"Must Know" rhythms

[mangorockfish]

I am an extreme Newbie to playing congas. I've had a set for a few years, but never really learned like I wanted to or should have. Other than the tumbao, what other rhythms should I really work on and in what order should I learn them? Like I said in another post, I just play at home and maybe a couple of songs with some friends when they come over to jam. We mainly play 50s, 60s & early 70s rock-n-roll. I know I'll never be a GREAT conguero, just want to know my way around my instrument. Thanks

[vxla]

Tumbao rhythms you will want to know:

Cha-cha
Son
El Pilón
A Caballó
Songo
Guaracha
Dengue
Mozambique

You'll also want to know rumba rhythms [Guaguancó (Matanzas and Havana style), Abakua, etc], Columbia, Comparsa, Guarapachangueo, etc.

[jorge]

... Like I said in another post, I just play at home and maybe a couple of songs with some friends when they come over to jam. We mainly play 50s, 60s & early 70s rock-n-roll. I know I'll never be a GREAT conguero, just want to know my way around my instrument. Thanks

Assuming 70s rock includes Santana, Mandrill, Earth Wind & Fire, and other fusion and R&B styles, you want to know a few basic rhythms on congas. For now,forget learning rumba, guarapachangueo, songo etc, you may decide to learn those later.
First learn how to hit the conga so you can get a clear tone and a clear bass with each hand. Then start working on your slaps, which usually take a few weeks to get, a few years to play consistently well and many years to really master. Get a metronome and learn to play the downbeat with a stick on a table or chair so precisely that even playing soft you can extinguish every single metronome beat. I highly recommend getting a teacher to at least occasionally critique your playing and make sure you are not developing bad habits or hitting in a way that can cause injuries to your tendons or joints.
One step at a time. Get a CD of Cachao Descargas Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature with Tata Guines on congas and learn tumbao well. When you wear the CD out, call us back (just joking, we used to wear out the LP version of that record and still couldn't sound exactly like Tata. I don't think anyone ever learned to sound exactly like Tata). Then learn to swing the tumbao to play along with a jazz/blues swing feel. Lots of R&R songs have that swing feel (although you should not feel obligated to play congas on every song, it doesn't always fit). Work on playing in time, playing clean, a few fill ins, and fitting in with the other instruments. That should take you about a year if you work hard. Good things take time. If you play with a drummer, make friends with him or her so he or she doesn't beat you up all the time and gives you some space. Then reassess what else you want to learn. Meanwhile listen to congas a lot, especially Cuban music like rumba, bata, and timba, and also listen to salsa and R&B that have good conga players. Listen to the best and decide what you want to sound like.

[mangorockfish]

Who played for Motown, Bongo Billy ? don't recall his name. I liked him alot. Was he considered good or just so-so? Thanks, you guys are great.

[mrclave]

basic rhythmic concepts like 12312312 of XooXooXo or "tresillo," or whatever we want to call it.... are woven into just about everything. things get a lot easier once you can hear that. then you've got a little template for understanding and remembering patterns and entire rhythm arrangements.... Hope you have a great time with it! Enjoy...

P.S. make sure you are actually getting a slap and not just some weird rim stroke, like the guys around here have been doing for at least 20 years, even with videos available and youtube and all of that... wow!!!

[JohnnyConga]

There are many rhythms..here is a list of the rhythms and methods I teach...
Sound development-utilizing the 5 parts of the hand Heel/Palm/Fulcrum/Inner knuckles/and Tips of fingers
Hand exercises which include my S.T.O.M.P method-Slap Tone Open Muffle Palm
Rudimentary hand drumming and approaches on Conga drum
One conga drum, 2 conga drums, 3 conga drums
Styles in Mambo, Rumba, Salsa, Son, Latin Jazz, Bachata, Reggaeton and Folkloric
Counting and keeping time
Stick control for timbales
Baqueteo patterns -Cascara(shell)of the timbal and cowbell patterns in clave
Abanico- 7 stroke and 9 stroke rolls
Styles on timbales-Danzon, Son, Mambo, Rumba, Salsa, Cha Cha Cha, Bolero
Reading and writing for Latin percussion
Latin Rhythm Theory
Ensemble performance
The Clave & pulse
6/8 Clave
Son Clave
Rumba Clave
The Clave today
Phrasing with the Clave
Variations on the Clave
Polyrhythms in Cuban Music

