[hergydergy]

hi i'm new to djembe drums and drumming and i have a 6 inche djembe head and i want to know if it is harder, or even possible to play because of the small size of the drum. i notice that the sounds are not very distinct and i'm not sure if it even has bass or is possible to slap. thank you

[michi]

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I don't want to rain on your party, but you won't get very far with that drum. It'll do for a few weeks while you learn a few basic rhythms. (I strongly recommend to attend classes.) If you do decide to keep it up, you'll want something normal-sized before long. Standard djembe size is 12-13 inch. (That's the outside diameter of the shell, not counting the rings.) Larger than 13 inch is considered "large", and smaller than 12 inch is considered "small".

Cheers,

Michi.

[korman]

Michi is right! I would say, you don't have a djembe, you have a djembe-shaped toy. Only a 3-4 year old child could play that drum using the traditional technique with full hand. Adult djembe is 12-14 inches (well, I have one 11inch drum, and I can play it, but it does feel a tad small).

If you intend to stick with this drum, you need to look for darabuka (also known as doumbek) technique. Those drums are played with fingertips on the edge, not with full length like the djembe. But even darbukas are 8-10 inch usually.