congaplace.com

I suggest we have a "Beginners Forum".

People wander in here and become intrigued easily.
Congaplace forum information, suggestions and tips are exactly what beginners/intermediates need to get started and grow as players. However, many of the other forums become entangled in new questions and topics that have been covered already. Beginners could get instant information from one source without having to start new threads and the forums would eventually grow into a real resource since all of the info and ideas would stay in ONE place.

When someone joins the forum part of the introduction could be an email or other communique that would point them toward the beginner forum section and suggest they start there if they are a beginner.

The Beginners Forum would be at the TOP of the forum and could have 4 sticky sub heading topics.
Limit it to only 4 sticky headings so it doesn't become a mess and stays on topic. The 4 headings might be:

* Recommended conga brands for beginners


* Recommended rhythms and technique for beginners


* Recommended music, videos and teachers for beginners
Here newbs could discuss learning aids, congueros and ask for teachers in their area


* General discussion - questions & answers for Beginners
This topic sub heading would only be for questions/discussion NOT pertaining to the 4 above heading topics and would be subject to deletion.

A very good idea!

I think that's a good idea also.

Great idea, but don't forget "How do I tune my congas?". Has to be in there somewhere.

I belong to an astronomy forum (cloudy nights) which has an awesome beginners forum. I am a total beginner and never need (or would dare) to venture outside the beginners section.

Got my vote

bongosnotbombs wrote:Great idea, but don't forget "How do I tune my congas?". Has to be in there somewhere.

+1 should be a sticky on the General Q&A (or FAQ) .

T

I would like to have a place where I could ask questions or find explanations for someone new to bongos without boring the regulars and the experienced players who come to this site.

I must say, in my short time as a member, everyone has been extremely courteous and helpful !

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Welcome Hawk!

I think you don't need to be shy to ask easy questions. As long as your personal questions haven't been answered in the past already (search history first), everybody would be happy to help. And forgive those who are rather concerned about their own profile in the first place. I have learned a lot in this group. (Almost) everybody does anything to be helpful here.

All the best!

Thomas

I got started on this forum by lurking and reading everything. I recommend that. If you don't have much of a life you can get through it all in a couple of days. If you have other things you must do, it takes longer. But, as Leedy2 said - almost everything any newbie would want to know has already been asked and answered. The great strength of searching through the old, and new, posts for beginners is all the great history and different opinions. "Get synthetic skins" "No, get cow." "Mule" "No, no mule, goat" "Mongo" "No, not Mongo, Patato' "No, Armando" For me, it has always been Candito. Have I said that before? Better search.

Like Leedy has said we have enough info here at the site for the Newbies..you just have to read thru it...if you want a quick fix go to youtube.com and type in search How to Play the Conga drums... I have 17 beginner videos there for you to chek out...my tumbao video has over 240,ooo hits so far and counting..."JC" Johnny Conga

Other forums have a FAQ thread where they compile threads of often asked topics. Somebody could just start that thread in the right forum and a moderator could make it a sticky and maybe locked. Threads can be suggested for inclusion on the FAQ. It's basically a collection of threads.

A noob is a noob is a noob. They will post outside of the beginner's forum no matter what about stuff that has already been spoken of. The only real solution I see is locking down new user account so that new users can only post in the beginners forum unrestricted. After a probationary period their access is elevated to varying degrees or all out. Something like that would work I think. Whether the forum user database has these capabilities is another story.

tigre77

tigre77 wrote:A noob is a noob is a noob. They will post outside of the beginner's forum no matter what about stuff that has already been spoken of. The only real solution I see is locking down new user account so that new users can only post in the beginners forum unrestricted. After a probationary period their access is elevated to varying degrees or all out. Something like that would work I think. Whether the forum user database has these capabilities is another story.

tigre77

That would not work so well for people that are new to the forum but not new to the drum(s).

Robert I see your point...truthfully I don't see the repeat post thing as a big problem but I thought I'd throw my opinion at it. I think most new members are humbled by the knowledge they encounter here which dissuades them from posting without researching first and even then they may very well post something akin to a repeat but it is a simply desire to understand and it is not so noobish. I think the forum operates just fine the way it is all things considered.