Acoustic Gig

Midnite Zephyr

Platinum Member
I've been asked to play hand drums, like bongos and congas for an acoustic gig. I'm not really a hand drummer, but I've done some acoustic jams with percussion. How do you guys approach an acoustic gig? Brushes and Hot Rods? Do you bring a kit or just hand drums and percussion?
 
I like to have a kit, don't mind playing brushes or bundles. Second choice would just be a nice cajon. Not a big fan of a lot of hand percussion, I find it to be a poor replacement for the sounds we normally hear in western music. Great for "drum circles" though!
 
I think it depends on several factors. What gear do you have available? What are you comfortable playing? What is the size/type of the venue? What are your bandmates looking for?

I've gone in with congas and some hand percussion, and I've done quite a few with a cocktail kit. In my experience, if it's an acoustic gig, there's never been room for a full/regular kit.
 
I concur with Dr_Watso. It is a pet peeve of mine that some people perceive hand percussion like bongos and congas as a stand-in for a drum kit. They're completely different things.

A cajon can be a more suitable stand-in, but it may take a little time to get comfortable on one if you've never done it (I prefer to play them with Vater cajon brushes). I'd pitch the idea of playing a stripped-down setup with brushes or rods first. If that didn't work, I'd look for a cajon to borrow or rent.
 
If I were in a similar posish, I'd be looking at using a stripped down kit.

Either snare, kick hats and a splash (yep, that's what I said) or a floor tom instead of the kick.
 
I like to have a kit, don't mind playing brushes or bundles. Second choice would just be a nice cajon. Not a big fan of a lot of hand percussion, I find it to be a poor replacement for the sounds we normally hear in western music. Great for "drum circles" though!
I'm with you, Watso. I'd prefer hand percussion in more of a jam or drum circle situation.

I am waiting to get one of these:

http://www.bagdrum.org/bagdrum.html

Low noise
Sounds much like a real kit
Looks cool

Thx
Jorn
Hey, those things look cool. That would definitely do the trick. Interesting that it is a dot org type entity advertising it, and not a dot com.

I think it depends on several factors. What gear do you have available? What are you comfortable playing? What is the size/type of the venue? What are your bandmates looking for?

I've gone in with congas and some hand percussion, and I've done quite a few with a cocktail kit. In my experience, if it's an acoustic gig, there's never been room for a full/regular kit.

Gear= tambourine (I can play with my foot too), Shakers, cowbells, wood block, spoons, bongos, congas, washboard and claves. Unfortunately no cajon, and I don't know anybody who owns one. I can shakes things and fake it on the congas a little. When I do an acoustic jam at my friends place now and then, I use the tambourine on my foot and use the spoons or a shaker or two. I bring my snare too. The venue is a typical bar, stage is medium size to small. My bandmates are wanting me to do it with hand drums mostly. I think they're having beer tasting that night and just want casual acoustic sounds. Normally when we play there, we go full board with the whole band.


I concur with Dr_Watso. It is a pet peeve of mine that some people perceive hand percussion like bongos and congas as a stand-in for a drum kit. They're completely different things.

A cajon can be a more suitable stand-in, but it may take a little time to get comfortable on one if you've never done it (I prefer to play them with Vater cajon brushes). I'd pitch the idea of playing a stripped-down setup with brushes or rods first. If that didn't work, I'd look for a cajon to borrow or rent.

They are completely different things, and they both require their own approach. Getting a cajon is a great idea, but, yeah, I'd rather just bring a stripped down kit. Snare, bass, floor tom, hats and 1 crash/ride just using brushes and bundles (as Watso calls them). Yeah, we'll figure it out.
 
How do you guys approach an acoustic gig? Brushes and Hot Rods? Do you bring a kit or just hand drums and percussion?

The last gig I had was with an acoustic duo, Zeph. Depending on the circumstances, I pretty much did all of the above at one point or another. Either congas or a djembe (or sometimes both) was what I chose for the vast majority of situations. But there was certainly times where I used a kick, snare, hats and a ride.....and once or twice I even rolled up with a full kit because I deemed that to be the best choice for the situation. Other times the rig was just a snare drum and a splash. It all depended on the situation and after a couple of months at it, I got pretty adept at being able to judge what the right requirements would be according to the style of gig or the venue or even the set list etc.

For something I was reluctant to try my hand at, I actually had a blast doing it. A real hand percussionist would probably have flipped his lid at my "style", but I had a ball just belting out rhythms on hand drums. Thoroughly enjoyable gig while it lasted. And even more enjoyable it when all the set up/tear down consisted of was a djembe and a mic! Enjoy!!
 
Bon, this is what I've done so far:

When I busked with a guitarist I just brought along snare and mostly used brushes, with snares off for any tune with a sniff of ethnic influence. At some point I was playing cross stick with my LH and using a brush to ride with my RH. In a song or two I used hands, though the rimshots hurts for days. You can do a lot with just a snare.

At a small gig I used a mini kit comprising of snare, hats, stompbox (in lieu of kick drum), a 17" cymbal and a djembe. This covered a wide range of material.

I've played a few unplugged gigs where I brought along snare and hats, tapping the floorboards with my RF for "bass drum". Also brought bongos for one song.
 
