Hi Pitch "POP" Tone, How?? - How can I produce that HI POP sound ?

[yoni]

Hey Muddy!

Long time no hear from! You still slap happy? Yeah, I also think this forum is great to learn from. Some might say you can only really learn from a teacher, but the forum is just one proof that there are many ways to help learn. Of course nothing replaces listening and playing, but this place can be like a gold mine of useful info. Thanks for the further opinion on the thinner heads. Can't wait to try some.

all the best,
Yoni

[JohnnyConga]

Hi guys ...what ur forgetting is the skin has really nothing to do with it, of course it helps to have a good skin on your drum, but I can get a slap from a table top or on a hood of a car, it's about "technique"....I will be going into the studio next week to start my DVD-"CONGA-ROBICS" WITH "JC" JOHNNY CONGA, where I will show how to get all kinds of slaps out of a drum. I expect it once again to be about 2 hours long and will try to answer all of your questions that have been posted here on this site. I will also "demonstrate" things like playing with "restraint" but with "dynamics" for example...power exercises for your hands and arms, meditating and playing, and a WHOLE LOT MORE!.....stay tuned there's more to come..... "JC" Johnny Conga...PS check out the new band I just joined up with here in Seattle at http://www.typeaband.com :;):

[untaltumbador]

Ok JC it sounds like you have some momentum going into that DVD production. I can’t wait to purchase a copy. Good man!!!

Untal

[Firebrand]

Took me just a week to develop the pop...no kidding.

I got it from the CongaBook on this website...I followed the instructions in cupping the hand and tried the whip like motion (like if you were disciplining someone from grabbing from the cookie jar, and you were smacking them slightly on their hand...that motion). In fact, imagine that you are slightly "grabbing" the head with the tips of the fingers when you strike...let the tips of the fingers be the last to strike the head, like a whip. Let their "whip-hit" on the head produce the Open Pop sound.

Two sounds I produced with that technique. The so-called Open Slap (produced by hitting the drum with this cupped technique, but pressing down on the back-end of the hand/wrist, to slightly mute it) and the Open Snap/Pop, which is done hitting the drum with the whipping motion, and reducing the amount of time that the hand touchese the conga (to maximize high-pich resonance). I kept at it for a week, every day...and by the next week, I could land Open Slaps and Open Snap/Pops at about 80% rate (once in a while, I'd get a muted or open tone sound, rather than what I was going for).

I put a few Ray Barretto CDs on (Fuerza Gigante, Indestructible) and tried to mimick Ray's sound as he landed open slaps and open snap/pops at will.

I'd recommend that you practice alternating open tones (just strike the head) and Open Slap (cupped hand, press down) SLOWLY. Boom/Slap/Boom/Slap/Boom/Slap and so on with ONE hand. Do it 20 times (repeat the bi-tonal exercise). Then do the other hand. When you've done it enough, you'll be able, with both hands, to summon open tones and open slaps, and open Pops at will.

If you wanna get fancy, do Open Tone, Open Slap, and Open Pop, and repeat the tri-tonal exercise 20 times with one hand, then switch to the other.

Read the Conga Book CAREFULLY...and practice cupping your hand to different angles...until you find the one that best produces Open Slaps and Open Pops. Remember to keep the hands relatively straight for Open Tones, and cupped for Open Slaps, Open Pops.



Edited By Firebrand on 1114798492

[JohnnyConga]

Here is a simple exercise

SS TT PP SS-Slap Slap Tone Tone Palm Palm Slap Slap
Try this simple ex.moving up and down thhead of the drum. Also do this alternating hands. Listen for the "3" soundsyou are to get , the Slap, the Tone, and the Palm. The Palming of the drum is just another sound/effect/riff, you can use in your playing,example-Mongo/Giovanni. Try combinations of this simple excersize and tell me if this works for you, I'd like to know....don't forget also, PRACTICE FOR SPEED!..."JC" Johnny Conga...........

[ABAKUA]

SS TT PP SS-Slap Slap Tone Tone Palm Palm Slap Slap

Thats the exact same excercise I gave a new student today!
Great excercise.



Edited By ABAKUA on 1114884615

[OLSONGO]

Is like grabing a dime from the head of the drum with the hand cupped. As exersice try left and right hand alternations.

[JohnnyConga]

Here is another "old way" to learn to slap......"slap your palm", (strike your palm with your fingertips) if you get a sound, almost like a "flesh pop", your on your way.....now there is some "ol skool" shit for ya!.....I'm luvin it..... "JC" Johnny Conga....

[doctorphatty]

Hi there. I've noticed that a lot of great sounding congueros have white colored heads on their drums instead of the brownish ones that come on most LPs I see in music stores. Is that a different type of skin being used. I have a Giovanni video and his conga has the white colored head on it but the tumbadora has the brown kind. Both say LP Hand Picked though.

My real question is, does this difference have a large impact on the open slap sound? The drums with the white heads always seem to cut through much more. This could also be just cause Giovanni is amazing too... Thanks for any input!!

[franc]

the white heads that you see are synthetics. Giovanni was or still endosing the Evans synthetic conga heads. the difference is that with the synthetic heads is easier when looking for the nice and crisp slap, but still you have to have the technique or learn the correct technique for the correct slap.. for me i love the real skin. i am left handed. i have worked a long time for my crisp slap. at this point my right hand is not that far in getting the same slap. you must practice, practice. that is what is all about. follow the intructions of these greats percussionist we have in this great forum. i have!! my best and áche!!! franc

[JohnnyConga]

Sound is very "individual", we all don't hear the same and in the same way. Skins are the same, very "individual". Then you have "articificial" skins and basically they are made to sound loud and to overcome the "elements of nature"(they stay in tune even if there is humidity). that may be an advantage. But there is nothing like "skin on skin" as Mongo said. Yes the "pop" u get on an articficial skin may sound louder, if that is the sound you like, and are looking for. ..."JC" Johnny Conga...

[GuruPimpi]

Ivan!

You are a left hand, me too!
Any one else here is left handed?

At some point I have trained (still am) my right more, especially for slap and clear tone, as my teacher used to say that tone is of the same importance as the slap, I had a much better slap with my right hand
Yes, practice is the key...

Primozz

[doctorphatty]

Actually, I'm a lefty too! Good to see there are lots of us out there. The white heads that Giovanni had on some of his drums still bore the "LP Hand Picked" logo on them. That is why I was thinking it must be a different type of skin.

Thanks for the info. I'm still on the learning end of the open slap. I've only been trying to get it for about a week now. I have always used the muted slap up till now.

[Charangaman]

It is the sound that only now I'm finding with greater ease and consistancy.. I too used the muted slap which sounded better for ages but now I'm getting that crispness.. For me it has a lot to do with location on the head the "sweet spot" as they call it... It's definatley a kind of grab and is really satisfying when it comes..

[onile]

Alafia Abures!
I hope that you are all well and in an abundance of blessings!

Oye Abure JC! That technique "ol-school shit" brought back memories. I all but forgot that one!

As for being a lefty or righty, if you practice with your main drum in the middle, you wind up developing your technique amberdextriously (?sp). Abure Abakua and myself, as well as I'm sure many of us on this forum have acclimated ourselves to this way of playing. Practicing this, you should be able to get the same slap and tones from either hand.

Every evening, when not giggin', I'll sit in front of the tube and practice slaps, tones, paradiddles, the whole nine-yards, basically developing muscle memory and my technique!

Suave!
Onile!