Next week I am getting a Didgeridoo!

I am excited, as I've always wanted to learn how to play one. I realize many forms of tribal music are an acquired taste for many Westerners, but there is just something about this instrument that deeply moves me. Dare I say it somehow brings out my, spirit? ;D

Listen here

I have always loved the sound of them too! You will have to record something after you learn to play it and share it with the rest of us!!

The one in Jamiroquai works pretty well with the other instruments IMO....

Did you know that by combining a Didgeridoo with a set of Bagpipes you can make your own LRAD?

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe
I have always loved the sound of them too! You will have to record something after you learn to play it and share it with the rest of us!!

Gladly!

Originally posted by avatard
The one in Jamiroquai works pretty well with the other instruments IMO....

I wasn't familiar with Jamiroquai, listening now, and I like it alot.

Originally posted by Drunkenparrot
Did you know that by combining a Didgeridoo with a set of Bagpipes you can make your own LRAD?

lol, will have to try this on my neighbor who likes to watch tv in the backyard at 11pm lol:p

Originally posted by BS_Slayer

Originally posted by avatard
The one in Jamiroquai works pretty well with the other instruments IMO....

I wasn't familiar with Jamiroquai, listening now, and I like it alot.

hell yeah you like it alot!!! Jamiroquai rocks!

Start breathing excercises to train yourself to circular breath, meaning to continuously breath in through your noes and out through your mouth

Originally posted by Raivan31

Originally posted by BS_Slayer

Originally posted by avatard
The one in Jamiroquai works pretty well with the other instruments IMO....

I wasn't familiar with Jamiroquai, listening now, and I like it alot.

hell yeah you like it alot!!! Jamiroquai rocks!

Start breathing excercises to train yourself to circular breath, meaning to continuously breath in through your noes and out through your mouth

Great stuff OP!


Why only next week, I mean are you waiting for a special order or type of didgeridoo?

Here's an older short thread of mine on the didgeridoo:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The best Jamiroquai songwith dij is "when you gonna learn"...and one called "diggin out".....lots of dij on "Return of the space cowboy" album.

Originally posted by halfoldman
Great stuff OP!

Why only next week, I mean are you waiting for a special order or type of didgeridoo?

Here's an older short thread of mine on the didgeridoo:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Payday hehe, as this week was heavy on the bills I'll be a bit further ahead next week and caught up. This isn't a very expensive one, but should be enough for me to get a taste and practice breathing etc.

reply to post by BS_Slayer

Fantastic!

Have a listen to "Tripledige Claude" and his homemade instrument.
Not bad at all.

The didgeridoo really takes a person, and every kind is special and different.

In a sense it's the perfect instrument.
It works better when a bit warmed up (I'd say), but it never needs tuning or anything fancy.

Originally posted by halfoldman
reply to post by BS_Slayer

 

Fantastic!

Have a listen to "Tripledige Claude" and his homemade instrument.
Not bad at all.

The didgeridoo really takes a person, and every kind is special and different.

In a sense it's the perfect instrument.
It works better when a bit warmed up (I'd say), but it never needs tuning or anything fancy.

edit on 25-6-2012 by halfoldman because: (no reason given)

Wow, he plays fantastically too...great vid!

reply to post by BS_Slayer


There's a lot of great styles and players, but for me these two guys are exceptional.

Of course that's just one style of playing, and they obviously grew up in a didge culture:

Watch I don't come 'round and hit you on the back of the head with a nulla nulla if you play too loud, brother...lol

Originally posted by akushla99
Watch I don't come 'round and hit you on the back of the head with a nulla nulla if you play too loud, brother...lol

lmao, had to look up "Nulla Nulla".. I love tribal people all over the world, sure wish the modern world would take a few cues.

It's a lot harder than it looks, believe me. People think it's a simple matter of making an amplified sound, but it is a lot more than that. Breathing helps heaps, but it is a unique instrument with an equally unique sound.

Once you master it through practice (and a lot of practice), it is a hell of a lot of fun to do.

Originally posted by halfoldman
reply to post by BS_Slayer

 

There's a lot of great styles and players, but for me these two guys are exceptional.

Of course that's just one style of playing, and they obviously grew up in a didge culture:

wow, that was incredible...those guys are amazing..

Well, is it easy or difficult to learn?
A lot of people take a didge and think they can just blow into it like a trumpet, and get a sound.
That does not work.
It's best to vibrate your lips, like blowing a raspberry.
A tip is to wet them slightly with water.
Once the lips are vibrating just move it closer to the mouth and vibrate them into the didge.
It usually takes a few tries, and some can do it faster than others (thicker lips, perhaps), but everyone can get a drone in an hour session of trying.
Making that droning sound becomes addictive, and people will repeat it, and vibrate while their breath lasts.
At that point one can basically play, and begin to experiment with sounds by moving the tongue, clenching the teeth slightly, or making vocal sounds and bursts of breath into the pipe.
However, the sound will cease between breaths.
So the next step is circular breathing.

The way I learnt circular breathing is to hold water in the cheeks, and to keep spitting out a controlled measure of water from the mouth, while breathing in through the nose.
So it's storing air in the cheeks that's pushed out as you are inhaling through the nose.

Ultimately every didge player is unique, and the sound is not just due to an instrument, but also due to the body that plays it, and the size of the tongue, lips, voice and skeletal cavities.
I like to drone away and copy whale sounds, or very "dark" barking effects.
Others like more rhythmic playing and trumpeting effects.
I like to think of myself in a desert, when the beings from another dimension dreamt this one into existence.
Maybe I'm a one trick pony in that, but that's what I like, and I've gotten to a stage where people say they feel they're in the Australian desert.
One thing that ruined playing guitar for me was the ego trips and competition, and so with the didge I'm happy to simply provide a drone and basic beat, even for other players, although holding back can be difficult too.

Anyway, for a first lesson for complete beginners: