Darbuka lesson #1

Wanting to learn ‘Split Finger’ technique?

Thanks to darbuka players such as Levent Yildirim and his brother Misirli Ahmet, this new style of playing has now been taken to a whole new level of mastery.

Players such as these guys really push the limitations of what can be played on the drum. They also help to keep it fresh and moving forward as an instrument.

For those of you that are familiar with the Indian Tabla I’m sure you will also see some similarities with the techniques. Split finger technique is heavily derived from the Tabla technique and opens the door for new possibilities for the drummer.

The split finger technique is a slight movement in the wrist from side to side. It is subtle but can sometimes be more exaggerated when playing louder. The fingers that strike the skin are the index (1^st) and the ring finger (3^rd).

Ultimately it saves the player energy, allows for more speed and creates an equal capability on both hands. A good player will be able to play a rhythm such as Malfuf or Maqsum with one hand and then solo with the other simultaneously. It’s lovely to watch when done really well. This sometimes brings in the idea of using two drums at once such as a darbuka and daholla or darbuka and a frame drum.

Adding this new technique to your drumming repertoire is highly beneficial but it does demand quite a lot of practice in order to grasp it! Just ‘mucking around’ with it want really ever develop into anything for you and through frustration you will probably just stop trying anyway. So the best approach to take in my opinion would be firstly to listen to a few great Turkish drummers that play this way and open your ears. This will give you loads of inspiration and a fresh direction.

When you are developing this technique you will shortly be confronted with the fact that you can’t get any volume! This is what I call the annoying phase. Your brain starts telling you that you must be doing it all wrong and now is probably a good time to quit! Well, sorry brain, but it’s actually rather normal. The weakest finger will be the index finger on the ‘Ka’ hand. It’s really just a matter of finding the correct angle to hit the skin and then working on the power of the stroke. I uploaded a tutorial on this in early 2008 on YouTube that will give you some great combinations to try out. It is aimed at more advanced players though. www.youtube.com/pacerman265

If you are new to this style, you will find many darbuka lessons aimed at split finger on this site. Please click here if you would like to see how to become a member and learn from all these videos.

Once we have practiced a little (or a lot) and can get some form of sound coming out of the drum, we need to learn how to place this into a rhythm. Choosing a rhythm such as Malfuf or Maqsum to begin with will be a great starting point.

You can see and hear Malfuf by downloading a small section of the e-book ‘Percussion of the Arabic World and Beyond.’ (The full 140 page version of this book is available to members).

In Malfuf we have a double ‘Ka’ stroke played twice throughout the rhythm. This would be replaced with the split finger; ka-ka= 1^st finger-3^rd finger.  

This leads me to another point when playing- how do you play the fundamental rhythm?

I ask this because there is a strong way of playing it that will always support you. The fundamental part of a rhythm is often referred to as the skeleton. It is the bare bones of the pattern. This can be played using one hand only (the right or ‘dum’ hand).

Many people play this skeletal part of the rhythm using ‘dum’ and ‘tuk’ tones. The first thing I teach at my workshops is to start using the ‘mute’ tone instead of the ‘tuk’ whilst playing the fundamental pattern. You will find videos covering this topic in the ‘Technique Masterclasses’ gallery and in the e-book. The ‘mute’ tone is like a ‘slap’ but softer and similar to a ‘tuk’ but with a lot more fullness in tone ie; it creates a larger, fuller sounding rhythm.  

This new tone really comes in handy when playing ‘Maqsum.’ As you know ‘Maqsum’ has a fundamental rhythm that is:

By using ‘mutes’ instead we have this:

What this means to you the player is that you are now playing a tight and full sounding rhythm but your ‘Ka’ hand is still free! Enter split finger technique.

You can see that there are three blank spaces in the above box. These are where you would place your double ‘Ka’ tones but play them using the 1^st and 3^rd fingers.

I hope this article was a help for you. Any questions just put them up on the ‘Forum’ or contact me through the site contact button. Remember that i can also give you a darbuka lesson over Skype if you wish. 

Enjoy your drumming and please …don’t be a stranger!