congaplace.com

Just joined, thought I'd say hi. I'm from the Midlands of England, 64 years old. 44 years playing drum-set,rock,pop,jazz & cabaret. Latin music was always in interest on a small scale as being busy on traps and holding down day jobs left little time, plus little opportunity in rural Egland. Over the years overdubs required me to use latin instruments so over a long period of time I aquired some(!) technique and largly improvised some "homemade" rhythms esp on congas. More recent years have seen me give more respect to the traditions and have learnt about clave, tumbao, cascara,bell patterns, martillo etc now learning left hand clave, left foot clave, 6/8, guaguanco and mozambique. I did have some lessons from a couple of players but mostly books,(Tito Puente, Bergar Sulsbrook & others) CDs and lately Youtube,so I'm still on the bottom rungs but enjoying the ride. after all the years,projects and bands, as you would suspect, I've collected quite an arsenal of instruments, mainly Sonor congas (x3), Sonor bongos, Pearl timbales and several bags of bells,blocks,shakers and effects.
i would guess that this site is USA based and many of you profesional players, I look forward to any help you guys can offer by way of knowledge which I'm still hungry for even at my age!!

Hi there and a warm welcome to this forum which really offers a load of useful information, shared experience and helpful advice.
I guess many here are US-based, yes, but not everybody is a professional conga player. At least not me
For the last 10 years I have gained so many insights into Afro-Cuban and other musical culture, got support with my refurb projects and had fun discussing percussion matters with everybody, and my background has consisted of 20 years non-Latin immersion, but mainly jazz and rock (I was a trap drummer like you too). So 25 years later it is for the mature now to know what´s really good
Seriously, for the last 20 years, I have jumped onto the Latin train and will never let go...
I am sure you will also find it highly addictive here...

I believe this site is Italian based with input worldwide.
Welcome

24 hours in and my thanks to Mike and Derbeno for stopping by. Due to a severly sprained ankle three weeks ago conga practice has increased!!!

welcome to the forum mate . Hope your not out rioting Some crazy stuff going on in the uk !

niallgregory wrote:welcome to the forum mate . Hope your not out rioting Some crazy stuff going on in the uk !

Hi, no safely tucked away in south Staffs and 30 miles from Birmingham!

Do you know an ol friend of mine Jody Linscott? or Snowboy?...JC Johnny Conga

Hi JC, thanks for stopping by. No, I dont know Jody or Snowboy personally, I'm pretty much the local guy out in the sticks, although I do know their names and are aware of their talent. Snowboy is renowned and has a varied career like DJing, Jody is a very busy lady with credits a mile long and appearances in movies but not a household name, a depressing symptom of UK tastes (celebrity culture) Latin music in general is not well served in the UK, there are pockets of activity here and there and I like to think a growing interest, but a lot of it is London based and I'm a 130 or so miles away. We have other prominent percussionists like Pete Lockett, Robin Jones and Ray Cooper. I'm sure there are many others I'm unaware of but this country's tastes being what they are have a lower profile. I should also mention my friend and sometime tutor Eddie Mcguire, conga and timbale player, formally of Viva Santana and who is involved in several projects around the Birmingham area, my closest major city. Hope's he's OK, as nialgregory said, crazy stuff going off in the UK right now.
I hope to catch up with some of your stuff on here, you seem to be the go to guy for deep knowledge.

Warmest Regards,

Graham.

Welcome aboard Graham! A good friend of mine lives in London, Will Fry, hell of a conguero & overall percussionist, check him out if you get a chance.

All the best,

Marcelo.

ABAKUA wrote:Welcome aboard Graham! A good friend of mine lives in London, Will Fry, hell of a conguero & overall percussionist, check him out if you get a chance.

All the best,

Marcelo.

Will do and Hi!

gdrumfoot wrote:

ABAKUA wrote:Welcome aboard Graham! A good friend of mine lives in London, Will Fry, hell of a conguero & overall percussionist, check him out if you get a chance.

All the best,

Marcelo.

Will do and Hi!

Had a quick look look, quite a pedigree! Will listen when more time, thanks for the intro.

Another good friend of mine is David Pattman...great all round Percussionist..Of course I have heard of Robin Jones and Pete Lockett...been around for a long time...Im sorry to see the upheaval in England..WE wish you all the best and safety...

CAN ANY KIND CONGER FORUM MEMBERS POST EASY HOW TO POST A PICTURE ON A POST, I SEE NO ADD ATTACHMENTS SECTION WHEN I POST???..........PLEASE

EASY STEP BY STEP

Mr. Conga wrote:CAN ANY KIND CONGER FORUM MEMBERS POST EASY HOW TO POST A PICTURE ON A POST, I SEE NO ADD ATTACHMENTS SECTION WHEN I POST???..........PLEASE

EASY STEP BY STEP

If you write a post, or answer an already existing post,
just scroll down a few inches, then you see "Options" and right next
to it it says "Upload attachment". Click that one and now, search for the
file you want and upload a picture from your local harddrive or USB disk by
clicking "Add the file". Then your attachment is posted when you submit your post.
There is the option to "place (the pic) inline" if you want to integrate it into your text.

Done!