finger knocker for use with cajon?

[David Fass]

Hi.  New here, hope someone can help me.  Played a cajon recently and loved it.  Is there some kind of device that one can wear on the hand to simulate "wood block" or "side-stick" sound while playing?  I'm thinking that a thumb ring or something like that would facilitate getting this sound.  Is there such a thing, or does one need to resort to a foot pedal?  Thanks!

[Bart Elliott]

David,

You could wear a ring and use it to simulate the "wood block" or "cross-stick" sound while playing the cajon, but you will eventually tear up the wood on the cajon's playing surface doing that. I have tore up the playing surface just by curving one finger to play with the tip of the finger with the nail edge coming in contact with the wood surface. It sounds great, and gets the sound you are asking about, when played near the corner of the instrument. The problem — it tears up the cajon surface AND can cause you to split a finger nail.

Something that I do to achieve the sound you seem to want is to use my knuckle to knock up in a corner of the playing surface, or to use a marimba mallet with a rubber-ball end. The mallet works well in that it won't damage the instrument, and it doesn't hurt after many hours of playing... like my knuckle.

[David Fass]

Thanks very much.  I appreciate the info!