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Posted: **Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:29 pm**

Okay, this may sound like a cheat, but thought I'd throw it out. Anybody ever heard of finger taping to embed a small piece of flexible plastic in the taping. Though normally I use little if any tape, thought I'd try it, and found that though I lose some tactile contact with the head I gain crispness and snap. and the sound punches on all strokes. Seems it would be a help at noisy club venues. When I have to rely on their less-than-ideal sound system I find myself having to play hard just to lay down a fundamental rhythm that can be heard in the mix. I therefore wind up sacrificing many of the subtle pattterns and fills I like to use, and get pretty well burned out after a few hours.

So... what say you? Any "cheaters" out there? Ever heard of this? Does it violate the essence of being a conguero? Or is this an idea worth trying, a compromise we can live and play with?

CongaTick

Posted: **Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:46 pm**

How dare you violate the essence of being a conguero! :angry: :O hehehehe

Not sure champ, i been playing for over 10 years and my finger tips have hard callouses form my double slap (left and right) during tumbao technique which is now typical in modern cuban timba conga playing and I find i dont need any tape to get the crispy dry sound out of my tips.

My advice would be keep practising, get your hands conditioned and you will need no tape to get that sound

Cheating with tape will only delay the process of conditioning your hands.

ALthough, if you hands and split then yes, do use nice material tape to preserve the and not further damamge your skin.

Posted: **Mon Dec 13, 2004 4:07 pm**

I think it would be too easy to become dependent on this method and then lose some form and technique. Then the playing will suffer, particularly in an event where you don't need the added punch from the plastic tips and tape. However, I am no expert and so I guess if you need to tape your fingers for a show then tape them up but I would only use that method sparingly and in somewhat extreme circumstances.
Juan

Posted: **Mon Dec 13, 2004 6:32 pm**

There is no such thing as a "finger cheater"..hahahaha....even Mongo used all kinds of things to wrap his beat up hands with, including cardboard cut to the size of his fingers then wrapped with tape and then a "rubber" finger to cover that all up. I use Nexus bandaids. I do not use white tape because it doesn't allow for flexibility, or breathing for your skin, plus they never come off when your playing. I have been using them for years, and the only thing that works for me, a "finger cheater"....

"JC" Johnny Conga......ps my playing or sound has never been effected by doing this, ever!.....

Posted: **Mon Dec 13, 2004 11:39 pm**

JohnnyConga wrote:There is no such thing as a "finger cheater"..hahahaha....even Mongo used all kinds of things to wrap his beat up hands with, including cardboard cut to the size of his fingers then wrapped with tape and then a "rubber" finger to cover that all up. I use Nexus bandaids. I do not use white tape because it doesn't allow for flexibility, or breathing for your skin, plus they never come off when your playing. I have been using them for years, and the only thing that works for me, a "finger cheater".... "JC" Johnny Conga......ps my playing or sound has never been effected by doing this, ever!.....

*points*

FINGER CHEATER!!!! :p

:p

Hehehe.

Ive found that perfecting your technique as apposed to bashing the drums will help drastically.
Mongo, as much of a great pioneer and master conguero that he was, was not exactly known for having great technique.
Ive been performing for over 10yrs and rarely use tape on my fingers, I use 'elastoplax' or something like that, its a material type tape which breathes and in skin toned. The only time I will use it however is when I suffer an occassional crack in my finger tips or on the edge of a callouse.
My hands are fine, no huge callouses, just on my finger tips and the palm in general is rough and hard, but no big callouses due to my technique.

Look at the hands of Changuito or Giovanni or Johnny Almendra or JB Batanga or Luisito Quintero or Bobby Allende etc. Good technique is what its all about. :;):

Edited By ABAKUA on 1102981333

Posted: **Tue Dec 14, 2004 2:30 am**

:D :p :laugh:

Posted: **Tue Dec 14, 2004 3:37 pm**

Well, I don't like to hit hard and usually I don't use any tape or other "finger cheaters". Occasionally, when I need to play louder (discotheque gigs, big or rock bands...) I tape my fingers with volleyball finger tape, it's cheaper and can be found in any sport articles store. Try it!

Posted: **Tue Dec 14, 2004 7:29 pm**

Thought my post would irritate, but instead very grateful for forum input. I've also been playing for over 10 and have reasonable fingertip calluses. Yup, I rarely tape, except for splits which happen more often in the dry winter. Though I proposed the possibility of the "cheaters", I only tried them for one of my daily practice sessions and found that the disadvantages far outweight the positives, primary being the lack of tactile contact with the heads. You don't realize sometimes how much love you make to those skins, until you separate yourself from them with something like plastic. Absolutey right that technique and knowing how and what your fingers, hands and wrists can do is the only way to understand and master the subtleties of the skins and the infinite variety one can coax from them. So far as noisy venues, I'll push for better miking and play on. The cartoon was the best.

Posted: **Tue Dec 14, 2004 8:35 pm**

Here's Da Man!...check out his fingers....."JC" Johnny Conga...

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... _Hands.jpg

Posted: **Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:03 pm**

Hey Johnny Conga, Mongo has his fingers all taped up. If it would help me to play like Mongo I would tape my fingers, hands, wrists, feet whatever it took. Listening to Mongo you never get tired of him but quite the opposite, you gain a deeper appreciation for him. Like I say if it would help me to play like Mongo I would tape up everything I could. Peace
Juan

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Finger cheaters?