congaplace.com

Team...

Could someone please annotate a 6/8 pattern other then a standard

accent on 1 and 4 ...looking for two drum rhythm (quinto/conga)...moderate tempo

(quarter note =110). One that I'm currently using seems too stereotypical...

a modified 3. Am looking for a substitution that has a jazz swing undercurrent.

Thanks in advance.

Peace, Chas

I use variations on this pattern quite a bit. htOboohtsboo. (heel-toe-tumba open tone-bass-conga tone-conga tone-heel-toe-slap-bass-conga tone-conga tone). In this pattern, the second note of the 6/8 bell or clave, what I call the bomba spot, lines up with the tumba note. I like to use 2 tumba tones too, depending on how it fits with the song : htOOoohtsboo. Or just leave 1 conga tone : htObo.htsbo. In each of these, the left hand is still pumping the 4 pulse, but the tones are pushing the 3 over 2 polyrhythm. Just my 2 cents worth, hope it helps.

I use something similar to going quinto for jazz. It's based on rumba columbia
as it might be played on 2 drums.
big O is low drum. From this base rhtyhm I get several variations.
base:
htooOO|htooOO
htooOO|htOboo
htOboo|htOboo

variations
htooOS|htooOO
htooOO|htooss
htmmOO|htooss

fill/lick:
htooso|osooss
htooso|osOOss
b-sO-s|OsOOsO

it's pretty a pretty driving rhythm.
For slower numbers I use a rhythm based on a bembe pattern:
base:
Obstoo|htstoo
ossoOO|ossoOO

variation:
ossoOO|os-os-

break/fill:
osOosO|osOosO

I only take two drums to jazz gigs, mainly because I don't want to carry that much stuff. When I say
jazz I don't mean Latin jazz, I refer to "straight jazz", so there isn't a bell or clave being played.
The patterns I wrote basically resolve themselves in 2 measures of 6/8, or 12/8, so perhaps they are
implying clave somehow. The source of these rhythms comes from clave based music so i assume they
would line up with a 6/8 bell pattern pretty well in Latin jazz, one way or another, but I don't have that experience yet.

Try playing the 6/8 short bell pattern on the Conga drum, utilizing slaps and tones in variations. This can also be broken up over the 2 congas....this is old skool style....nobody anywhere plays this way anymore......"JC" Johnny Conga ps i tried to download the video of my example but it wouldnt take here....

ok here is my video...and please dont let the gloves throw you , u can can hear what im doing....and I would like to know if anyone here has ever seen the 6/8 bell pattern played this way on Conga drums for Bembe..."JC" Johnny Conga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_y45rPbUQQ guys let me know what u think...

cdldrum wrote:Am looking for a substitution that has a jazz swing undercurrent.

If you want something with swing, as the term is understood in jazz, you will need to subdivide the main beats into six pulses, not the usual three as shown in the suggestions that follow your request. Here are some patterns that subdivide the main beats into six pulses (I put space between each main beat for visual clarity):

XXX.X. XXX.X. XXX.X. XXX.X.

Tap your foot with the first pulse of each group of six. This pattern fits into the same span of time as the 6/8 bell.

A variant:

X..X.X X..X.X X..X.X X..X.X

I'll leave the placement of tones and slaps to you.
-David

cdldrum wrote:Am looking for a substitution that has a jazz swing undercurrent. I MISSED THAT PART... ...JC

Here's a pattern based on a 2 drum pattern I learned in Africa from a Ghanaian rhythm called 'Kakachufa', but adapted to congas

ssO oo o OO (closed slaps or substitute with open tones)

RLR RL R RR handing


and another pattern, this time from Cuba:

BsOs BsOoo


RLRL RLRLR

If this is not clear, let me know, I can always post a vid to YouTube.

Pavlo

Team,

Thank you all...this type of input is exactly what I was looking for...now, ...I'll grind my way thru

these conga patterns and see if I can own some of them. Thank you all... 6/8 is such a "natural"

rhythm I want to do it justice.

Well done.


Peace, Chas

Hey Johnny, I love it! At first I thought, "where's the bell pattern?" and then realized that the second drum was throwing me with second set of doubles having a lower tone than the first..
So simple, yet so cool..

Going Quinto also shared with me a long time ago that you can play the basic 4/4 tumbao, and swing it for jazz. Just play it swung, and there you are!

I do like doing that, just swinging regular 4/4 tumbao, so it's kind of like h.ts.th.to.o Then I can do leads in 4 or 6 on top of it, depending on the song. Any comments on swinging conga rhythms? I usually don't hear much of a swing on them, but last night I was watching The Funky Meters on a video, and whoever was playing for them was swinging his tumbao very similar to what I do. Maybe I swing mine because I've heard and love so much New Orleans flavored music.

Yo cdldrum chek this player Percy James with the Quartet Tres Bien and how he swings on 3 congas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O9uFZ4CPBQ "JC" Johnny Conga

That's very cool Johnny. Is that group from Rio? Is it the 60s?

It's quite a bold sound with the congas and bongos up front in the mix like that. It sounds like he's partly playing the congas with his fingers, like there's some bongo technique going on there. His technique is sounds a bit on the self-taught side. What is your favorite recording of swung tumbao?
-David

Sr. Conga....

Thank you. Amazing musical artistry. Defines cool. Wow.... Percy James...swings.


Thank you very much...back to the woodshed for me...


Peace, Chas