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.

A Video of Me Playing My Expanded Cajon Setup at Hotel Cafe with Kim Divine

I recently did a gig at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood with a singer songwriter named Kim Divine. She’s great and her music is perfect for cajon. I use a bit of an expanded setup when I play with Kim as you can see in the video. To my normal setup (cajon, foot shaker, foot tambourine, various brushes/shakers) I add a sizzle ride, and a few more percussion tools that I keep on hand. The following video was shot from the show I did with Kim, and features her new song, “Easy on Me.” Let me know what you think by commenting below the post. Thanks!

A Discussion On Cajon And It’s Place In Music Today

The cajon is becoming, in my opinion, one of the most versatile instruments on the drumming market. It’s now an essential part of almost every working drummer’s arsenal, and for good reason. With the semi recent emergence of a huge number of singer songwriters, the cajon has taken on a relevancy like never before in modern music.

Traditionally the cajon (pronounced Ka’xon which is the spanish word for box) was used largely in Cuba in the Afro-Cuban song/dance style rumba, and in Peru in several Afro-Peruvian genres. It is theorized that it originated in Coastal Peru in the early 1800’s, when slaves of the west and central African origins would create these box shaped instruments out of shipping crates. Since it’s origin, the cajon has gone through many different designs, and continues to evolve to this day. It’s newfound place in modern music has brought even further design changes and tweaks to the original concept. They now come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and are made by many companies.

The modern cajon now looks simply like a wooden box, and commonly comes with a few differnt bells and whistles. The cajon I use is made by Meinl, and has snares behind the front plate helping me to create convincing snare and bass drum tones.

Meinl Cajon

One of the newest features emerging in the realm of cajon’s is the existence of a pedal either in front of, or behind the face plate. This is usually not used in conjunction with snares, and is controlled with a remote bass drum pedal. This allows the player to free up one of their hands that would normally be used to play bass drum accents on the front plate. This also allows the player to use the cajon in more scenarios that would normally require an entire drum set. I often use cajon, and a series of tambourines, shakers, and other percussion tools, to reproduce drumset tones when playing small venues, or just to play quieter. Pictured below is the cajon/pedal setup.

Cajon with Remote Bass Drum Pedal

The cajon can be played in a million different ways. I usually use a drum-set brush in one or both of my hands, a shaker under my right foot, and a tambourine under my left foot. This allows me to add a shaker texture to different sections of music, and a tambourine under the backbeat for choruses. I also often use a shaker in my right hand for certain songs. I posted video of myself playing my cajon setup in a previous entry. This should give you a good idea of what kinds of situations you can bring a cajon to, and a bit more information on it’s use. Have fun playing you’re own cajon!

When to use percussion vs drum set only, or both

It was only recently that I started to play around with various hand percussion tools, and incorporate them into my playing. By the way when I say hand percussion, I’m referring to anything you use as a percussive tool (ie cowbells, shakers, djembe, tambourines etc…) other than the instruments typical to the average drumset. The more I played around with these instruments, the more I realized how significant they can be in so many musical situations. The most important tool in my percussive arsenal is my cajon. A cajon is basically just a wooden box with snares behind one side that can create an array of different tones, and be an asset in an acoustic situation. I use a Meinl cajon and its fantastic, however, many companies make these instruments in many different sizes and styles. Take a look!

Meinl Cajon

As I have said before I work with many “singer/songwriters,” and their music is mostly soft rock with a pop/folk pop sound. As a result I end up playing quite a few acoustic shows and small venues, and this cajon is a great way to bring the appropriate textures and sounds to the music, without overpowering it with the extreme dynamic and harshness of a drum set. Along with the cajon I usually add a tambourine, and various shakers to my setup which gives me a few different sound sources for different songs and styles. The drawback to playing only percussion (for me at least) was always that I couldn’t reproduce snare and bass drum tones and rhythms well enough to be comfortable using it in musical situations. This all changed when I bought my cajon. With the Meinl Cajon, it became possible for me to bring convincing snare drum and bass drum tones to a musical situation, and avoid using an entire kit, but still maintain the rhythmic integrity of the music. One technique I use almost exclusively with my cajon is playing with either a brush, or a shaker in my lead hand. This allows me to simulate a hi-hat tone with ease. In my other hand I either use some kind of stick (whether it be a blast stick, brush, or whatever) or nothing at all. In the videos below you will see me playing my cajon in an actual gig situation. The first video is a demonstration of using a brush in my lead hand. The second video is an example of using a shaker in my lead hand, and simulating bass drum and snare drum tones with my opposite hand. In both videos, I use a tambourine under my left foot to add under backbeats during choruses, and bring the dynamic up when necessary. I apologize for the poor sound quality, but you’ll get the idea.

Cajon/Brush Combo

This video demonstrates the shaker/cajon combo

Cajon/Shaker Combo

As you can see, hand percussion can be very effective if used in the right contexts. The dynamic must be appropriate when considering using hand percussion in any situation. If you are using cajon, find out if you will be able to mic it at whatever venue you are playing. You may also consider buying a cajon with an output built into it, so you plug directly into the PA. If you are using shakers/cowbells etc.. in conjunction with a drum set, consider how loud the music is, and what style you will be playing, and if you will be able to mic the percussion instruments specifically. The bottom line is to use your best musical judgement in any situation you feel might be enhanced by hand percussion.

One last thing I must add is a plug for my favorite shaker of all time. The shaker pictured below is called the LP Softshake, and has a unique tone that I have used in tons of live settings. It has just the right amount of attack, and is the most versatile shaker I have found. Enjoy playing around with some of these ideas!

LP Softshake