General Music Chat

Currently, I am doing a one man band sort of gig. I have a looper, and a Roland synthesizer, and about 12 instruments I bring along. I want to add some percussion I can do , while I am playing a stringed instrument...I am a mechanical designer by trade, and was considering having a Cajon?...Cabon?.. Rectangular wooden drum which I can attach to a bass drum pedal, with a possible cowbell or similar that the hammer of the pedal strikes on the "upbeat"..I have had other people (primarily in music stores) say that the drum pedal would more than likely split, or break the cajon... I (typically a skeptic) am not convinced this is the case....Anybody out there ever tried this sort of thing.... Or have any other ideas for a way for me to add a simple two tone percussion / drum to my routine??? Thanks in advance for your ideas...
Catfish Bob

I would check out an Alesis D4 drum module. It has 12 trigger inputs and hundreds of sounds from all types of conventional drums to way out stuff (gongs, glass breaking, etc.) Triggers are actually cheap and easy to build from Radio Shack parts (piezo buzzer, female 1/4" jack) and you could build them into anything from floor pads to small pads you could put on your guitar. Here's one pretty cheap I found, but you could check out e-bay and other places.
http://www.musicgoround.com/detail.aspx?id=846204

RAT You are allways trying to help,THANX.

A friend of mine uses that wooden drum. He taps it with his foot &, yeah, it DOES sound like a kick drum. Used sparingly, it adds a lot to his performance.

I always wanted to do some of that stuff - the harmonica on the neck brace, & the cymbals between my knees, & the tooty horn in my arm pit, & the extra guitar or mandolin on a stand, & the drum on one foot with a tambourine on the other - but I was afraid it might be a little too complicatered...

In all seriousness, though, I think having the cowbell on the upstroke of the kick pedal would be kinda tough to pull off & keep in time. If you manage to do it, I wanna see it on youtube!

Good luck with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SRcysjX ... annel_page

Ive seen an old blues act use a dustpan turned upside down with a sm 57 under it. Then he just stepped on the mic while playing. Sounded like a bass drum.
I thought I saw a bit of duct tape holding down the mic to the floor.

I saw a smililar rig with a mic stuck in a hole in the side of a cigar box.