Cajon Drums, Cajons, Cajones, Flamenco Rhythm Boxes and Percussion Beat Box for all kinds of music, Patric Oliver Percussion!

Learn the Basics here:

As percussion instruments go, the cajon is comparatively easy to play, no matter how you hit it, it almost always produces at least a decent sound. However, knowing exactly where to play the different sounds, and a little hand technique go a long way towards getting really good sounds that have power and projection - and help to prevent injury (it is after all a piece of wood you're hitting).

Demonstrated on the POPercussion Flamenco Box, here are a few basics:

Bass 'Fat'
Hit the soundboard with the palm of your hand in the middle of the upper third of the box (guideline: your wrist approximately level with the upper edge of the box). Note how the hand is almost arched back, so you're really playing with the palm only. Let the hand come off the playing surface after the hit, don't rest it there (unless you want to muffle the sound). This will give you the biggest, "fattest" bass sound.

I use this mostly for Flamenco and all things Rock 'n' Roll, whenever there needs to be power and volume.

Bass 'Lite'
Make your hand into a slight "cup", and hit the soundboard in the bass-area (see above). This will give you a slightly "thinner" bass sound, although very punchy and just as powerful in its own way. As before, let your hand come off the board after the hit.

This is the type of bass mostly used in tradional Peruvian playing technique.

Snare
Hit the soundboard with your entire fingers just about in the middle between the center screws and the outside edge. This will give you a clear, full snare sound. The further out you go, the thinner the sound, the further in, the more it goes towards the bass. For best definition you want a nice, clean, and "snappy" sound.

Of course the snare only works with stringed cajon drums!

Corner
Hit the playing surface with the front part of your fingers all the way in the upper corners, producing a wood-on-wood ("clacking") sound. This can also be played with just one or two fingers, depending on the desired volume. I use this for lower volume, and also to mimick the drummer's "sidesticking" on a snare.

This is also the high-end sound used in cajons that do not have internal strings (like the POPercussion BasicBox), as well as in traditional Peruvian playing.

Since we are dealing with several sounds on one surface, the distinctions between the sounds are "flowing", meaning there are really no designated areas on the soundboard (the playing surface) in which only one particular sound occurs. My descriptions try to explain the areas where you can get the best sounds with the clearest separation between them, but - as with any drum - for each sound you'll always have to look for the "sweet spot", the spot where your particular drum sounds best.