Buying Your First Didgeridoo Online: A Learner’s Starting Point

Most people learning the didgeridoo reach the same moment sooner or later: it is time to get an instrument of your own. If you live near a didgeridoo shop you can pick instruments up, play them and compare. Many learners do not, and buying online raises an obvious question: how do you choose something you cannot try? This short introduction to the Didgeridoo Buyers Guide, presented by Ben from Didgeridoo Breath, sets up a free video series built to answer exactly that.

What you miss when you cannot visit a shop

Ben makes the point that in the shop you get to be tactile with the instruments: you can hold them, smell the timber and have a play. Online, all of that is gone. For a learner this matters, because you are not yet sure what feels right under your lips or which sound you will enjoy living with. The buyers guide series exists to nut out the differences between didgeridoos and explain what each difference means for you as a player.

What the series covers

The guide works through the features that make one didgeridoo different from another. The episodes include:

• The bell end, the far end of the instrument where the sound comes out.
• The length, and how it affects the note and how fast your lips need to vibrate.
• The mouthpiece, the part your lips actually touch.
• The note or key, the pitch of the drone each instrument produces.

You can watch them in order or jump to the topic you are unsure about. The full series and detailed notes are on our Didgeridoo Buyers Guide page, and the whole series is free.

A learner's checklist before you buy

While the later episodes go into detail, a few principles from the series are worth keeping in mind from the start.

• Avoid the extremes for your first instrument. The advice in the length episode is not to go for the very deepest or the very highest when starting out. Somewhere in the middle is easier to learn on.
• Use your ears, even online. In the note and key episode, Ben suggests listening to the sound file next to each instrument to get a feel for whether it is deep or high, rather than worrying about musical terms.
• Remember that each one is unique. A natural didgeridoo is shaped by the tree it grew from and the termites that hollowed it. Two instruments that look similar can sound quite different.
• Do not stress about the mouthpiece. Beeswax mouthpieces can be reshaped, so comfort can be adjusted after you buy.

Your instrument and your progress

Choosing well does not mean finding a perfect instrument. It means finding one that suits where you are as a player, so you spend your practice time building skills rather than fighting the didgeridoo. Watching the buyers guide before you buy is one of the easiest ways to make that choice with confidence.

Once your didgeridoo arrives, you will want a clear path for learning to play it. Our beginner didgeridoo lessons start with the basic drone and build from there, so your new instrument gets put to good use straight away.