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:
Meinl Cajon
Rhythm Tech Mountable Tambourine
LP Egg Shaker
Zildjian 20″ K Constantinople Flat Ride with “Poor Man’s Sizzle” (For more info on this please refer to this post)
Throne
LP Softshake
Vic Firth Brushes
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.
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.
Bring Tambourine Into Your Live Playing with the Hat Trick
As many drummers know, tambourine can add great texture and motion to virtually any groove. From programmed hip-hop grooves, to big fat classic rock grooves, tambourine can add the needed motion to spice up your playing. I have gradually become more fond of tambourine in the past year or so, and have recently been exploring options available for bringing it into a live scenario. In my exploration, I came across the Hat Trick hi-hat tambourine made by Rhythm Tech.
The thing I like most about this is the number of options it gives me in live situations, and even in the studio. I use it in two primary ways:
1) Hitting it with a stick much like a side mounted tambourine can be a great way to add it under your backbeat for choruses, or bigger sections of tunes that need an extra punch. You can also use it alone as your backbeat for softer sections of songs, or for parts where you may only be playing a shaker, and need a backbeat option other that snare/cross stick.
2) Bouncing the hi-hat, triggering the tambourine tone. This can also be a great way to add tambourine to choruses, or sections where you don’t have a free hand.
Below I have put a picture of the hat trick, and this is a perfect opportunity to debut a song I recently recorded the hat trick on. It’s an original christmas song by Julie the Band. You will hear the hat trick on all of the pre-choruses, and choruses. Notice how it brings a much needed distinction between sections, especially in a song that is so texturally based, and earthy sounding.
This is the original song “Merry Christmas” by Julie the Band. Listen for the Hat Trick, and enjoy!
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!
Meinl Cajon
LP Softshake