Building callouses

[Firebrand]

Guys,

Just wanted to know if there were any special tricks to building rock-hard hands. I play daily for 30 minutes to an hour to keep rudiments current, and although I've noticed some small callouses, my hands just do not match the hands of some older players I know (more on gig days, and I can't spend much more because I'm also an electric bassist, drummer, and Puerto Rican Cuatro player, so I have to dedicate some time to those instruments as well). Granted, they have YEARS on me, but I'd like to know if there any tactics to speeding up the building of callouses.

For example, I know Giovanni used to play boxes early on his life, etc.

Is there anything that can artificially promote the development of callouses (creams, etc.)

Just thinking out loud here. I'm not looking for an easy supplement to daily practice. I would just like to be as efficient as possible in building the callouses necessary for more protected playing and louder conga hits.

As a side note, I've noticed my playing has gotten much crisper and louder. At a local jam of rumberos, it was apparent I was the more mature musician on congas, so it was very rewarding to see my daily practice having a positive outcome.

ON EDIT:

http://www.scenicnewengland.net/guitar/acoustic/hand/callus.htm

This page seems to suggest alcohol to dry hands...hmmm...does that sound safe to you guys?



Edited By Firebrand on 1195438054

[yambu321]

FIREBRAND,

I MYSELF AM A BORICUA, AND BEEN PLAYING FOR SOME TIME NOW. BOTH OF MY TEACHERS WERE AFRO-CUBAN, AND WHAT THEY BOTH STRESSED ABOUT PREVENTING HAND AND SKIN DAMAGE, WAS TO HAVE PROPER TECHNIQUE AND TO ALWAYS PLAY IT, LIKE I MEANT IT. THERE ARE DIFFERENT METHODS OF PRACTICING FOR ACHIEVING DIFFERENT THINGS. SO I'LL ONLY TOUCH ON THIS TOPIC. IF YOU HAVE PROPER HAND TECHNIQUE YOU WILL GREATLY REDUCE THE CHANCE OF HAVING YOUR HANDS CRACK AND BLEED. UNLIKE WHAT YOU MAY BE THINKING AT THIS POINT. IT IS NOT ABOUT HAVING CALLOUSES.
IT'S ABOUT TOUGHENING/STRENGTHENING THE HANDS. THIS IS DONE BY SIMPLY PLAYING LIKE YOU WOULD NEED TO, AT A RUMBA. IT IS PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT. AN EVEN TOUGHENING OF YOUR HANDS, WHILE ALSO KEEPING THEM PLIABLE, BY CONTINUALLY MOISTURIZING THEM WITH AN EXCELLENT HAND LOTION. DRYING THE SKIN WITH ALCOHOL IS SILLY, AND HARMFULL TO YOUR SKIN.

CHARLIE "EL COQUI" VERDEJO, (YAMBU321)



Edited By yambu321 on 1195690053

[jorge]

Firebrand,
I don't see the point of trying to develop calluses on purpose. When you play a lot and play hard, you generally develop some calluses on certain parts of your fingers and hands. The calluses can be more of a problem than a help, though. They cause more pain than you would have without them, and they can split and bleed. Although some of the best players have a lot of calluses, some don't. I shook hands with some of the best conga players in the world tonight and a couple of them didn't have real hard hands. I don't believe calluses add anything to your sound, which mainly reflects your technique, the quality of the skin, tuning of the drum, type of drum, humidity, room acoustics, and other factors. Practice your technique, spend a few minutes each day perfecting your sound, and you will be fine, with or without calluses. Doing things to get "rock hard hands" is more likely to cause arthritis or increased hand pain than help your sound.



