Tips for Double-strokes?

[yoni]

Hi timo! Sorry for the delay. Just came back from a couple days of playing a Japanese bhutto dance festival here, of all things. Oh yes, saw me some fine bhuttos indeed.


That zarb roll you described is THE fastest roll I found so far, but of course it has a much softer, basier sound than congas or bongos. The name Nurit Ofer sounds familiar; don't know her, but I might know the group by its name. There are several excellent percussionists here, hard for me to tell who you saw, maybe Zohar Fresco.

Congabebe, if I can take a try at your question - I don't think the roll you found is in the traditional bongo repertoire, but so what? It sure helps to know basic sounds and traditional strokes for different drums, but I see nothing wrong with applying any techniques, including your own, to any drum you want to. Just an opinion.

I wish I could describe traditional bongo technique verbally or notated; it differs from conga. And bongo techniques will vary with locale and style of music. If you're ever in my area, drop a line and I'll be glad to try to show you what I can.

Ciao for now,
yoni



Edited By yoni on May 08 2003 at 11:44

[Rob]

Thought I'd just add a few comments/tips to the helpful ones already given....
I've been practising doubles for years, but not with a great deal of dedication (there are lots of other things to practise!) but have over time started to see the benefits. Just like training for any physical activity you have to provide the muscles with some kind of overload so that they grow to accommodate the activity that's being required of them. This is a principle used in weight-training, but it doesn't mean you'll develop popeye-style forearms - just that the muscles, ligaments etc will all learn to deal with this technique if you keep pushing them. So, although you should of course aim to produce a clear open sound you should also practise "going for it" with rapid bursts of speed where the quality of the sound isn't as important as the speed you achieve. A way to do this is to practise with a metronome. Go to a speed you can just about do with good sound and then notch it up a little bit and try to keep up. At first you might only be able to do this for four beats (!) but stick with it and you'll find that after a few tries you can do more. Go down to your original speed and you'll feel stronger. After this new speed feels relatively comfortable, focus on improving the sound quality and then repeat the process. Of course, this takes time but it works. Another goodie is to practise accenting the second stroke of each double. Practise at a speed where your sound is good. The principle behind this is that your first stroke is normally stronger than the second and the variation in tone stops your connected doubles sounding like a roll. Using this technique you should aim to have all your strikes whether first or second sounding the same - suddenly you can produce something that sounds lmore like a roll. Also try triples -hitting the drum three times with each hand - this really strengthens up your wrist. If you can play three good strokes then doubles is relatively easy! Finally - don't get put off cos you can't do a Giovanni - this man is to conga playing what any world class sports star or ballet dancer or artist is to their field. They are remarkable because they are capable of things that are outside most people's potential. That's why we find them amazing. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of people reading this that who have the potential to be as good as or better than Gio, just that, having seen the man many times, live and close-up, he is indeed a master. I'll always remember the first time I saw him do a clinic. There were about a hundred people in a drum shop - most of them pros - and as Gio started playing, over the top of his drumming could be heard the sound of a hundred jaws dropping.......