How to Play Steel Tongue Drum from Zero

It’s so easy to fall in love with the sounds of these mysterious steel instruments. Some believe that steel tongue drums crafting technologies have been brought to us from other planets or even dimensions! In fact, the design was first introduced by Dennis Havlena in 2007, and it quickly became a worldwide hit. But enough with the history. You are here to start playing it, right? Let this guide by our friends from simplydrum.com help you! 

Understand Its “Tongue”

As soon as you take your new beautiful instrument out of the box, take a seat and try to get familiar with the drum. Feel its weight and shape, then find the most comfortable position to hold it. As the shape of the deck is circular, you might get puzzled with proper positioning. Actually, there’s no strict rule for that, and you can rotate it in any direction you want. Still, the most logical way is to keep the low notes closer to your body. This will give you a clear idea of the scale progression as the notes go simply from the lowest to the highest in a clockwise matter. 

Now you’re probably interested in what’s the lowest note. It’s easy to identify by the size of each tongue. The largest one will make the lowest tone and vice versa. Some designs make it visually unclear which one is the lowest, so you may need to figure it out by hitting each “petal” with your thumb or a mallet. 

Another option to see where the notes are is to order a model with note stickers or digits. You can also make them yourself as this won’t affect the tonal characteristics. An electronic chromatic tuner or a mobile tuner app will help you identify each note in no time. Having each note marked, you can easily learn their positions, and proper positioning won’t take time at all. 

Check the Tuning

This step is important as there’s always a chance that the instrument comes out of tune. It’s easy to identify if you have a good ear or by using a tuner. If you ordered an untunable model, you should return it and request a well-tuned replacement or try another brand. Tunable models come with an access hole in the center and a set of tuning magnets. You can put them on the backside of each tongue and move slightly to reach the needed pitch and frequency. Again, use a tuner for that. 

Hands or Mallets?

To choose between these two playing options, you should consider such characteristics as the size of the drum, the sound you want to achieve, and, well, your skill level. Most beginners choose to play with mallets as it’s just an easier way. It’s also a good choice if you have a small drum that requires high accuracy to sound well. Mallets are harder than your fingers, so they produce louder and sharper tones. In addition, you can purchase mallets of different densities as you progress. 

Playing with your fingers will require a bit more time to develop the required fine motor skill. You need to train such movements as thumb slap and finger tap with the rest of the fingers except your pinkies. You can also experiment with your knuckles to achieve various dynamics. Playing with hands is the most versatile method that will let you make the tunes much more exciting to listen to. Practice 45 minutes a day, 21 days in a row, and you’ll feel the power. 

Beginner Exercises

The first exercise to take is to play the notes from the highest to the lowest. First, play the notes from low to high and back with one hand, then do the same alternating your hands. This exercise will help you remember the positioning of the notes and how they actually sound. You can also play clockwise and anti-clockwise to see how well the simplest patterns sound. 

Apply Intervals

An interval is a “distance” between two or more notes. You should start finding them by striking 2 different notes at the same time. Experiment with different combinations of notes to find the ones that sound good. These will be your first chords! As you memorize the 2-note chords, try to add more notes to them, and you will get new sounds. 

But how to know which chord you are playing? Well, you can google tongue drum chords and their sequences, but that’s not what you should do at the beginning. Enjoy trial and error, explore, and you will discover a lot of wonderful sounds without guidance. Do the research and learn the chords with the notes only if you want to approach it academically or play with other musicians and understand them. It’s also a great option to take a course. There are quite many free and paid courses online, which would help you build coordination, learn rhythms, train your ears properly, play compositions, and more. 

Take Your Pace

Don’t try to obtain the whole universe at once. It will stress you out. Take some time every day, or when you feel like playing, and learn the techniques and sounds bit by bit. This instrument is quite simple, so you can really become a pro quite quickly. Peace!