Edited By jorge on 1195453318

[Mike]

Firebrand, I haven even read somewhere on this forum that the hands of the top congueros (like Giovanni) are "amazingly soft" or something similar. This should prevent you from banging boxes :;):
To be serious, it´s really about technique and ´hand power´. Dry (or even worse: artificially dried-out) hands are no guarantee for good sound at all.
BTW:A friend of mine, a 50-year-old dancer and drummer from Tanzania (East Africa), has more or less the same soft hands as me, of course he is the better drummer though :laugh:



Edited By Mike on 1195461479

[Firebrand]

hmmm...good to know. I'm glad I posted this on the forum.

I guess there is no supplement to just taking the conga up for 40 minutes to an hour a day.

On to practicing, then....

Thanks!

[Whopbamboom]

For toughening up my hands, I'm finding that a 20-minute session every other day on a wooden conga cajon is helping. I am currently working on a "segundo" FAT conga cajon.

[pavloconga]

Hi guys,
It's not neccessary to have hard callouses to produce great sounds on the congas or other drums.

I've been fortunate enough to have met and shook hands with some great players around the world - some with callouses, some without. e.g. I met Changuito in Havana and he did not have hard hands or callouses. Similar thing with Anga (r.i.p).

Another teacher from Africa had very hard hands like a camel's foot pad - huge cracks and pitted areas all over his fingers which sounded at times, more like bits of wood striking the drum. But he was often having problems with finger infections, ingrown warts and pain in his fingers generally.

[bongosnotbombs]

This page seems to suggest alcohol to dry hands...hmmm...does that sound safe to you guys?

Nope, seems like a waste of alcohol :;):

[Isaac]

The idea that a good player should have calouses is an "old school" throwback to
when tunable congas were non-existent or you had to play louder
to compete with an overly loud band. I had a big band leader who
said he was accustomed to having his conga players' hands bleed...
I said no thanks.
Good technique will give you many long years of playing,
and there are always microphones so you don't have to hurt your hands.
The newer schools of players I've met coming out
of Cuba, don't have overly tough calloused hands at all.

~ ISAAC

[Chupacabra]

Some of the percussionists that you have shaken hands with may have real jobs as bricklayers, landscapers, dockworkers, farmers or fishermen! Out of all the percussionists out there - of any genre - the ones who make a full time living at it is probably few and far between. I'm estimating about 3 or 4 per cent and that might be high.

[JohnnyConga]

I have been playing now for 44 years and yes I have calloused hands cause i play every day almost and its what happens to your hands when u hit a drum over a long period of time...everyones skin on their hands are different,like snowflakes, no 2 alike. . .yes "technique" is everything.. ..I came out of the "first skool" of the "ol skool" in NYC and when i came up we didnt even have sond systems, ,that is one of the reasons why the conga/bongo y timbale were brought to the front of the stage, so they could be heard over the big band sound, but it also meant you had to "HIT" the drum and not "tap" the drum....so I even today at times dont use a mic, with certain bands i play in,cause i dont need it, I still play hard and always will, but that's me. .....Johnny Conga...

[Whopbamboom]

Regarding the comment about percussionists who may have callouses from working a day job... true! I used to have much thicker callouses on my hands when I was doing manual labor.

BUT the callouses I have now are in different places. And, I really don't have more than a couple. My skin's probably thick enough without having to grow callouses, I guess.

All that being said, however---- I'd like to ask a question of Johnny Conga.... JC, how do you prevent those troublesome little callouses that grow right on the lines of the finger joints and cause a lot of pain??? I've experienced it a couple times over the last year and would like to know if there is a good way to avoid it.

[Garvin]

I've been playing for a long enough time that I've developed some fundamental technique, but I find when switching between Djembe, to congas for any extended period of time, I develop callouses in different areas of my hands and fingers.

Also, I began a body-building program a few months ago(non-drumming related) and have found that my hands are hardening significantly from that. I have some very large callouses, which don't affect my playing.

Master body-builder/Dr. Drumming PHD/Author/Writer-Director -Sir Garvin I

[bongosnotbombs]

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[Tonio]

Mr Hard Hands the MAN!! But, are they really hard? Like JC says, every ones hands are different, even with good technique, it could be hard , or could be thick & soft.

T