My djembe sounds horrible - What's wrong?

by Leanna
(Jacksonville, Fl)

Honestly I am not sure what the problem is. I wish I did, but I'm a sixteen year old with no teacher. The sounds are not melodic like the ones I played on last year. They are almost electronic sounding. It sounds horrible, I know. Please help!

African-Music-Safari.com's Answer:

Dear Leanna

You say your drum sounds almost "electronic".

Does this mean there's a ringing sound (called overtones) that can be heard for moments after playing a note? Many factors can cause this and some types of djembes (i.e. the Remo djembe) tend to overtones more than others.

Or could it be that you haven't played your drum for a long time? Or did the skin get wet at some time? Was your drum exposed to extreme climates? All this can cause your djembe to be out of tune.

In any case, you should tune your djembe. If that doesn't help, the problem could be the skin and rings and you may need to consider re-heading your drum.

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