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Have you found yourself infected by the beats of Afro-Cuban rhythms when listening to salsa or merengue music? If so, learning to play the conga drums may be an activity you'll enjoy. This guide is designed to teach you how to play conga for beginners.
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Have you found yourself infected by the beats of Afro-Cuban rhythms when listening to salsa or merengue music? If so, learning to play the conga drums may be an activity you'll enjoy. This guide is designed to teach you how to play conga for beginners.
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Introduction
- The conga are tall, cylindrical-shaped drums that narrow near the bottom. Believed to have originally been made from hollowed logs or discarded barrels, most modern conga are made from fiberglass. Conga beats are featured highly in Latin and Cuban and some types of reggae music, including salsa, merengue and traditional Cuban and African folk music. Although they are sometimes played with brushes or mallets, conga are usually played simply with the hands.
Step 1: Get Some Drums
- Your first step in learning to play the conga is to get yourself some drums. Conga drums are usually played in sets, consisting of a combination of three different sizes of drums that produce various pitches of sound. These three drums are listed below in order from the smallest and highest pitched to the largest and lowest pitch.
- The quinto
- The conga
- The tumba or tumbadora
- Some more advanced players may also add the larger supertumba and smaller requinto to their conga drum sets.
- Although you can choose to purchase a full set of conga, beginners will often choose to purchase one drum (usually a conga or quinto) when learning to play. If you find yourself enjoying the art of conga playing, you can then expand on your set.
- If you purchase more than one drum, you may also want to purchase a conga stand. If you are only working with one drum, however, you can simply rest it between your knees. Conga can be played while either sitting or standing, but those players that work with sets of two or more will often stand up and place their drums on specialized stands so they can move between the drums with ease.
Step 2: Get a Feel for the Beat
- In order to familiarize yourself with the different conga sounds and how the beats are used in music, listen to some conga players at work.
- Listen to some rumba, merengue or salsa music and dry to isolate the drum beats in the songs
- Try to get a feel for the beats by either tapping your foot on the ground or your tapping your fingers lightly on the drum head while listening
- Watch some video or live performances of conga players at work and observe how they practice their craft
- There are five hand strokes that conga players use to produce different sounds with their drums:
- Open tone
- Bass tone
- Closed slap
- Open slap
- Muffled stroke
- Familiarize yourself with the sounds these different strokes make and watch conga players' hands closely while they play to see how they alter their hand placement and motion to produce various tones.
Conclusion
- As is the case with learning to play any musical instrument, you should familiarize yourself with the basics of conga playing in order to learn the skills you will need to become an accomplished drummer. Once you know the basics, practicing regularly and continually trying new techniques will help you develop and improve on your skills.
Step 3: Learn and Practice
- Because conga are less common than the five piece drum sets used in most North American popular music, it may be difficult to find yourself a conga instructor depending on where you live. In order to learn the proper hand placements and movements, however, you will likely want to pursue some type of professional education in conga playing. If you can't find a professional conga instructor in your area, consider:
- Purchasing some instructional DVDs
- Watching or downloading instructional videos from the Internet
- Getting a book or collection of books about conga playing
- Once you have learned the basics of conga playing, you'll need to practice your techniques. As your playing improves, you can try adding more advanced techniques and more conga drums to your playing repertoire.
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