*************
Dhol
Sounds
“Bhangra
is to music what spices are to food: It creates flavor.”
This quick write-up will
help musicians globally in incorporating the great “Bhangra” sound to their
music. This write up is based on what I have learnt after watching videos by youtube
user “Howtoplaydhol” whose website and videos are a good source to learn dhol,
and will be referenced here.
ð Basic Dhol sounds:
The two sticks used to
produce sound with a Dhol, namely Dagga (Bass stick) and Tilla (Treble stick)
produce their own distinct sounds, as well as a couple of combination sounds.
Here’s the list:
a)
Dagga Sounds: (All eighth notes)
1. Ge
(Main bass sound)
2. Gir
(Muted bass sound) [The name Gir may not be technically correct, but if you
watch the videos on the same you will know]
3. Click
Sound (Produced by hitting the drum with the bass stick, either at the edge of
the bass end, or anywhere along the length of the drum, i.e. not on the skin)
b)
Tilla Sounds: (All eighth notes)
1. Na
(Treble sound produced by hitting the outer portion of the treble skin) Na-Na
is the sixteenth note combination.
2. Ghir-Ghira
or Ghira (Treble sound produced by hitting the middle portion of the treble
skin, while you use your fingers to press the middle part of the stick to the
skin, thus giving a double sound)
c)
Combination sounds: (All eighth notes)
1. Dha
(When you make Ge and Na sounds together, i.e. at the same time)
2. Kin
(When you make Ghir and Na sounds together, i.e. at the same time)
ð Basic Dhol rhythm:
The
basic dhol rhythm that you will hear in Bhangra songs, much like the 4/4 beat
of house music, is called “Chaal”. The basic “Chaal” notes pattern is:
Dha
Na Na Na Na Dha Dha Dha Na (Eighth notes)
This
pattern is repeated over and over, and variations can be used.
ð Other Dhol rhythms:
In addition to Chaal,
there are some other rhythm patters that can be used:
1.
Dhamal
2.
Gidha or Lehriya
3.
Bhangra
4.
Mummy-Daddy (According to “Howtoplaydhol”
this should be the first one to be mastered as it helps develop hand co-ordination)
5.
Jhummer
6.
Haripa
7.
Laggi (Continuous playing of a pattern
of strokes)
8.
Sami
The patterns and
variations for these can be had from “Howtoplaydhol” videos, and via his
website mailing list. I am not promoting him, but it’s my gratitude to the
efforts of this guy for making Dhol so simple.
ð Dhol fills:
Three kinds of Dhol
fills are used to introduce Dhol rhythm, to break up the monotony of the Dhol
rhythm, and to close the rhythm. Which one you choose will depend upon the song you
are playing to, that is, your expertise with the rhythms. The fills are of
three types:
1.
Breaks and Thoras (e.g. Na Rest Dha Na
Dha Na Dha Rest)
2.
Rolls (e.g. Ge Na Ge Na Ge Na Na)
3.
Tirkit (which is, in sixteenth notes, Na
Na Ge Na, but is played with Take, which is, again in sixteenth notes, Na Ge.
An example of the pattern would be Dha Dha Tirkit Dha Take Tirkit)
Once again, variations
can be created.
ð How to create
variations:
Generally variations
are created by replacing Dha at the beginning of a loop with a Na or Kin when
the loop is repeated, or replacing Na with Dha towards the end of the loop, in
alternate fashion, if it connects well with another Dha at the beginning of the
repeat, or with another Dha in the original loop. However, if it sounds
musically good, any sound can replace any other sound anywhere, as long as the
pattern is going to be repeated as a rhythm, or is a Dhol fill.
This is a very basic
article which I have written to simplify “Dhol”. The best suggestion I can give
is to go and watch “Howtoplaydhol” videos, and possibly subscribe to his
website newsletter.
Fatal Urge Carefree
Kiss “Amanpreet Singh Rai”
*************
No comments:
Post a Comment