Strike the top edge of the front plate for the crisp slap, a hand lower for the tone, the middle for the deep bass. Every stroke is a recording of a real cajón in three strengths. Start a groove, switch off its cajón line and play it yourself: the grid shows which strokes land in time.
The cajón is played with bare hands on a thin plate of wood. This one is recorded, not synthesized, so every stroke sounds like the box it came from.
Like on the real instrument, the sound depends on where your hand lands. The top edge and its corners give the slap, where the loose plate cracks against the frame. A hand lower gives the tone. The middle gives the bass, the air inside the box pushed out through the sound hole at the back.
Bass, tone and slap are recordings of a real cajón from the Versilian Community Sample Library, released in the public domain under CC0. Each stroke was recorded at three strengths and twice, and the two takes alternate so a fast roll never sounds like a machine gun. Pen and touch pressure pick the strength.
Between the main strokes, cajón players keep the time with soft fingertip taps. Hold Shift while you strike, or press V or comma, for a ghost note. The Backbeat groove shows where they go: between the bass and the slap.
Many cajones built for flamenco and pop carry guitar strings or snare wires behind the plate, which buzz on every stroke. The traditional Peruvian cajón has none. Switch the wires off for a drier, woodier sound, close to the boxes of the Peruvian coast.
Backbeat turns the cajón into a drum kit, Rumba feel groups its accents three, three and two, Six-eight roll and Shuffle swing in twelve-eight. A shaker plays along, with hand claps, a cowbell or the long rattle of a jawbone, all recorded too.
Press My cajón part: the groove keeps going without its cajón and waits for you. Each stroke you play lights its step on the grid, teal when it lands in time on the right stroke, red when it does not, and a counter keeps the score.
Strike the middle of the front plate, or press Z: the deepest sound of the box.
Strike a hand lower than the top edge for the tone, on the edge or a corner for the slap; on the keyboard, X and C.
Press Play the groove and follow the grid: bass on one and three, slap on two and four.
Press My cajón part and play the cajón line yourself; the counter shows how many strokes land in time.
| Type | Cajón (box drum from Peru), playable on this page, free |
|---|---|
| Strokes | Bass (middle), tone (upper part), slap (top edge and corners), ghost note (Shift, V or comma) |
| Sound | Recordings from the Versilian Community Sample Library, CC0: 3 strengths and 2 takes per stroke, one 165 KB file |
| Snare wires | On (buzzing, flamenco and pop) or off (drier, closer to the Peruvian cajón) |
| Grooves | Backbeat, Rumba feel (4/4); Six-eight roll, Shuffle (12/8); GOONS originals |
| Parts | Cajón, shaker, and claps, cowbell or jawbone; the cajón line can be muted and played by you |
| Tempo | 60 to 180 BPM |
| Keyboard | Z X C V or B N M and comma (bass, tone, slap, ghost); mouse, touch and pen with pressure |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari |
The cajón, Spanish for "big box", is a wooden box you sit on and play with your hands on its front plate, the tapa, a thin sheet of plywood. A round sound hole is cut in the back. It was born on the Pacific coast of Peru among Afro-Peruvians in the time of slavery, was widely played by the middle of the nineteenth century, and became the heart of Afro-Peruvian music. In 2001 Peru's National Institute of Culture declared it part of the nation's cultural heritage.
In 1977 the flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía heard the cajón in Lima and brought one home to Spain. Flamenco adopted it within a few years, often with strings or wires inside for extra snap, and from there it spread to acoustic pop, folk and street music all over the world. Today it is often the whole drum kit of an unplugged band: bass for the kick, slap for the snare.
Try the djembe of West Africa, with the same three strokes on a goatskin, or the darbouka and its Arabic rhythms. The pan flute of the Andes is Peru's other voice, and every instrument waits on the world music studio map.
Yes. The cajón at the top of this page is free, with no account and nothing to install. It runs in your browser with the Web Audio API and loads a single 165 KB sound file.
Yes. Bass, tone and slap are recordings of a real cajón from the Versilian Community Sample Library, released under CC0, at three strengths with two takes each. The shaker, claps, cowbell and jawbone come from the same library. If the file cannot load, a synthesized cajón plays instead.
Hold Shift while you strike the plate, or press V (or comma). A ghost note is a soft fingertip tap that keeps the time between the louder strokes.
The recorded cajón has wires behind the plate that buzz after each stroke, as on most cajones for flamenco and pop. Switching them off filters the buzz and shortens the ring, for a drier sound closer to the traditional Peruvian cajón, which has no wires.
No. The four grooves are originals written by GOONS for practising the strokes and the feel of 4/4 and 12/8. Six-eight roll takes its lilt from the music of the Peruvian coast but does not reproduce a traditional rhythm such as the festejo or the landó.
The cajón is free, with no account. GOONS Studio adds a looper, synths, drum machines and a sequencer that play together - free for 7 days, no card required.
Free on this page, no account. Play the online djembe →