Didgeridoo notes: high, mid or low, which one to choose?

Video in French

F#, E, D, C, B… When you’re looking for a new didgeridoo, the question of the note comes up very quickly. But how do you know which one suits you? To help you, I went to Greg’s, in the Didgeridoo Passion shop, and played one instrument after another, from the highest to the lowest, so you can hear the difference for yourself. (Listen: Interview with Grégory Zwingelstein, founder of Didgeridoo Passion, podcast in French)

An important note: this article is mostly for those who already play and would like to move up a range. If you’re a beginner, I’d rather advise you to start with a didgeridoo under €100: it gives you time to see whether you enjoy the instrument, whether you have the feeling. There will always be time, later, to put money into a better instrument! (Read also: What didgeridoo should I buy to start with?)

You’ll see, there aren’t that many criteria in the end. Of course there’s a lot of subtlety in each of them, but the big choices are made above all according to your style and what you’re looking for. Let’s go!

First question: what do you want to play?

This is the very first question to ask yourself, because it will guide your choice. To take an extreme example: traditional didgeridoos (which are actually called yidaki or mago, depending on their shape) are made for playing traditional style. And in the same way, there are different types of instruments for different styles.

So, what do you like to play? What do you like to listen to on the didgeridoo?

• rather rhythmic playing, a didgeridoo that really kicks, very fast, with well-marked “toc” sounds?
• or a calmer style, with inflated cheeks and more roundness?

Of course, you can also play fast with inflated cheeks, but the feeling won’t be the same at all. That’s actually the whole point of my course “Au cœur du rythme”: breathing is at the heart of rhythm, and it’s what defines the way you play.

All the notes fit within one octave

Almost all the didgeridoo notes you’ll find, at Didgeridoo Passion or elsewhere, fit within a single octave: from high G to low A. Some instruments go lower, but it’s really very rare. On the day of the shoot, there wasn’t a single low A for sale! High G is also extremely rare. Most of the time, the range goes from F# to B-flat.

For the video, I picked the instruments only for their note, not for their character. Some notes are more or less in tune, but it will give you a good overall idea, from the highest to the lowest.

To see more clearly, these notes can be sorted into three families: high, mid-range and low. (Read also: What note to choose when starting to play the didgeridoo?)

F – F# – G: high notes, dynamism above all

With an F#, you switch to mosquito mode! The didgeridoo sounds very high, the vibration is fast: these are very, very dynamic instruments. The F is already much longer. Indeed, as a general rule, the lower you go, the longer the didgeridoo (even if that’s not always true, I’ll come back to it).

These notes are rather unusual. They were more sought after some fifteen years ago, when players really wanted to play fast and loud. They are played less today, because the higher you go, the less forgiving it is, and the harder it is to find a didgeridoo that really sounds good.

E – E-flat – D – C#: mid-range notes, between roundness and dynamism

Mid-range notes sit between the high and the low ones, from E to C# or so.

• E immediately sounds much rounder, much less dry than the high notes.
• E-flat (or D#, it’s the same thing) starts getting lower. We’re not in the low notes yet, but the drone already takes on a little more roundness.
• D is lower still. The one in the video starts very narrow and then flares out, and it’s very long for a D. It sounds drier, but keeps some roundness: slowly but surely, we’re getting closer to the low notes.
• C#, a semitone lower, is already really round.

Be careful though: the note isn’t everything. The air column also has a huge effect on the sound, as we’ll see further down.

Also keep in mind that these families are very relative. Some players play much lower didgeridoos and consider that a C is nothing like a low note… it’s almost a high note for them! These categories are just there to give you the broad outlines, based on the most common instruments.

C – B – B-flat: low notes, a round and warm sound

With the C, the sound becomes really round, warm, very soft. And the B was the lowest I found that day.

As a general rule, the lower you go, the less backpressure there is. Backpressure is the resistance of your instrument’s air column. Players love it because, in theory, the more there is, the less air the instrument uses. (Read also: Backpressure and the didgeridoo: what if we’re focusing on the wrong debate?)

So a low didgeridoo potentially uses more air, which invites you to play more slowly, less dynamically and more calmly. That’s the logic of things: lower = less backpressure = softer, calmer playing.

But it’s not a universal truth! You can perfectly well play very strong rhythms on a low didgeridoo, and calm playing on a high one. Personally, I think a low didgeridoo played in a very rhythmic way is beautiful. And conversely, an F played calmly can be very pretty too (as long as it’s extremely well played!).

So, which note should you choose?

At the end of the video, I play the B and then the F# again: they are almost the two opposite ends of the spectrum, with two really different characters. It’s up to you to decide whether you want something rounder or more dynamic.

• Do you play on your own? There’s no precise criterion: just ask yourself whether you want something punchy and dynamic (rather high), or calm (rather low, around C and B).
• Do you play with other musicians? Ask them which key would suit your project best. And chances are you’ll need several notes to adapt to the pieces.

Next step: the character of the instrument, in other words how to find your way within one and the same note. Because for a single note, you can find three, four, five didgeridoos with completely different characters! (Read also: Cylindrical or conical didgeridoo: which one to choose?)

And you, high or low? Which note do you play? Feel free to share your experience or ask your questions in the comments!