. I also use various other time keepers in my right hand such as a nut shell shaker, or a cabasa.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my personal cajon setup, and that you got some ideas to use for yourself. Please let me know of any cajon concepts that you come up with. I love incorporating new things into my setup, and learning about what others use in their playing! Below I have included a few videos of me playing cajon on various gigs, so you can see all of these tools in action. Thanks, and please let me know what you think by clicking on this post title, and commenting below it.