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DIDGERIDOO RHYTHMS
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DIDGERIDOO RHYTHMS
Building rhythms
The first step to making your own didgeridoo rhythms is to practice and experiment with different patterns of sounds and different time signatures until a rhythm forms that sounds appealing to you.
When you find a rhythm that interests you, you may want to become a little more focused (and less random) to explore that particular rhythm and see what varieties of it you can make to create different moods or effects.
When you have explored the potential of the rhythm you might want to write this rhythm down for further practice later on, before experimenting again with other patterns and time signatures and repeating the process.
Making rhythms is a fairly random and arbitrary process, but don't forget this can be one of the didgeridoo's most attractive features. Enjoy the fact that you can learn just by practicing whatever comes to mind, depending on what you aim to achieve, rather than being forced to rote learn musical score. This will foster your opportunity for self-expression and it will free up your playing as a result.
If you are completely new to the didgeridoo, and would like some advice on how to get started making rhythms, the information below can help you.
Where to begin?
It would not be useful for beginners to be told to "first do this and then do that" when learning didgeridoo rhythms. This will only stifle a player and constrain them to playing a few styles of rhythms only. Instead, it might be best for beginners to just observe the general process of how rhythms take shape, say for example, during a typical practice session.
A lesson is presented in the following pages as if I was having my own rhythm building practice session, but starting from the very beginning using the basic techniques taught on this web site. I pretend that I am a complete beginner just starting out like you. However, with my insider knowledge, I quickly start to show you how rhythms can be formed and built upon as you play.
The intent is to demonstrate how you yourself might start making didgeridoo rhythms in a way that is a somewhat personal, experimental, original and self-expressive process.
The information is presented in a step-by-step fashion that builds from the previous step, so you can understand the rhythm making process. As usual, each step is supported by an audio file so you can clearly understand what is happening. Play along with the sample and get the hang of how the rhythms are formed and then expanded.
Remember, this is only one way of building the infinite number of rhythms available to the didgeridoo player. If somebody else was writing this, it would be very different, and if I was writing this tomorrow, it could also be different again.
Use this information to help foster your own potential for rhythm exploration and try not to get too stuck with any fixed way of rhythm making.
Note: All of the rhythms shown below can be made using the sounds and techniques already described on this web site. If you haven't got circular breathing yet, you can still do this lesson, you just won't be able to play the rhythms continuously. If you can circular breathe - great! You will be playing rhythms in no time!
A word on rhythm notation
The following pages contain audio files of each practice rhythm. A written, phonetic version of the rhythm accompanies each audio file. That is, the rhythm is written the way it would sound as if spoken, even though you don't actually 'speak' the sounds (you just move your mouth the same way).
The sounds of the rhythm are also numbered, relating to where they occur in the rhythm. So when you see a sound sitting right underneath '1', it occurs exactly on the first beat. If it is sitting under the '&' symbol, it occurs mid-way between the two beats.
Try this exercise: call one hand your 'number' hand (to tap on the numbered beats) and the other hand your 'and' hand (to tap on the '&' beats). Now tap your right and left hand alternately on a table, at the same time as you say 'one and two and three and four and...'.
Keep tapping, but this time speak any of the rhythms below in time with your tapping. Look at your hands alternately tapping, as you say each part of the rhythm.
This technique is particularly useful to tell you exactly where each sound occurs in the timing of the rhythm. It will also help you start devising and writing down rhythms of your own.
If this all sounds confusing, don't worry and just start listening to, and then practicing, the rhythms below. The best way to learn is pick up your didgeridoo and start practicing straight away!
Now go to the next page for a comprehensive rhythm building demonstration that includes thirty practice rhythms, each with an accompanying audio file.
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In summary
Building rhythms is about experimenting with various combinations of didgeridoo sounds to see what sounds good, and then developing these further.
There are no hard and fast rules to learning rhythms. Try not to be constrained by learning certain rhythms or styles only.
Listen to what rhythms sound good to you, then build on these so they can be structured into compositions or solos.
Speaking the rhythms will help you memorise them and write them down for practice later.