I play Bodhran ... I'm self-taught only in that I didn't take any lessons. What I did do is listen to a lot of music, did some research, and watched a short video explaining the basic techniques.

As far as purchasing a Bodhran, you need to go for the sound, obviously, which is a dull tone. The muting and dampening, which is part of the sound, is done by the performer, but you still want to go for a dull sound. This means that the head should be fairly thick; thin and translucent heads will sound brighter. You'll also need to choose between a tacked head or a tuneable head. I prefer the tuneable head because I travel a lot, and need to be able to work with a wide variety of climates. This is especially important when I'm in the recording studio.

You also need to spend some time choosing the right tipper ... the stick used to play the Bodhran. If you don't know or understand the techniques, then it may be tough for you to choose a tipper that reacts the best for you. Plan on having to make a second purchase in the future.

I offer video correspondence lessons if you are interested, and create a custom lesson for you on how to play the Bodhran.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share a clip of a session I did playing Bodhran and Tambourine with a small chamber orchestra. The album was songs from the legendary Irish composer Turlough O-Carolan; fun project.  Incidentally, the arranger had my parts all notated, so nothing was improvised.

[stream=300,40]http://bartelliott.com/music/demo/MacDermotts.mp3[/stream]

I used to sell products, I'm a former drum shop owner, imported by Lark In The Morning. You are right; quality varies. I think they are a good resource however. I would go to the retail store and try out some of their Bodhrans. I have quite a few instruments that I've purchased from them over the years. Of the instruments I've chosen, I'm very happy with. I've seen and played on several Bodhrans that Lark also offers; some are okay while others are very nice.  Just go check them out and find one that you like, and that meets your budget. If you get really serious about Bodhran, you can always upgrade your instrument.

I have played the bodhran a little while now and I agree with everything that has been said. If you do live near the Lark in the Morning store that is a great place to go and try one out. You can also try different tippers there. I think finding the bodhran that has the sound and in your budget is important but the right tipper will make all the difference. Getting the right weight, feel, length that is the most comfortable in your hand. You may need more then 1, I have 3. While your there pick up a good video, watching and then practicing A LOT will get you there.

I have a tacked head and I keep a small spray bottle of water with me to help with tuning. The tunable one is self explanatory. Have fun it is a great instrument to learn !!

An old topic but one I can add my recent experiences , may help others.
I added to my drum gear recently a bodhran purchased online from Ireland's specialist (bowran) maker Roundstone Music who make full size and tunable, custom bodhrans for a crust.
http://www.bodhran.com

I have a background in Pipe Bands so have a little rhythm in there likes of waltz, 6/8, march time, etc which has been helpful. I am working slowly on the basic single time, double and triplet basics, needing to work on tempo, clarity and different rhythms  
View to still being able to play an instrument from hell when I get too old to cart a kit about  

I am using a great video from noted Irish musician Ray Gallen titled " A Bodhran Tutorial, Irish Heartbeat" found on EBay. It covers the basics shown from this master in an easy style and slowly, allowing the right technique can be absorbed. Does not take long to learn to play the drum, probally a lifetime to master it.
At the end of the day the way to get good one these is play them to Irish music and as to many rhythms as one can gather. At the moment I am just winging it but listening to some recordings to get some riffs. Like a lot of music sometimes less is more.


I got a bag of tippers with the drum, a couple I found o.k but still wasn't happy. I had a go at making one from a stick out of my garden, but in the end got an "E Notch - rosewood" one from www.besttippers.com and found it awesome to play with. The reason I like it is that it has a ergonomic mid section which makes grip easier, and better stick balance weight distribution makes tipping easy. Costly but worth it.


A 12 page instruction book with a history lesson and some good basic advice came with the drum. I had the drum customised, the makers wife is an artist and painted my name in Gaelic on it for me as requested, along with a nice hand painted pattern.
"Luchlag" = Mouse

I'm of the opinion as with drum kits if you play on good gear you tend to play better, not that some cheap gear can't be adjusted to sound nice, and often it is how the instrument is played, but reliability and performance factors come into it the equation for myself.
A problem I struck bringing it into the country (New Zealand) was with customs and immigration Dept who have an important role of biosecurity to stop unwanted pests arriving to our nice country. You can keep your snakes, cane toads, fire ants etc.
As the drum head is raw goatskin I had a choice of return it, destroy it, or have it sprayed with formalihyde (nasty chemical) to kill any unlikely pest that has travelled with it. I send my request to spray it along with a note saying "  I am a pest controller and musician, I could have done the job myself by beating any bugs out of it as I played". They have no sense of humour, cost me an extra 20 bucks to have it done, but at least I have my drum, the spray has not affected it at all. phew.
Had a mate who brought over an African drum and as it was two headed with no way to open and inspect it due to the tension ropes attached, customs cut a square hole in the top head to inspect it. Check with your authority if bringing in ethnic drums to your country first  

General use bodhrans are 18" but I opted for 16" thinking like on my kit, that smaller drums when tuned slightly flatter than normal give better punch and fattness (depends on style of playing perhaps), but because of drum size pitch, smaller drums still cut through ( some thing I picked up on a Jason Bonham video). The drum would then suit playing with playing with a solo badpipe (bagpipe  )  on stage situations which is a likely occurance for my decision to start this crazy game, to form a family band with niece on fiddle, brother on small pipes, wife on acoustic bass and myself, down the track.
The drum is very tunable as intructed in the book by dampening with water or heating with a hair dryer to give the drum some pitch. I have the drum reasonably dead as Bart suggested and it sounds great, but lacks volume, that could be my technique, so need to work on striking the drum properly for best clarity.
I made a ply box to store and carry it in which handy for resting the leg on when playing the drum and for storing spare tippers in, along with my Guinness towel  

As you can see it's winter here, I just went out to practice room and grabbed the drum for a pic, it's around 2 degrees outside, was hard to smile