Level 1 · The Three Sounds · 1-1
Find your bass tone
A deep, round boom - the foundation of everything.
What you play
B bass · S snare · g ghost · rest1
B
2
B
3
B
4
B
60 BPM
startpass
How to play it
- 1Sit on the cajón and lean forward a little, so your hand falls naturally onto the front plate.
- 2Strike dead centre, 10 to 15 cm below the top edge, with your full relaxed hand, fingers together like you are patting water. Let the hand bounce straight off so the plate can ring.
- 3Relax the wrist completely. The power is a forearm drop, not muscle.
- 4Play steady quarter notes , swapping hands every four hits.
- 5Record about 45 seconds.
Listen forHits evenly spaced at a steady tempo, each one a low resonant bass with no snare overtones, and volume consistent across both hands.
start 60 · pass 75 BPM · take about 45s
Record a take
I start the click at 60 BPM, count one bar, and stop after about 45s. Phone about a metre away, facing the front plate. You get my notes within a minute of sending it.
Watch out for
- • Leaving the hand on the plate. It chokes the ring and you get a thud, not a boom.
- • Playing too close to the top edge, where snare overtones creep in
- • Tension in the shoulder. If it hurts, you are working too hard.
Read about this
- What is a cajón?The box, the three sounds it makes, and how a shipping crate became an instrument.
- How to play cajónThe whole instrument on one page, in the order that actually works.
- How to sit on a cajónPosture decides your bass tone before you play a note.
- How to get a deep bass tone on cajónA thin bass is nearly always the same three mistakes. Here is the fix for each.
- How to choose your first cajónWhat actually matters when buying one, what to ignore, and what to spend.