Det_Nosnip
03-25-2006, 07:52 PM
Alright, this thread is dedicated to the conga players (if there are any...?) on MX. So, if you play congas, or are interested in getting a set one day, this is the place for you! The conga was actually the first percussion instrument that I got into after starting as a drumset player. I own a Schalloch tumba and conga set that I got off of musiciansfriend...actually pretty good drums for the price I paid.
Recently, I picked up a Korg KDM-2 Metronome which supports, among other things, clave. I've gotta say...playing even a simple tumbao under a clave is pretty damn tough! I'd highly recommend that anyone who is looking to play latin music, especially with other musicians, find some way of practicing to a clave.
Another thing that I was messing around with today comes from drumset ideas that my teacher has had me doing using the book "Syncopation" by Ted Reed. Basically what he was having me do was to play the written 8th note melodies in swung time, accenting the notes displayed and diddling the rest. So, to take a simple example, if the rhythm was just straight quarter notes, you would accent the first note of each triplet, and diddle the second and third.
Anyways, today I was practicing on my congas and I thought about applying these techniques to the conga. Instead of diddling the unaccented notes, I played heel/toe. Instead of accenting the rhythm, I played slaps (and then went through again playing open tones). So, again with the previous example, if the rhythm read as straight quarter notes, the pattern would read like this:
|1-t-l-2-t-l-3-t-l-4-t-l-|
|S-hthtS-hthtS-hthtS-htht|
|R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-|
Taking the concept even further, I decided to try playing both slaps and open tones. Based upon another syncopation exercise my teacher gave me (he's obsessed with the book) in which 8th notes were played on the snare and quarter notes were played on the bass drum, I decided to play all of the quarters as open tones and 8th notes as slaps. This is a really hard concept to explain without having examples ready from the book...let's say that the rhythm was like this:
1+2+3+4+
O-OO-O-O
Written in standard drum notation, that would be a quarter note followed by an 8th note, quarter note, and finally an 8th note. So, converted to swing and on a conga, it would look like this:
|1-t-l-2-t-l-3-t-l-4-t-l-|
|O-hthtS-htO-hthtO-hthtS-|
|R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-|
Again, this is really difficult concept to explain, but it's great for generating ideas and getting your hands moving. I'll see if I can record some video of it later, if that will make it easier to understand.
Recently, I picked up a Korg KDM-2 Metronome which supports, among other things, clave. I've gotta say...playing even a simple tumbao under a clave is pretty damn tough! I'd highly recommend that anyone who is looking to play latin music, especially with other musicians, find some way of practicing to a clave.
Another thing that I was messing around with today comes from drumset ideas that my teacher has had me doing using the book "Syncopation" by Ted Reed. Basically what he was having me do was to play the written 8th note melodies in swung time, accenting the notes displayed and diddling the rest. So, to take a simple example, if the rhythm was just straight quarter notes, you would accent the first note of each triplet, and diddle the second and third.
Anyways, today I was practicing on my congas and I thought about applying these techniques to the conga. Instead of diddling the unaccented notes, I played heel/toe. Instead of accenting the rhythm, I played slaps (and then went through again playing open tones). So, again with the previous example, if the rhythm read as straight quarter notes, the pattern would read like this:
|1-t-l-2-t-l-3-t-l-4-t-l-|
|S-hthtS-hthtS-hthtS-htht|
|R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-|
Taking the concept even further, I decided to try playing both slaps and open tones. Based upon another syncopation exercise my teacher gave me (he's obsessed with the book) in which 8th notes were played on the snare and quarter notes were played on the bass drum, I decided to play all of the quarters as open tones and 8th notes as slaps. This is a really hard concept to explain without having examples ready from the book...let's say that the rhythm was like this:
1+2+3+4+
O-OO-O-O
Written in standard drum notation, that would be a quarter note followed by an 8th note, quarter note, and finally an 8th note. So, converted to swing and on a conga, it would look like this:
|1-t-l-2-t-l-3-t-l-4-t-l-|
|O-hthtS-htO-hthtO-hthtS-|
|R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-R-L-|
Again, this is really difficult concept to explain, but it's great for generating ideas and getting your hands moving. I'll see if I can record some video of it later, if that will make it easier to understand.