How to Play the Pandeiro

The important thing to remember when learning Pandeiro or any other new coordinated physical movement is patience.

It will ALWAYS feel awkward at the start of the learning curve. This discourages many people right away from learning any new instruments or languages.

They see how effortlessly other people can do it, they feel how awkward it is for them to do it, and they think, “I must not have it in me.” This is just a wrong assumption to make..

Every single professional musician you see out there started with the same awkward feeling. No one just picks up a guitar for the first time and naturally knows what to do with it.

Of course, some learn faster than others. But skill is always going to be most dependent on practice.

When I first picked up the Pandeiro, it was super awkward. But I just kept doing the simple drills I outline in this video.

On the verge of giving up, I just picked it up one day and miraculously could play all of a sudden.

So if you practice something for hours and still can’t get it, be patient and wait until your brain has recuperated. Before you know it, everything will feel as natural as walking.

You will NOT be able to make all the sounds and sing all the songs on your first day of studying the lesson materials. If you do the drills and you give it a few days, you will make a lot of progress.

In my experience, you can pick up the Mimic Ability in under three weeks of practice.

So like my violin teacher always told me: PRACTICE!