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Hi, glad I found this forum. I am a beginner from the UK. I have a couple of kpanlogo drums from Ghana but want to move on to learning conga technique and feel I need some congas as the kpanlogos are a little inconsistent. I'm thinking of LP Matadors, Pearl Elites or Meinl Louis Conte (something around that price range) but there don't seem to be many shops in the UK that you can try these things. Does anyone know any shops (around the London area) where I can try congas? Alternatively any good leads for 2nd hand congas apart from eBay (which I scan daily). I'm thinking of buying just 1 conga drum to start with. Any advice or links gratefully received.

Hi Mate welcome to the forum .I have recommended the meinl luis conte congas to lots of students in the past .Imo you cant go wrong with them for the price and the heads are always good quality . Thomman.de sell them at a seriously low price including delivery etc .Have bought from them in the past , very efficent and trustworthy . Niall ..

niallgregory wrote:Hi Mate welcome to the forum .I have recommended the meinl luis conte congas to lots of students in the past .Imo you cant go wrong with them for the price and the heads are always good quality . Thomman.de sell them at a seriously low price including delivery etc .Have bought from them in the past , very efficent and trustworthy . Niall ..

Yes, they do look good and are a good price. I've been a little put off by reports of excessive ringing. However, I'm aware that there is a video on Youtube about this problem so it may have been blown out of proportion by web search engines. I would like to try before I buy but that doesn't seem possible in the UK without excessive travelling.

I like my Meinl LC's... they were a bit ringy with stock water buffalo heads, but I'd say less so than my matadors were with stock heads. I've since mounted L&H mules on them, which of course improved the sound. Still a decent amount of sustain, but a much nicer sound. I also like the shape of them, with the high bellies.

So I got a Luis Conte conga. Sounds fine to me. I was a bit worried about the trad rims but they are low enough not to get in the way. Just need to work out what to do with my thumbs now as they seem to flap around randomly. Looking at the Tomas Cruz video on Volume 1 he seems to keep his thumb tucked in very close to the hand. He also seems to have either much longer fingers than me, or a very short thumb.
Thanks for the advice guys. I may get a tumba in the future when I've got some ability on the single conga.

Good luck on our new pursuit. It will bring you nothing but joy. Don't get too overly concerned about your thumb, you will get it right in the end as long as you do not cock it up and put strain on your hand. Your entire hand should be relaxed all the way.

Check out Michael Spiro's beginner's guide, he briefly talks about that dreaded thumb.

http://www.shermusic.com/new/242169.shtml

Cheers!

Hi kpanlogo,
on thumbs:
It isn't possible to always hold your thumbs rigidly out of the way as I'm sure you know so I try to hold them in a relaxed attitude, somewhat lifted but not so tense that the shape of the rest of my hand changes. As my hands got conditioned to it they got more fixed in that position without being tense.

Also, I try to play my open tone further towards the centre of the drum than many people might advise, with the bearing edge more towards my palm. This helps keep the thumb out of the way and I find a better sound there as well.

Also (2), I strive to play from the wrist and it stands to reason to me that my thumb doesn't travel as fast, far or as forcefully when the pivot is at my wrist, as it would if the pivot was at my elbow.

Also (3), I play on top, wrist above the bearing edge. That helps too.

Drums, hands, techniques, advice etc may differ widely but this is my experience as a relative noob with no thumb trouble.

I'm in uk too, as are others here.