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I need a tambourine. But there are so many kinds. And they apparently don't all sound the same, surprise.

I'm not about to pay much for a little tambourine, of course, but I have a few questions:

1. Heads: what do they do? Amplify the sound, I assume? And you can drum on them?
2. Size: if it's bigger is it just louder? Or deeper?
3. Brands: have you used any that you're especially proud of?
4. Cost: what's a reasonable price to pay for a consumer-level tambourine (if there is any other level)?

Bye bye.

Comments

BobRogers Thu, 01/22/2009 - 09:11

If you are asking the question you don't really know how to play a headed tambourine. Playing it well takes a lot of practice - as much as any other hand drum. There definitely is a difference between brands, heads, etc. Size matters - mostly in determining pitch.

The easiest thing to learn how to play is just the bells and the headless tambourines are the cheapest. That may be the way you want to go. Try to find a place where you can try them out.

If you want a better appreciation of how much a tambourine can matter to a song, watch "Standing In The Shadows of Motown". Very cool segment on building up a rhythm groove instrument by instrument. Amazing how much a good tambourine player adds.

anonymous Thu, 01/22/2009 - 15:28

If you can get the sound of a tambourine right, and balanced in any mix, the tambourine adds excitement and sparkle, totally unique to the tambourine.

I'd say it depends more on the style. I don't know how well tambourines would fit with extreme rock... Maybe one of you can pioneer the downtuned tambourine. No, really, it's supposed to sound muddy and dead with the head downtuned: it's cool, aren't you cool enough to appreciate it?. :lol: Anyway... There are a lot of styles where tambourines and other hand percussion are staples, like world music.

Codemonkey Thu, 01/22/2009 - 18:31

"Where they get a bad rap, is people who play them with no sense of balance."

That's when they fall down, yeah?

I agree, they have a place in music. But when they command as much volume as the drumkit (neither of which are helped by the presence of PA/monitors...) you have to think that maybe it's just too much of an intrusion. One time I had to dip the 5K notch on the EQ just to keep the PA clean. The damnbourine was actually making a noticable dent on the volume ladder.

*Note: the volume ladder is PFL on the main meter and since the amp is inbuilt, the main fader gets lowered. This means that the LEDs never get past -10dB.