congaplace.com

Posted: **Mon Jan 19, 2004 10:36 am**

Hey guys.
Does anyone have any conga solos on paper?
I'd loved to have some...

Posted: **Tue Jan 20, 2004 1:54 am**

you should check out cliff,s method. very efective . he has many solos in paper and in movies. very economical. solos from beginners , intermediate and advance. i recomend him highly.if you want you could write him at [email]qualitydag@earthlink.net.[/email] your friend franc ???

Posted: **Tue Jan 20, 2004 7:02 pm**

If your a novice or even been playing a few years , just listen to Mongo's conga solos, they are patented and you can hear all his licks. Soloing should come from within and not from paper. It is about "improvisation" and "ideas" of melodies. Listen to how melodic Patato can be. I recommend listening also to Ray Baretto from the early 70's. Lots of great solos from him. Training ones ears to hear what is being played and trying to figure how it was done is half the fun of learning. Try it you'll like it!......At your Service.....JC JOHNNY CONGA...ps if you go to my website you can hear my conga solo on Siempre Me Va Bien-2nd take "live" in the studio. No paper involved, just from the heart........ :;):

Posted: **Tue Jan 20, 2004 11:41 pm**

Johnny Conga wrote:If your a novice or even been playing a few years , just listen to Mongo's conga solos, they are patented and you can hear all his licks. Soloing should come from within and not from paper. It is about "improvisation" and "ideas" of melodies. Listen to how melodic Patato can be. I recommend listening also to Ray Baretto from the early 70's. Lots of great solos from him. Training ones ears to hear what is being played and trying to figure how it was done is half the fun of learning. Try it you'll like it!......At your Service.....JC JOHNNY CONGA...ps if you go to my website you can hear my conga solo on Siempre Me Va Bien-2nd take "live" in the studio. No paper involved, just from the heart........ :;):

To me solos should be all about the creativity and originality of the player. There is no doubt that you can't go wrong with Mongo's licks specially that slap.

Posted: **Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:13 am**

Alex Pertout has transcribed a Raul Rekow solo from one of Santana's tracks.

You can find it here: http://pertout.customer.netspace.net.au/lcongasolo.htm

Hope this helps. Let us know when you have it mastered.

Posted: **Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:19 am**

Sure solos should come from the heart, but telling this to a beginner who thinks his heart is not ready to let out the solos won't help much, it might even intimidate further. If you like to write down your solos in advance it might help you, even if you just copy from others. You just should not stop at that point. Once you are able to copy your first solo and play it at different speeds you will gain confidence and feel comfortably varying it a bit. Even in the solos of great masters I often don't like every single phrase. So I just copy a phrase here and a phrase there and mix them together differently until I get a solo as I like it. And even though I write it down, in the end on stage I won't play with a sheet of paper in front of me, and I won't always follow note by note what I planned, I just play what I feel in that moment - admittedly sometimes only because I don't remember all my fancy ideas. Without all the preparation I however I did not have the courage to really let it flow.

Posted: **Fri Nov 16, 2007 1:49 pm**

Here's an old thread I started on this topic many months ago. There's a link to Percussion studio file and notation I put together on a solo.

http://www.congaplace.com/cgi-bin....ndhorse

Posted: **Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:15 pm**

RitmoBoricua wrote:
Johnny Conga wrote:If your a novice or even been playing a few years , just listen to Mongo's conga solos, they are patented and you can hear all his licks. Soloing should come from within and not from paper. It is about "improvisation" and "ideas" of melodies. Listen to how melodic Patato can be. I recommend listening also to Ray Baretto from the early 70's. Lots of great solos from him. Training ones ears to hear what is being played and trying to figure how it was done is half the fun of learning. Try it you'll like it!......At your Service.....JC JOHNNY CONGA...ps if you go to my website you can hear my conga solo on Siempre Me Va Bien-2nd take "live" in the studio. No paper involved, just from the heart........ :;):

To me solos should be all about the creativity and originality of the player. There is no doubt that you can't go wrong with Mongo's licks specially that slap.

I second that...

But a beginner has to first get the feel of latin music, and it takes years before you can even think about soloing in the 'right' feel..

I also recommand Mongo, of course, but (and this might not please everyone), I also highly recommand to listen to Poncho Sanchez. His style is pure, simple and all is about where to play to maximize the effect. It is very good for beginners.

B