Cuban and Caribbean Rhythms taught are:

Bolero-5 variations
Caballo(Horse rhythm)-with variations
Danzon
Yambu
Guaguanco-6 variations
Rumba-with variations-columbia/abierto(open) 2Conga drums/one drum/New York street style rumba
Abakua-one drum pattern to 3 drum patterns
Plena(Puerto Rico)
Bomba
Bomba Sica
Bomba Yuba
Bambiche
Merengue(Domincan Republic)
Mozambique-old school/new school variations
Cumbia(Columbia)-with variations on one drum to 3 drums
Bembe(Afro) variations
Conga Comparsa(Carnival drumming) with variations
Changui
Calypso(Trinidad) one to 3 conga drums with variations
Bossa Nova(Brasil) with variations from one to 3 conga drums
Afro-Samba(Brasil)
Baion(Brasil)
Samba on 2 to 3 conga drums
Songo with 9 variations
Pilon on 3 congas
Iyesa with variations
6/8 basic one conga drum to 3 conga drums
Guarapachangeo with variations from 2 drums to 5
Ritmo Pa Ca
Dengue
Jala Jala
Tumbaos(basic rhythmic conga patterns for Latin Dance music) with many variations
Chaonda-
6/8 Bell patterns on conga drum with variations
Mongo Santamarias tumbaos and rhythmic approaches
Mongos Merengue
Mongos Afro Blue with variations
And many more styles R&B-Jazz-Latin Jazz-Pop-Funk….

"COGNITIVE DISCOVERY" with the Drum: A new way of learning how to use your brain in ways to develop your intake of information and how it's interpreted on the Conga drum.

[rhythmrhyme]

From Wikipedeia:
"Reviews of empirical research on NLP indicate that NLP contains numerous factual errors,[10][12] and has failed to produce reliable results for the claims for effectiveness made by NLP’s originators and proponents.[5][13] According to Devilly,[14] NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Criticisms go beyond the lack of empirical evidence for effectiveness; critics say that NLP exhibits pseudoscientific characteristics,[14] title,[3] concepts and terminology.[6][15] NLP is used as an example of pseudoscience for facilitating the teaching of scientific literacy at the professional and university level.[7][16][17] NLP also appears on peer reviewed expert-consensus based lists of discredited interventions.[5] In research designed to identify the "quack factor" in modern mental health practice, Norcross et al. (2006) [15] list NLP as possibly or probably discredited, and in papers reviewing discredited interventions for substance and alcohol abuse, Norcross et al. (2010)[18] list NLP in the top ten most discredited, and Glasner-Edwards and Rawson (2010) list NLP as "certainly discredited".[19]"

The rest of the post look absolutely AWESOME!!! Lots to learn there for sure

RR - resident neuroscientist on congaplace

[JohnnyConga]

HAHAHAHAHA OH WELL CALL ME DR.CONGA QUACK THEN...hahahahaha it seems to work the way I present it..Ask those that have come to me about it....hey i make no claims brother....it's just a concept...theres a lot of 'quackery' in learning...hahahaha

[JohnnyConga]

Nuero/Brain Linguistic/language of the drum Programming/ of the muscle memory(left brain/right brain)y and balancing of hands....is how i actually mean it to be understood when u study with me...so you have a clearer understanding. of how to learn and teach one self on the drum....

[rhythmrhyme]

All in good fun JC - glad you took it that way!

