X8 Drums Blog

Have you ever noticed that Latin drummers are unnervingly happy? If you take a look at the great Latin drummers, they have a totally different vibe when drumming than so many other percussionists and musicians. They’re in the groove so hard, they almost become the focus of the song. Latin drummers are the sound of Latin music, and those rhythms are what make us all want to jump up and groove right along with them. One of the great things about Latin music is that the same basic rhythm …

The holiday season can make us all crazy. We’ve got families to visit, meals to cook, office parties and a whole lot of shopping to get done in just a few weeks. Because this is such an important part of the year for everyone, it only makes sense that at the end of it all, we just want to relax with our loved ones and enjoy the feeling of not running ourselves ragged. So, you should get everyone you know drums and percussion instruments for the holidays. Drums are natural stress relie …

Unless you’re a closet drummer, with probably the least amount of space possible for a full drum set, at some point you’re going to wonder one of the great drumming questions of all time: should you trust your beloved drums to a drum rack, or keep them safe on drum stands. With the love of rhythm and drumming comes the understanding that out of all of the members of your band, or your friends who play guitar, keyboards or saxophone, you have the most gear and instruments to care for. I …

The hand drums we see today in drum circles represent a lot more than just a gathering of hippies (or, hipsters) drumming together as an exercise in music, rhythm and creative expression. Most of the hand drums used in drum circles, like djembe drums or cajon drums are modern representations of the drums used by African slaves in all parts of the Americas. These drums have evolved over the centuries into the instruments we are familiar with today, but, there was once a time when …

Drumming is loud. It doesn’t matter if you have a whole suite of drums on a rack, or just a djembe strapped around your neck. Drumming is loud, and there isn’t a whole lot you can do to reducethe volume of your drums and still play like the maniac you are. But, there is a good reason you should be concerned about how loud your drums are: your hearing. Hearing loss is a documented problem for many drummers and musicians, from Lars Ulrich to Rod Morgenstein, and an estimated 60 percen …

There you are, minding your own business, when you notice flashing blue lights in your rear view mirror. You think to yourself, “Was I speeding? Why am I being pulled over?” and then go through the hundreds of possible traffic violations you may have committed while innocently driving down the road. Once you are safely pulled off to the side of the road, the officer approaches and asks if you’ve been drinking. “No, sir, I don’t drink and drive,” is a likely response to the officer’s q …

We don’t really know why, but, there could come a point when you may need to drum without the power of Thor’s hammer. Drumming is all about being loud, strong and full of unstoppable momentum, driving each beat into the ground so that the rhythm is never misunderstood and you became a drummer so that you could pound away without being judged for your need to hit things, right? Well, not exactly. Drumming is loud, and there is definitely a lot of strength and momentum required to g …

Finding a new drum or hand percussion instrument to play is one of the best things about being a drummer. No matter if you started out on a set of bongo drums or you were a drummer in your school’s marching band, once you’re bitten with the percussion bug, it can be hard to ever let that excitement go. For the drum set drummer, all of those hours spent learning the basics and practicing rudiments can lead to a really great experience drumming in a band, on stage or in a stu …

Despite public opinion, being a drummer isn’t easy, nor is it all fun and games. There are a ton of reasons why people start drumming, and probably more reasons why people stop drumming. We, the drummers, are the unsung heroes of music and the pounding heartbeats of rhythmic divinity. We keep the beat alive even as we take a beating, ourselves. Sometimes, in those moments of pure introspection (usually as we wait for the other instruments to get tuned up), we even ask ourselves if drumm …

If you have been playing hand drums for a while, you know there are plenty of differences between a djembe and the bongos. Really, if you’ve been playing for a while, you know there are differences between a rope-tuned djembe and a key-tuned djembe, not to mention the thousands of other nuances that those drums offer. Loving your djembe (or any hand drum) will inevitably lead you down a path of expertise about your drum, as well as drums that sit alongside it at the local music store or …