do you use the quinto?

[boogie]

i see more and more people using 2 congas and a tumba or even just a conga and a tumba,what do you guys prefer and why?

[afrocubarico]

boogie,
I'm a quinto man myself. I love the sound of the quinto drum especially when played well tuned with a tumba on the right. For me the contrasting sound between a quinto and the tumba make a beautiful melody. I'll be adding a conga drum to my set really soon but I'll never stop playing my quinto.

afrocubarico

[CongaTick]

Have to agree with afrocubarico. Though the quinto is traditionally a solo instrument designed to "dance" within the established patterns, I love it's cracklin slaps.They do contrast and seem to cut through. I work quinto in center as my main drum tuned to give me contrast between opens and slaps, conga to the right, tumba to the left.

[congamyk]

This is an interesting subject and can be very contentious among some. I know one of my old skool heros Changuito claims that the quinto should only be used in rumba settings.

A new skool hero of mine is Tomas Cruz. I have been studying his instructional DVD series. He uses a quinto and tumba for all of the 2 drum patterns including guaguanco and all other folkloric rhythms. In the DVD his quinto is not tuned very high and it fits perfectly with the tumba in creating a melody in the patterns.

The quinto is easier to get a great slap out of and it really projects well when soloing. Alot of people love that sound when playing with a full band. The quinto gets alot of prominence in these scenarios.

I (right-handed player) use the quinto in the center with conga on the left and tumba on the right. I love to experiment and sometimes play conga (center) and 2 tumbas tuned differently with the right tumba very low and that get's a very deep and phat sound with the 3 drums.

I have come to realize that for me it is really about individual sound (tuning), the performance situation and personal preference. Tuning is key and melody is everything.

Here is an example of ZeusNYC playing a very melodic pattern on all 3 drums and me playing cascara and sax

Naima On The Street



Edited By congamyk on 1168716269

[JohnnyConga]

Nice CongaMyk...reminds me of the "loft" jams in New York I attended in the 70's....just drums and a horn or flute to boot..."JC" Johnny Conga...

[robert07]

I love playing with a Quinto. The sound is more complete with all three drums. I am looking to buy a super tumba to add to my collection.

[CongaTick]

Right on, congamyk. Taste rules and individuality of sound is the governeing rule, it seems. If it sounds right and drives the groove then I'm for it.

[SAM]

hi.

lovely music congamyk.this is what i like best PURE SOUND.

Love the slapes on the quinto for me one of the best sound .

ciao

[deadhead]

Quinto is always my lead drum, I've played around with the tumba and conga in different places, but the quinto is always in my lap.

[niallgregory]

surely its the tuning thats important and not the size of the drum or what name you put on it .You cant play salsa or son with a quinto tuned as it would in a rumba .It just ruins the music .Central tuning not too high or too low is the only way .I love hearing the sound of a quinto coming through as part of a multi drum set up ,but when its used as a main drum to play tumbau its just gets annoying TBH. Niall .

[Quinto Governor II]

For tumbao I use the conga and tumba. Advanced drummer can make both, a quinto and conga sound the same. I'm not that good. My mentor uses a quinto in his three drum setup ( C Q T ). I've been trying to use the quinto instead of the conga lately. Its starting to sound a little better. I'll have to analyze more closely what I'm doing. When I first use to use it for tumbao the open slap, which I not long ago began to achieve, sounded to high and the open tone had too much of a ring to it. I'm better at tuning it now , but think I may be subconsiously using a bit of a closed or mute technique to compensate for the higher pitch.

[Smejmoon]

Advanced drummer can make both, a quinto and conga sound the same.

If we talk about open tone: how one can make drums of different head diameters sound the same, without stretching the lowest one up?

There are tricks how you can get from lowest drum tones, that you can get from highest one, but how do one can get lower tone from quinto? Sounds like against laws of nature to me

[trickyricky]

Hey Conga Family!
When you folks use a quinto as your main drum, do you tune it like you would a conga? What I mean is: Do you use the old "here comes the bride" tuning between the tumba and the quinto? I know that tuning is a matter of preference, but do some of you tune the quinto to a 'C'? Do you have the conga tuning somewhere in between the tumba and quinto?

As always, thanks for your help
rick

[akdom]

I play on 3 drums using the quinto as the conga and the conga as the tumba..

I love the quinto in latin jazz and salsa...

B