New guy, needs conga tuning advice

[CPercussion]

Hello, everyone. Guitar player here, but with an intense interest in learning to play congas. Influences are: the works of early Santana, which is heavily doused in Latin rhythm with tons of congas and other percussions. Other influences are Tito Puentes, Willie BoBo, Mongo Santamaria, and Cuban music. Over the years I have collected a number of congas, 7 in all. None of them match, several had numerous cracks that I have lovingly repaired. Seven congas might seem overkill, but as I said, I rescued them, restored them, some look like crap but able to hold a tuning, they don't match, but each one is my baby and I want to play all of them, as I line them up in a semicircle in front of me.

Here is what I have:
1 14" super tumba
1 12-1/2" tumbadora
1 12" tumba
1 11-3/4" conga
2 11" quinto
1 10" requinto

One 11" quinto and the 10" requinto, their skins and hardware are not so great, so that I cannot tune them up so high.

So, if I want to play them all (again, please excuse me if 7 congas seem excessive, but I consider each one an instrument and I don't want to ignore any of them) I would greatly appreciate suggestions as to how I should tune them relative to each other, to get the most out of them. Thanks for your suggestions.

[thomas newton]

If you are interested in learning to play congas put 6 of them away - you're only going to need one for a while.

If you are insistent on 'playing' 7, why not tune to a scale?

[CPercussion]

I apologize for not being clear. Yes, when I practice I DO use only one. I should have said that I would like to play all 7 outside of serious practice time, when I am just recreating.

[taikonoatama]

Hello, everyone. Guitar player here ... I would greatly appreciate suggestions as to how I should tune them relative to each other, to get the most out of them.

For purely recreating purposes, perhaps best rationalized publicly as "tuning practice," you might have our permission to do this ONLY if you promise to NEVER EVER do it outside of the privacy of your own bedroom/home/studio.

;^)

So let me see if I've got this straight ... you've got a set of (seven) percussion instruments of various sizes and you're wondering how to tune them to various pitches/tones that might sound nice together ... damn, I know there's a word for that kind of series of notes. What is it? If there were a pianist or guitarist or somebody like that here we could probably help you. Oh, wait! You're a guitarist! I think I once heard some musicians talking about something called a "sKale" or something like that - maybe that's it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptatonic

[bongosnotbombs]

Watch this video, The great Anga tuning his 7 congas, about the :50 second mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww6Ih8VIhXw

[taikonoatama]

Watch this video, The great Anga tuning his 7 congas, about the :50 second mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww6Ih8VIhXw

OK, that dude, yeah, sure

[JConga]

What a loss to the conga community of the world and so talented....I also didn't know there was such a person as a "conga tuner"...interesting...also chek the fact that the Cuban musicians recorded "together live"...and not in piece's.like they do today....Johnny Conga

[CPercussion]

something called a "sKale" or something like that - maybe that's it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptatonic

sKale...Oh yeah. Why didn't I think of that? Seriously, I was hoping for some suggestion on innovation use of 7 congas, other than the obvious.

[bongosnotbombs]

something called a "sKale" or something like that - maybe that's it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptatonic

sKale...Oh yeah. Why didn't I think of that? Seriously, I was hoping for some suggestion on innovation use of 7 congas, other than the obvious.

Seriously though, very, very, very few people play 7 congas at a time, I was actually trying to be helpful with that video, it's the best use of 7 congas that I can think of and specifically shows a spot tuning them.

I mean, a lot of players don't even own 7 congas.....

[CPercussion]

Seriously though, very, very, very few people play 7 congas at a time, I was actually trying to be helpful with that video, it's the best use of 7 congas that I can think of and specifically shows a spot tuning them.

I mean, a lot of players don't even own 7 congas.....

I'm sure you're right. But as I said, I repaired and mended them over the years, so I figure I might as well let each one sing. Enjoyed the video, thanks.

[taikonoatama]

something called a "sKale" or something like that - maybe that's it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptatonic

sKale...Oh yeah. Why didn't I think of that? Seriously, I was hoping for some suggestion on innovation use of 7 congas, other than the obvious.

I really can't think of where you might go with this beyond trying various scale-based tunings, but there's a lot to explore there, much of which you already know. Could be fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptatonic

[korman]

I think you can freely tune to scales, if you have a set of identical/matching congas with same skin.
Each drum has a certain range where it sounds best and given the nature of your collection, you might be limited to what notes you can tune to. Just go around them and find a sweet spot for each drum and see what's the overall result.

[CPercussion]

you might be limited to what notes you can tune to

That's exactly what I am encountering. For example, my 10" should be the highest but due to weakness in its hardware it cannot be tuned that high. So I thought some of you might have some ideas, like maybe two tuned to the same pitch or a semi-tone apart, one placed the right and another on the left, etc. Or just tune each one to its best sound and just see where they fall on the scale. Or....