bongas vs congas

[CJ]

I would like to know is bongas better than congas and is bongas easy to play?

[benbaboon]

assuming that by bongas you mean bongos.....
Not quite about the qualitative comparison here.... is a fork better than a spoon? yes, if you're eating an omlette, but no if you're eating soup.... both instruments are great and both have their place...


The traditional thinking is that congas are easier and that it's better starting with the congas.... there are many simple conga rhythms that one is able to enjoy early on... while the bongos are primarily a solo instrument and much harder to get started on.

gotta walk before you can run... and gotta know where's the downbeat before you can master syncopation....
but of course if you wanted to play'em a la grateful dead it's a whole different story....

good luck
-bb

(Edited by benbaboon at 7:45 am on Dec. 31, 2001)


(Edited by benbaboon at 10:13 am on Dec. 31, 2001)

[JohnnyConga]

I couldn't have put it any better.......Update on Daniel Ponce I was jammin with him on friday night,then after he saw me and we embraced he split. I think he is still carrying the memory of my band backing him up and him not being able to perform with my band. He played some quinto and sang a little rumba from one of his albums and split....He seemed to be in OK condition,just a bit estranged from everyone.......HAPPY NEW YEAR MY DRUM BROTHERS AND SISTERS......JC JOHNNY CONGA.....

[Bongo Boy]

I bought my first bongo in August of last year, and my only conga in late December of last year--so I clearly not qualified to answer squat. BUT, I'm perfectly qualified to have an opinion!

I personally find bongo easier to get tone from and to do very satisfying improvisation on. Of course, I'm soloing when I do this, so there's very little discipline and it's not something that would fit to music of any kind. But it's incredible fun.

Once I got the conga, I started spending 90% of my time with it--mind you, I've been at it for a grand total of 3 weeks! When I feel I've reached some sort of limit in conga practice for a day, I pull out the bongo, tune 'em up and practice martillo and variations, etc. It's nice to have something that responds so effortlessly, relative to the conga.

So perhaps other than due to budget, there's no reason I can think of to choose between them. Just a thought. Oh, you asked about ease of play--I was very rudely awakened when I started on bongo. Based on my experience so far, I'd say it's like almost everything in life: it may be easy to get as good as half or two-thirds of the players out there, but to get as good as the top third or top 20%...well, as Johnny do say, "It's a looooooooooooong road."



Edited By Bongo Boy on Jan. 24 2002 at 04:14