Is having more congas overrated?

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Is having more congas overrated?

Postby mrhands » Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:48 am

So I just bought 2 galaxy fibreglass congas to add to my 2 patatos and i'm trying to play them all together. Maybe its just my lack of experience on 4 drums, or jumping from 2 right into 4, but i'm finding that its not as fun as I thought it would be. Maybe I should work on 3 and add the 4rth one when im ready? i want to start getting into bata rhythms which are usually played on 3 drums anywAys right so maybe a 4th drum isnt even necessary. What do you guys think?
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby jorge » Mon Mar 28, 2016 1:43 pm

Who do you listen to playing 4 congas?
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby mrhands » Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:26 pm

jorge wrote:Who do you listen to playing 4 congas?


Samuel Torres, Patato, some Hidalgo. There aren't many. I've also seen Anga play 4 drums.
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby mrhands » Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:28 pm

And Raul. Or , played at least 4 drums.
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby jorge » Tue Mar 29, 2016 3:45 am

Check out Joaquin Pozo on 4 congas.

Mami da me mantecado
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBfnyR3LnCc

Listen to how he rocks a 4 drum tumbao, and his solos are really musical. There are also bata playing in part of the song, but he is playing 4 congas here.
Perico no llores mas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIPZYF3w0HI

He is a master of mozambique, playing 4 congas, he goes into his 4 drum tumbao for most of the song but check out the mozambique feel in his solo
Daysi baila mozambique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-bS4mYT0_E

A nice slow song that is easier to follow (relatively speaking!), afinque, great groove, check out how he uses all 4 drums and stays in clave in his solos.
Envidia por dentro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdzK-RDCahc

And just to show you he is not cheating and overdubbing the conga parts
Live at Subrosa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bqYEnwf18A
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby Chtimulato » Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:51 pm

Hi.

Orlando Poléo also plays on three or four congas : https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=orlando+poleo
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby drbongo42 » Wed Mar 16, 2022 10:22 pm

I think the key to playing a greater number of congas is getting the tuning right - the more drums you have the more important the tunings are; For two drums I would recommend C4-G3, three C4-Bb3-G3, four C4-Bb3-G3-D3, five D4-C4-Bb3-G3-D3 and six D4-C4-Bb3-G3-F3-D3 - diagram of layout and intervals:

6 Drum Setup & Bongos.png
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby Juaort » Sat Mar 19, 2022 2:05 pm

Love that diagram!!
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby Mike » Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:00 am

Me too, although I would definitely swap the conga g and the tumba f as I cannot imagine playing the c-g combo with both standing in front of me.
Peace & drum
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby scavard » Tue Mar 29, 2022 9:24 am

Just out of curiosity what setups do you prefer count-wise and size-wise?

At the moment I have 5 congas (2 quintos, 2 congas, 1 tumba - different brands, heights, colors ..) and I rarely play more than 3.

For playing traditional stuff and practicing while seated I got used to playing just conga and tumba. But when I feel like 3 drums, I add a quinto in the middle and have to move and retune my conga. Maybe I should get another tumba and keep the combination of conga and two tumbas always tuned the same :) (and possibly add the quinto tuned way higher in front of me just for the occasional fun).

The other quinto and conga pair is on the stands and I tend to play non-traditional stuff with the band on it.
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby scavard » Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:56 pm

I recently also seen Francisco Aguabella using the three conga setup (quinto, conga, tumba) but conga was his main drum and quinto was tuned higher than C and was on his left. Very interesting setup indeed :)
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby Juaort » Tue Mar 29, 2022 9:30 pm

I mostly play Conga and Tumba. But I also done Quinto, conga in middle and tumba in left. Or Conga on left, Quito and Tumba on right. Never ventured into 4 drum territory.
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Re: Is having more congas overrated?

Postby Thomas Altmann » Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:01 pm

Referring to the subject of the thread, is having more congas overrated: I don't believe it's a matter of rating; if you can say everything you want with just one drum, that's fine. If you need five, then you have to bring five. When hired as a conga player, you are usually expected to set up a pair.

What I play depends on what I have in the first place. I own two sets:

1. four custom-made, prototype Schalloch congas made of maple for me in 1985. They sound fantastic, and they are my loud set. I've never been afraid of big or amplified bands with them. The sizes are approximately 11" / 11.5" / 2 x 12".
2. four vintage 1980's Gon Bops. I have played preferrably an original pair of one mahogany large conga ICL-3014 and one large tumba ITL-3014 for the past 10 years. Measurements are 11" and 12.25". I also have a 9.75" quinto IQ-3014 that I only play in rumba settings, but never in the set. Recently I bought a regular 10.75" oak conga IC-4141, but exchanged the original "teardrop" crown for a modern regular one of the contemporary Mariano series. Finally I acquired a regular tumba IT-3014 of 11.5", matching my original mahogany pair. So now I can either play a triple set of my mahogany drums (11" - 11.5" - 12.25") or a set of four with the 10.75" oak model as my center drum. The oak is considerably louder and brighter (and heavier!) than the mahogany drums. I might use it in louder settings.

Because of Corona, I haven't played congas publicly in the last two years. Generally spoken, the number of drums I brought to a gig depended on three considerations: (1) what I felt most comfortable with, including how much I was willing to carry around, (2) how much space I had on the stage, and (3) what type of music I was going to play, including the instrumentation of the band.

I could have brought a set of three drums in many instances, when I eventually decided to confine myself to the minimum requirement of two drums, for one of the reasons mentioned above. The third drum would be a medium-sized and -pitched drum to my left. There are days when I don't feel comfortable and strong enough with my left hand reaching out for that third drum.

The fourth drum to add would be a large, low sounding tumbadora in the middle in front of me, behind my center drum. I brought it only occasionally. I tune down the fourth drum so low it can musically function as a bombo or iyá (batá) sound. Often I can replace a heel bass sound by this fourth drum. But I don't do it always; the fourth drum is a sort of a secret weapon to me. In general, I find that with playing more than two drums, making choices and knowing when intentionally not to play the third and fourth one, becomes an issue.

While I do study other players and how they use multiple drum setups, I generally follow the traditional functions, melodies, clave- and tuning concepts provided in folkloric Cuban music. This is official practice: Even in the three-drum marcha, the medium-sized drum is habitually struck on the "1" of the 2-side of the clave, following the model of the tres-dos in modern rumba.

The drummers I studied for multiple conga setups are Joel Driggs, Jorge Alfonso and Daniel Ponce. I also got something from Giovanni's videos, I carefully watched Rumbavana's Rolando Sigler (Pica), and of course the patterns given to me in 1984 by my first Cuban teacher, Rodolfo "El Moro" of LA 440, were basic. I know that Candido and Patato had been the pioneers of setups of three and more congas, but to this day I haven't really checked them out.

Thomas
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