If you had TWO Sonor Safaris, you could continue the tradition of double bass drums on an acoustic gig. You'd be the hit of all the coffeeshops for those people who still need a little Tommy Aldridge with their cafe latte ;)
 
Bring whatever you want to bring Paul. You're the boss. Do what you feel comfortable with. Or go outside your norm and have fun with it. You're the boss.
 
The last gig I had was with an acoustic duo, Zeph. Depending on the circumstances, I pretty much did all of the above at one point or another. Either congas or a djembe (or sometimes both) was what I chose for the vast majority of situations. But there was certainly times where I used a kick, snare, hats and a ride.....and once or twice I even rolled up with a full kit because I deemed that to be the best choice for the situation. Other times the rig was just a snare drum and a splash. It all depended on the situation and after a couple of months at it, I got pretty adept at being able to judge what the right requirements would be according to the style of gig or the venue or even the set list etc.

For something I was reluctant to try my hand at, I actually had a blast doing it. A real hand percussionist would probably have flipped his lid at my "style", but I had a ball just belting out rhythms on hand drums. Thoroughly enjoyable gig while it lasted. And even more enjoyable it when all the set up/tear down consisted of was a djembe and a mic! Enjoy!!

Hey, thanks for some ideas. I'm not sure what to bring yet, so I was just wondering how you guys handle these gigs. I think I could pull it off. I wish I was good enough on just a snare and a splash to be able to do it with just that.

Bon, this is what I've done so far:

When I busked with a guitarist I just brought along snare and mostly used brushes, with snares off for any tune with a sniff of ethnic influence. At some point I was playing cross stick with my LH and using a brush to ride with my RH. In a song or two I used hands, though the rimshots hurts for days. You can do a lot with just a snare.

At a small gig I used a mini kit comprising of snare, hats, stompbox (in lieu of kick drum), a 17" cymbal and a djembe. This covered a wide range of material.

I've played a few unplugged gigs where I brought along snare and hats, tapping the floorboards with my RF for "bass drum". Also brought bongos for one song.

I wish I had a djembe. That would be cool. Definitely gonna be doing some snare cross stick work. I have a small bass drum (16") that I could use too. It will be interesting for sure.

Maybe if you had a really small drum kit - like a Sonor Safari with fiberskyn heads.....

Yes, I need to get one of those littler kits. I'm finding that something like that is very much needed if I am going to be gigging a lot. I kinda like that newer Sonor kit like Larry just bought a little better with the bigger bass drum. I saw you were selling that little Safari kit you have. Wish I had the money to have bought it from you.

Bring whatever you want to bring Paul. You're the boss. Do what you feel comfortable with. Or go outside your norm and have fun with it. You're the boss.

I hear ya, Larry. I won't let them dictate my equipment to me. I was just seeing how you guys went about your acoustic gigs.

Thanks for all your kind responses folks. I appreciate the input.
 
I am a big fan of latin american and african hand instruments but I agree with everyone else that they are not a replacement for a drumset. If the music calls for drumset beats leave the congas at home. Alot of musicians try to play congas and bongos as if they were a bass and snare, but this (to me) sounds weird and wrong.
I am all for the stripped down set. Bass, snare, floor tom, hit hat, and an 18" crash/ride.
I like the ideas of the tamborines and shakers too. Brushes Hot Rods.
If they want to hear congas and bongos they should play in a latin jazz club.
 
I like a small kit but what I take depends on the instrumentation of the rest of the group.
It could be less than a small kit. I'd rather take too much and not use it than not have what I wanted.

but....you stated that you were asked to play hand drums....maybe you need hand drums or don't take the gig?
 
I am a big fan of latin american and african hand instruments but I agree with everyone else that they are not a replacement for a drumset. If the music calls for drumset beats leave the congas at home. Alot of musicians try to play congas and bongos as if they were a bass and snare, but this (to me) sounds weird and wrong.
I am all for the stripped down set. Bass, snare, floor tom, hit hat, and an 18" crash/ride.
I like the ideas of the tamborines and shakers too. Brushes Hot Rods.
If they want to hear congas and bongos they should play in a latin jazz club.

I like Latin and Calypso beats too. The music we're playing is the same stuff we normally play. The venue just wants lower volume, so the harp player suggested that I use hand drums and percussion instruments instead of drums, I guess. Last time I checked, the drums are an acoustic instrument and playing softly is a skill that I possess. I can play bongos or congas in a couple songs, but not all night.

I like a small kit but what I take depends on the instrumentation of the rest of the group.
It could be less than a small kit. I'd rather take too much and not use it than not have what I wanted.

but....you stated that you were asked to play hand drums....maybe you need hand drums or don't take the gig?
The gig is with my normal gigging band and I don't get the gigs for this band. I've done some jams on these songs without the drum kit, so I can bring some extra stuff for a couple special songs that I can do percussion on instead of playing a drum kit if that's what they want.
 
I play a kit and hand percussion such as conga, djembe, tar, bongos, bells and whistles and all of that.

If you are interested in starting into hand percussion. I recommend a Djembe, 1 drum and lot's of tone around the head. Remo have some acousticon and fibreskin models (excuse the spelling). Which are durable and stay tuned up. Bongo's can be a blast too. I do like conga but if I needed a quick gig and didn't want to haul a bunch of stuff the djembe would be my go-to drum.

YouTube can help to understand a bit. It is pretty cool but if you are not mic'd you can beat your palms up.

I used to play percussion quite a bit more than I do now but as I've aged so have my hands and they were taking a beating. So now I use the kit more.
 
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