To round out this post and help Jorge relax a bit as per his below post, I'll add some information. And Jorge – it’s not really off topic. Johnny references the practice as something he does in the last line of his post. It’s a bold claim that drew my attention. If other board members feel I've hijacked the thread with my 2 posts, I'll pull them down - no problem I'm here for a good time, not to create trouble or to get yelled at. Johnny is a good cat - no question! So am I, even though I don’t like Isla Drums LOL!

Johnny, rather than referring to what you do as neuro-linguistic programming, a field that has many critics, perhaps phrasing it within the context of cognitive training would be more effective. Conga drumming trains sustained and complex attention, working memory, speed of processing, response time accuracy and as you mentioned - left right coordination and motor control balance. All of these cognitive domains have peer reviewed research showing they respond to rehabilitation following brain illness or injury. These domains also show increasing promise as cognitive skills which can be trained to enhance healthy cognitive aging and there is an absolute deluge of emerging research in this area. Without question, in this context conga drumming has therapeutic value beyond the joy of doing it - as you indicate above.

Cheers and Happy Days!!

RR

[jorge]

From Wikipedeia:
"Reviews of empirical research on NLP indicate that NLP contains numerous factual errors,[10][12] and has failed to produce reliable results for the claims for effectiveness made by NLP’s originators and proponents.[5][13] According to Devilly,[14] NLP is no longer as prevalent as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. Criticisms go beyond the lack of empirical evidence for effectiveness; critics say that NLP exhibits pseudoscientific characteristics,[14] title,[3] concepts and terminology.[6][15] NLP is used as an example of pseudoscience for facilitating the teaching of scientific literacy at the professional and university level.[7][16][17] NLP also appears on peer reviewed expert-consensus based lists of discredited interventions.[5] In research designed to identify the "quack factor" in modern mental health practice, Norcross et al. (2006) [15] list NLP as possibly or probably discredited, and in papers reviewing discredited interventions for substance and alcohol abuse, Norcross et al. (2010)[18] list NLP in the top ten most discredited, and Glasner-Edwards and Rawson (2010) list NLP as "certainly discredited".[19]"

The rest of the post look absolutely AWESOME!!! Lots to learn there for sure

RR - resident neuroscientist on congaplace

Yo neurodude, talk English. Cut and pasting some technical jargon that is just a critique of something most of us never heard of, without any explanation of what NLP is or even telling us you are referring to neurolinguistic programming, is of no value to anyone here. What is it and why don't you think it is valid? Better yet, instead of hijacking the "must know rhythms" thread completely, why not start a new thread on this completely off topic topic?

[JohnnyConga]

Nuero/Brain- Linguistic/language of the drum Programming/ of the muscle memory(left brain/right brain) and balancing of hands....is how i actually mean it to be understood when u study with me...so you have a clearer understanding of how to learn and teach one self on the drum....look nobody knows how they learn...your expected to learn when growing up..but nobody is trained in HOW to learn...to see/learn how YOUR brain functions, and in what ways it will work for you...so I think I have developed a way to bring about the most efficient way to learn on the Conga drum..that is all Im saying by using NLP...have you ever programmed yourself before???...if not, it is something to be tried out and worked out...I am not a certified NLP and dont claim to be(it is something I was told I do naturally as a teacher by a certified NLP)..it's a term used in discovery of ones abilities...that's all, nothing mysterious....basically it is creating a particular 'MIND SET" built around learning how to play the drum...I have had no complaints, and if you ask any of my students they will tell you that 'my methods' work....

[JohnnyConga]

I will now change my NLP approach and will now call it "Cognitive Discovery" on the Conga drum...after a bit of research that Jorge made me dig up( )...this may be a better way of communicating so this Nuero Linguistic Programming will not be in my teaching resume...it seems to throw people off ...now it doesn't mean this approach doesn't work..I believe it does but "Cognitive Discovery" sounds just as good...Tks Jorge and RhythmRyme ...