Quote:

Scott,

I'm glad you gave a link or I wouldn't have known what it was. I still don't know what it is but I assume you sit on top of it and use it as a percussion instrument?



Yes. There are various flavors of the Cajon, which in Spanish is the word for box. The origin of the instrument has been attributed to shipyards in Peru, where workers would use empty cargo boxes as hand drums.

Modern day versions are a little more sophisticated. Main purpose of them is to provide a thumpy kick-drum like sound and some kind of a higher snare type sound. First time I saw one played live was when my buddy produced a local concert for Chris Rice - a fairly well-known contemporary Christian artist. His drummer played about half of their whole concert just using a mic'ed Cajon. I've been intrigued with them ever since.

My son is a drummer and said he was willing to play some kind of hand percussion for his youth group's worship time. Plenty of reason to go shopping for one then, yes? Another happy Craigslist transaction landed this one.

Here's a YouTube of Alex Acuña playing one probably better than most people on the planet will ever hope to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLECQZl0q-o&feature=related

Various varieties. The one I bought has some fairly heavy string that is stretched in the inside against the front tapa surface; giving it a snare like quality.

It's pretty addicting to play. The surface that is the seat on this one sounds like a nice bongo drum when you aren't sitting on it. I've seen a guy play one, not sitting on it, with brushes and getting all kinds of cool vibes out of it.

-Scott

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