What would you do?

Now that summer's officially over and the gigs for the surf band have slowed way down, I've been toying with the idea of putting together a percussion rig and trying out some acoustic/coffee house gigs with a guitarist friend.

Here's what I have right now: A cheap CB700 tambourine (with the head), a pair of claves, and a cowbell. Here are my questions. If you were putting together a percussion rig what instruments would you use? One (or two or three) congas, a djembe, or some other drum(s)? I'm planning on going the Craigslist route for used stuff. What are brands to look for and what brands to avoid?

Keep in mind that I don't have much experience in percussion. I figure I could learn the basic techniques and a few (or ten) patterns and that could get me started.

Thanks in advance.

Put aside the idea of a multi-drum conga setup or similar until you're confident enough with the basics.

Get a single hand drum...djembe or similar.

Get a decent mellow/not harsh sounding shaker. Maybe a pair of egg shakers.

Figure out what you can do with those first.

I also have a set of 6, 8, & 10 rototoms. The stand that came with them is broken, so I'd have to replace it.

Leave the root toms at home.

If ou are aiming for coffee house/acoustic gigs, ou want sounds that are appropriate and complementary to an acoustic guitar.

In other words, NOT roto toms.

Think practical as well...what can you carry in 2 hands, take up minimal space with and easily control volume on?

Cajon w/snare, djembe, any kind or pair of hand drums; ... the rotos would prolly do. The bendy stuff might come in handy too. Shaker stuff yes. Brushes - you can even do swishy stuff on the cardboard carton ya brung the stuff in.

Practice your hand to hand stuff - this is most of it.

Bendy stuff? Please explain.

The rotos. Use 'em like bongos w/ pitch bend.

start with what you have and add what you find you really need. use gig money to pay for instruments.

suitcase kit with brushes?

Oh hell yeah.

Pulled out the rotos and checked them out. The drums themselves are still in pretty good shape. It's peen at least 15 years since I used them. They'll need a good cleaning. The stand is a different story. There are a couple of roll pins that are worn out that cause the top to wobble. I can either try to replace them with new pins ot just use some J-B Weld on them. I've done it before on some old cymbal stands and it worked out ok.

absolutely. My acoustic rig is a suitcase kick, snare with brushes, eggshaker taped to left foot, and a few wood block shakers near the edge of the snare.

Djembe's are pretty darn versatile though.

I'll second the Cajon... Just got one for playing acoustic with the family. It's almost perfect. Add a kick pedal, and some jingles or whatever and it's perfect.

I go suitcase rout as well. I've got a tambourine attached to a board to stomp on, then just the suitcase kick and snare.

I like the suitcase idea. The problem is that all my suitcases are the soft-sided nylon ones. I don't want to go out and buy an American Tourister suitcase and then muck it up to modify it.

Plastic beater!

Oh wait, ...

nevermind.

Cajon would be good, or a Djembe. Congas and hand percussion (i.e. a percussion "rig") would be overkill, I think.

If you want to go the suitcase route, just go to Goodwill to get one--no need to buy a new one!

What about just a snare and brushes?

Lots of interesting ideas.

I like the djembe idea, and I've always wanted an excuse to get and learn how to use a cajon. This may be a chance to come up with something a little unorthodox, too, like a djembe with a bass box?