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Anyone here play the didg?

  • Thread starter Pyro
  • Start date

Pyro

N=R* fs fp ne fl fi fc L
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Just curious if anyone else here shares another of my odd hobbies. Only got my first real didg recently and still working on the circular breathing but having fun. The hau hates it too which is another bonus LOL
 
I appreciate them and have been on the didjshops.com mailing list for years now... but have yet to take the plunge

keep a rag under the bottom to catch the saliva LOL

Ive got some good mp3's on my office puter, Ill send em too you next week

I did pick up a nice bullroarer and boomerang while I was over there

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Butch
 
keep a rag under the bottom to catch the saliva LOL

Yep learned that already LOL

Ive got some good mp3's on my office puter, Ill send em too you next week

Cool, I would appreciate that. Thanks!!
 
whats that?
 
I do! Not super good, but learning circular breathing more or less cured my asthma. Back in middle/high school I used to collect exotic wind instruments. Didjeridoo, queña, shakuhachi, pennywhistle and a few more I don't have anymore. I think the didj is probably the best among them in terms what you take from learning to play; it's good for breathing and great meditation.
~Joe
 
Pyro, have a look at youtube.. found lessons listed

I can circular breath easy enough, got the technique down in minutes. My issue is applying it to actually playing. When I switch to the "cheek blow" phase I lose it. I just can not keep the volume of air flowing...
 
I play the didg I have one of the rubber mouth plastic ones, a PVC pipe one I made, Bamboo and a nice wood one. Been playing for 4 or so years, not amazing but its fun, I had circular breathing down for about 5 mins then I forgot how too.
 
I can circular breath easy enough, got the technique down in minutes. My issue is applying it to actually playing. When I switch to the "cheek blow" phase I lose it. I just can not keep the volume of air flowing...

You're probably not taking breaths frequently enough. To start, you need a really staccato rhythm - it's not like breathing so much as panting. Try to play a single tone and then breathe to turn it into a beat. At first, you'll lose a lot of volume on the inhale but as your neck and mouth become stronger you'll be able to keep playing. Do you play standing or on your back?
~Joe
 
  • #10
what about playing sitting down lol?
 
  • #11
I play standing or sitting depending on the day I have had a work. Usually standing though.

You may be onto something with trying to staccato it. Usually I am just trying to sustain a single tone indefinitely
 
  • #12
A lot of what you tend to hear of the didj is just a simple drone because it has such a distinctive sound, but when I was first learning I listened to a lot of samples of traditional styles and most of them are more varied. There are all sorts of techniques for making different sounds with overtones - try humming while playing a drone, or experiment with different jaw/neck positions. It helps to lie back flat on a slight incline. You'll be using muscles you don't usually rely on in order to do circular breathing - you've probably noticed already but you can get a pretty severe headrush from a long drone. Really sustained playing provides very little opportunity for air exchange and it's best if you can relax your entire body and conserve oxygen.
~Joe
 
  • #13
wow, i didn`t know these instruments made it all the way around the world, i`ll have to get one for my next tribal party *wink*
 
  • #14
you guys have got me interested now!
 
  • #15
I have a bull roarer but I don't know if its the same one you are talking about. Had it since I was a kid.

Good luck with the instrument. Next you can try bagpipes! I love bagpipes! :)
 
  • #16
Hey PAK,

A bull roarer is the flat piece of wood on a string that you whirl over your head. A didgeridoo is the hollow stick you blow in.

@ Joe,

Well I have been trying the staccato thing you mentioned and it does work. Still going to take some finesse to get it down better but I can do it. And I can even run a long tone for a while and switch to the staccato and then switch back :) This is getting fun
 
  • #17
Well I have been trying the staccato thing you mentioned and it does work. Still going to take some finesse to get it down better but I can do it. And I can even run a long tone for a while and switch to the staccato and then switch back :) This is getting fun

Great! See if you can do your breathing staccato but try to keep the drone as smooth as possible. The thing to learn is to not lose air pressure when you go from exhaling to pushing air and back. After that there are lots of great tricks that come easy. Have you read about different types of tones?
~Joe
 
  • #18
Great! See if you can do your breathing staccato but try to keep the drone as smooth as possible.

Working on it LOL. Figure it is going to take a little time to get there but at least I now know better how to get there. Beats trying to get there from zero which is what I was trying to do.

The thing to learn is to not lose air pressure when you go from exhaling to pushing air and back.

Yeah that is my problem. But it is not so much pressure as mouth/lip "stance". When I switch from exhaling to pushing the slight change in the shape of my mouth/lips causes me to lose my drone...

After that there are lots of great tricks that come easy. Have you read about different types of tones?

Like the trills and ups and downs? Yeah I know some of them and can pull them off well enough. I think once I get the whole circle breathing thing down I'll have a lot more fun with them.
 
  • #19
You gonna post a video when ya master it Travis??
 
  • #20
You gonna post a video when ya master it Travis??

The last thing the world wants to see is my ugly mug blowing on a stick LOL
 
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