Three Basic Cajon Beats

If you’ve already made it this far, then you’re probably already the proud owner of your very own cajon. You’ve seen or heard a cajon afficionado spitting beats and thought, “I can do that!” But now that you’re sitting astride your brand new percussion box, it’s already looking a little more complication than you first thought. Not to worry! Everyone starts somewhere, and since you’re here, this is where you’re going to start! In this friendly little blog, we’ll guide you through three awesome cajon beats that you can use as a foundation to expand your cajon-based skills. No theoretical knoweldge or the ability to read music required!

• Introduction
• A Drum Kit in a Box
• No.1: Your First Basic Cajon Beat
•      Counting in Time
• No.2: A Snapping Pop/Rock Cajon Beat
•      Variation: ‘We Will Rock You’
• No.3: A Pop/Rock Beat with Some Slaps
•      The Next Step: Alternating
• Play Along to Your Favourite Tracks
• More Rhythms
•     Rhythm with Sixteenth Notes
•     Rhythm with Eighth Triplets
•     Swing / Shuffle Rhythm
• See Also…

Introduction

• This blog is intended for the absolute beginner seeking a little help to get started. We’ll only be talking about the cajon itself, so there won’t be any mention of cajon pedals or other add-ons.
• With every rhythm, I’ll let you know which sound you need to play with your left hand and which sound you need to play with your right hand. If you’re a right-handed player, then you’ll often be playing the ‘kick’ (or bass drum) with your right hand and the ‘snare’ with your left. But please note: I’m only giving you these directions to make things nice and clear in the beginning. At the end of this blog, we’ll also take a look at alternating playing.

A Drum Kit in a Box

The cajon is often used to simply replace a drum kit. This means that, in practice, the cajon player is often mimicking drum beats. Which is fine, since there are a lot of similarities between the beats you’d play on a standard drum kit and those you play on a cajon since you can get the basic kick, snare, and hi-hat sound out of this drum kit in a box.

• The bass sound of a cajon (comparable to the kick drum of a drum kit) is made by striking the playing surface somewhere in the middle.
• The snare sound sits a little further up, close to the top edge of the cajon.
• The ‘slaps’ (or hi-hat) are played by striking the two top corners of the playing surface.

I strongly recommend taking a look at our other cajon-based blog, How to Play the Cajon. It’ll explain how to get the clearest and prettiest sound out of your cajon and teach you how to sit comfortably while you play.

#1. Your First Basic Cajon Beat

The best basic rhythm to kick off with as a beginner cajon player is not going to be too complicated. If you can count to four, then you can play this beat. On count 1 and 3, play the bass, and on count 2 and 4, play the snare. If you’re right-handed, play the kick with your right hand and the snare with your left. In the following example, you can see the counts (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4) and underneath, some letters that simply stand for the sound to be played (B = bass, S = snare):

If you were to write this beat out using the humble English language, it would probably look something like this:

Boom – Tick – Boom – Tick

Counting in Time

It might seem obvious, but it’s essential to count in time. So not 1,2 … wait for it … 3,4. Another mistake that a lot of people make is stopping briefly after four beats and then starting again: 1,2,3,4… 1, 2, 3, 4. Since this is not too easy to dance to, the beat should flow constantly on a loop. So, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on. A good way to practice this is to watch the second hand of a clock. The hand ticks in perfect time at 60 ‘beats-per-minute’ – and every tick is a count. Another way of getting a good feel for timing is to go for a walk. As you walk, you usually fall into an average tempo. So every time you put your right foot forward, this is count 1 or 3 (the bass), and every time you put your left foot forward, this is count 2 and 4 (the snare).

#2. A Snapping Pop/Rock Cajon Beat

Once you have this basic rhythm down, you can start to expand on it and add variations. In the following example, we’re only using the bass and snare sound again but the counting will be slightly different. In place of 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, we’re going to count in doubles. Just see it as every count suddenly having a little friend – or in this case, an ‘and’. So 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and so on. It’s important that you count along in time, and that the space between each count (the ‘and’) is the same length. So, here we go:

The only difference between beat No.1 and this beat, is the extra bass hit. As you can see, this bass hit sits precisely between count 2 and 3. Again, if we were to write this beat out using words, it would look like this:

Boom – Tick boom – Boom – Tick

Variation: ‘We will rock you’

Here, you still play the bass twice, one hit after the other (boom boom), and the snare is played once (tick):

You can write this beat out like this:

Boom boom – Tick – Boom boom – Tick

# 3. A Pop/Rock Cajon Beat with Slaps

Now things get a tiny bit more diffcult since we’re introducing a third sound – the slap. The slap on a cajon has the same kind of function as the hi-hat of a drum kit. As I’ve already mentioned, the slaps are played in the two top corners of the playing surface of your cajon. Depending on your preference and pace, you can decide to play the slaps with your leading hand – so with your right hand, if you’re right-handed. In this case, you would play the bass and snare with your left hand only. This can take some getting used to so don’t feel bad if you need to take your time. If you’re right-handed, you would play the beat below with your right hand (x = the ‘slap’). Practice this on its own first!

The whole beat looks like this:

The Next Step: Playing Alternations

What you could do now, is alternate your playing hands. Here, R = right hand, L = left hand, or the other way around if you’re left-handed:

When playing this, at no point will you hit the cajon with both hands at the same time, like you did with the beats before. On count 1, for example, the slap and the bass happen at the same time, but using the alternating technique, they’re actually played in turn. As the tempo gets a little faster, this technique will actually feel more smooth and work better. This also take us away from the ‘drum kit’ way of playing and closer to the way a percussion instrument like the cajon should actually be played. You might notice that conga and bongo players also use this kind of technique. Ok, so, we have to adjust the rhythm slightly and you can see the result included below, where it’s clear which slaps need to be left out. You’ll also notice that it actually still sounds very complete, and as you practice and practice, you’ll be able to play this technique with more speed and it’ll start to feel smooth. My advice? Start slowly!

In the beat above, you can see that the bass and snare usually fall on the ‘R’ (right hand), and that most ‘and’s fall on the L (for left-handed players, this is obviously the other way around).

Play Along with Your Favourite Tracks

Using the beats you’ve now learned, you have a great foundation for your playing and will have no problem playing along with most pop and rock music. Entire careers are built on these very beats! It’s a good idea to play along with songs that you already know well. It not only makes it more fun, but you’ll also get better at staying in time. Tip: As an alternative, you can play the bass sound using a cajon pedal. This way, you have your hands free to play even more variations!

What’s your favourite cajon beat? Make a little clip of yourself playing it and share it with us! Add it in the comments below or tag us on instagram: @baxmusicuk

See Also…

» Cajon Buyer’s Guide
» How to Play the Cajon

» What Are the Four Most Important Drum Rudiments
» Reading Music: Rhythm, Tempo & Measure
» Drum Notation 101: Tips & Tricks for Beginners

» Cajons
» Cajon Accessories
» Cajon DIY Kits
» Cajons for Kids

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