finger tape - the use of tapes and plasters

[Michael S]

muddy323 brought up an interesting topic on another post; the use of tape and bandages on the fingers. I tend to not use tape unless I have split my fingers enough where the pain does not allow me to play unrestricted. In this vein, if I feel that I will need to play loud and hard, I may use band-aids and tape as preventive medicine, but only in a performance situation, never in practice. I've only been playing three years but this approach has really toughened my hands considerably in a relatively short time, allowing me to develop pretty darn good slaps. I think a combination of hard callouses (sp?) and keeping the hand loose, allowing it to whip onto the head, are what make up good slaps.
And that, of course, is only my own humble opinion.

[muddy323]

I use heavy cloth tape on the tip of my three middle fingers, the middle knuckle of my index finger and my thumbs at the knuckle. For me this produce a cast and on a single conga, im able to produce a distinctive open slaps from my open notes. Im trying to get the same feel or sound that i get when i use claves on Bongos. I want that sound. Like a rim shot on a snare drum

[Simon B]

Unless I've been playing REALLY hard I don't tend to get a problem with congas anymore (though if I do I apply tape). However I've been applying myself to bongos much more and I find that they can really scorch the fingers, particularly as I'm trying to imitate the finger-tip shots that Ray Romero does on Gio's 'Conga Virtuoso' video!

Simon B

[Michael S]

My philosophy is: whatever works for you is the right thing to do. Muddy, that sounds like a lot of work; do you do that only for performance, or each time you practice? Remembering back, I think it had to be well over a year of playing before my slaps started to satisfy me. They still don't always hit like I'd like them (maybe 90% do) but they're at the point where I can usually trust them and not worry about how they'll sound. Single stroke rolls, slaps only, for 1-2 minutes during warmup helped but I was reaching for that tape alot back then!
I never used taped on my thumbs, however; maybe I'm doing something wrong but my thumbs never seem to strike the head except on bass tones. I do get splits there alot but I think this is mostly due to dryness and work-related injury (I'm a HVAC tech.)
Simon, I have that video, watch it often to get both inspired and frustrated. I'm always amazed at how Romero slaps the #### out of those bongos. I haven't gone to bongos yet but I will eventually, I'm sure. At that point I may have to stock up on tape. What is it about them that is hard on the fingers? Is it that most have traditional rims? Which reminds me that Muddy323 has 1978 GonBobs; probably traditional rims also, right? My Tocas have tradtional rims (I prefer their look.) but the crown is so high that my hands never see them.

[muddy323]

I only use tape to perform, if not, my finger tips will bleed and suffer. When i practice, i dont use tape. Im working on speed and consistency.

[RayBoogie]

What is "finger splitting"? Does it have to do with your finger nails coming off the skin? ???

[Michael S]

What I call finger splits is where an actual split occurs in the skin. In my case, it most often will occur at the tips of my thumbs, at the corner of the nail. (This, I don't think, is related to my drumming as I don't seem to hit my thumbs in that area.) Drumming related splits happen on my index fingers and, less often, on the pads of my index and middle fingers where they contact the drum head. Most of these I also contribute to dry skin. I do live in an extremely dry area and don't drink near as much water as I should. I try to use as much skin lotion as I can.

[GALLEGO]

Mas que ponerse tape en los dedos, yo recomendaria que usaran crema en las manos para que eso les ayude a retener poco las manos en el cuero y eso ayuda a que te salga el slap mas fluid. Pero siempre haz tus warm-ups antes de empezar para que sientas todavia mas la diferencia. (No vas a tener que tener que dar un golpe fuerte solo dejando la mano caer).

[Simon B]

I'm always amazed at how Romero slaps the #### out of those bongos. I haven't gone to bongos yet but I will eventually, I'm sure. At that point I may have to stock up on tape. What is it about them that is hard on the fingers? Is it that most have traditional rims?

He's a real old hand, we're talking forty, fifty year's of experience I should think. Although Ray has tape on some of his fingers too!

The thing about the bongos is that most common strokes involve the the top third of the finger(s), whereas strokes for congas tend to involve much more of the hand, which cushions the impact. I think this is more significant than traditional rims.

A good tip to help reduce splitting is to apply a moisturiser cream BEFORE you play so as to lubricate the hands.

Simon B

[120decibels]

Applying moisturizer cream before playing is a great idea. Not only is it good for the hands, but it's also good for your skins, assuming that you are using natural skins.

I use tape when I play bongos because the tension I keep on the high drum's head makes it about like hitting a rock. I use a heavy cloth tape.

I'll leave you with a good peice of advice that I found early on in my bongo playing and found truly funny:

"There's nothing near the edge of the drum but pain." -- Skip Brummel

Skip was encouraging folks not to just beat your hands into the bearing edge of the drum looking for the slap sound.

Zach