congaplace.com

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:48 pm**

hello,

I'm thinking of buying a set of congas. I'm 13 years old and i'm quiet small, so my question is: you play congas with your hands, so does the size of your hands matters?

Also i'm not sure about wich congas to buy. I'm sure i'm gonna play them a lot and i do not want to start with a beginners set and buy a professional set after 2 years.
I was thinking of the Meinl Marathon professional series, but in the 'finest meinl topic' ABAKUA said heads are not good.
If you replace them, would they sound better? Or are there any others conga sets you would recommand???

thanks a lot !!,
wouter

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:38 pm**

size doesnt matter
go buy any conga and practice practice practiceeeeeeeeeeeee

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:57 pm**

thanks, but I don't think buying any conga would by a good idea (i could be wrong...)
what are the best professional congas for a low price?

Thanks

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:13 pm**

Well what I would recommend is either the Aspire model or the Caliente model Lp's for you. Small hands, big hands later, maybe...smile...size doesnt matter, but smaller hands seem to be better than "mitts"....WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY OF DRUMMERS......"JC" Johnny Conga...

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:20 pm**

Thanks
where can I find some information about the Caliente model?

thanks again:p

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:34 pm**

LP catalog...."JC" Johnny Conga....

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:55 pm**

costs 80 dollars to ship to belgium

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:25 pm**

Wouter=
Go get the $$$ and buy that drum. More important, enjoy the living daylights out of yourself while you're drumming. It's been working for me for almost fourty years!!! You can always make up with your family later.

Saludos,

Berimbau

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:49 pm**

yeah I'm wit JC..small hands don't matter...I got small "piano player" hands n it doesn't interfere with my playin.
ur hands will get bigger from hittin the drums anyways...just get ready for ALOTA congueros bitchin bout ur hand placement n position due to ur small hands without realizin it.....I still gotta put up with that...lol

Posted: **Wed Apr 05, 2006 10:18 pm**

Hey Wouter,
Welcome! I can tell you it does not matter at all! Your hands will do what they are meant to do in your own way and eventually in your own style. One of my teachers from Africa was a small and compact man with quite small hands - but the biggest and clearest sound you can imagine.

all the best
Pavlo

Posted: **Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:38 am**

It's not the size,, it's the motion....

:cool:

Posted: **Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:25 pm**

You shouldn't worry about your hands. Giovanni Hidalgo has short fat hands.........

The main thing here, is that you are very young. This is just great to be willing to learn any instrument at your age. If you want to play congas, play congas. Buy cheap congas at first. It doesn't really matter. Most of us started with poor equipment.
Now, talking about Meinl marathon series, I had a pair of these for many years. They are good quality (very strong) and I loved them. Of course they are not great, but affordable and you can change the head if the sound doesn't satisfy you.

I just bought a set of congas. My old ones were left behind after moving and I just sold them for 100 euros. A great, great bargain for the one who got them.
Anyway, my new set is composed of two very old fiberglass FP (finnish percussions) and a quinto LP Patao.
The sound I got out of this set is great. I changed the head on the quinto and put a thick one...... Man this sounds good.
The FP are great, and they sound very good too.
The whole set costed me 250 euros only!!!
All this to say that if you look around carefuly, you will find in belgium a set of cheap good congas.

So , please, buy some drums and play as much as you can. Put faith in it and you'll have tons of satisfaction and fun.

B

Posted: **Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:42 am**

Wouter, hello!
Welcome to this fenomenal and more than useful and caring forum!!!

JUST DO IT and BUY THE DRUM!
I agree with the guys about the hands... When I saw Giovanni's hands I started to believe that smaller hands can be better

My first drums were Cosmic Percussion bongos, total crap but they were good for start, cause when I played Matadors after a half a year, i thought that I'm some serious bongosero

Anyway, the difference between begginers and profesional series of drums are almost minimal... I advise that you try to get those 100 -200 euros or even less and buy second hand professional drums, like Akdom advised too. You'll get better and long lasting drums that you'll be able to take care of them and later change the heads if necessary...

Two years ago i met a nice guy in Brussels that is a trainer for teachers in schools and he's a djembe teacher. He's name is Jan Van Dijck and his e-mail address is:

janvandijck@leerlingenparticipatie.be

tel.num.: 02/505 60 50

Contact him if you are near Brussels or just ask him if he can arrange a teacher or just gives you more info about buying a drum min Belgium!

Hope this helps infos will help you!!!

Groove On and tell us what is going to happen!

Good luck!

Primozz

Posted: **Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:56 am**

Anyway, the difference between begginers and profesional series of drums are almost minimal... I advise that you try to get those 100 -200 euros or even less and buy second hand professional drums, like Akdom advised too. You'll get better and long lasting drums that you'll be able to take care of them and later change the heads if necessary...[quote]

I am reffering in cost difference of course...

Primozz

Posted: **Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:57 am**

LOOK IN EBAY I'VE SEEN SOME CALIENTES THERE FOR A GOOD PRICE

congaplace.com

can you play congas if you have got small hands