Conga tuning
- Thread starter salsa4fun
- Start date
losen all screws; tighten them so that you feel resistance from skin. this will be the lowest note you can get. now get it even. strike conga around the skin and see where the pitch is the lowest. tighten there some.
once you get the same sound, it's the lowest note. if you want higher sount, turn all lugs a quarter, half, full turn and so un. The drum still should be in tune if it's good. Find the tone you like.
If you play with the band, get the tuner from the bass player and tune to harmony that will be common in the songs you're gonna play.
once you get the same sound, it's the lowest note. if you want higher sount, turn all lugs a quarter, half, full turn and so un. The drum still should be in tune if it's good. Find the tone you like.
If you play with the band, get the tuner from the bass player and tune to harmony that will be common in the songs you're gonna play.
DJ Yuca
Son Montuno
I think I have seen 3 different videos online on this subject, one on LP's site (there's loads of other wonderful videos there too) one on Toca's site (ditto) and one on Youtube. There are variations between the 3 videos so I presume there is no consensus on some details but the principles techniques are the same.
sweavo
Changui
in our band we tune the congas to C (conga) and G (tumba) regardless of the key of the pieces we're playing. I hear that some congueros re-tune per song. Smejmoon's covered "clearing" the head by making all the lugs the same.
It took me a long time to learn to clear a head, and I think that was because I was timid about it. On drum kit and timbales you can set it once and forget it, which means that you don't develop your skill at tuning drums. With congas and bongos you should slacken off the heads when not in use so that forces you to improve your skill.
It took me a long time to learn to clear a head, and I think that was because I was timid about it. On drum kit and timbales you can set it once and forget it, which means that you don't develop your skill at tuning drums. With congas and bongos you should slacken off the heads when not in use so that forces you to improve your skill.
I think the tuning you mentioned is quite usual, though I can see the reasoning behind tuning the congas according to the key the band is going to play...
What about the Quinto? Does tuning it one octave above the Tumba make sense ?
sweavo
Changui
Hmm, just from ear I would say a 3rd or 4th would be better. So E or F above the C of the conga. E would make a chord with the G and C but F would allow some harmonic movement since the F and C then describe an F chord whereas the C and G describe a C chord and the G and F make the dominant 7th. Again just from remembering hearing rumba guaguanco, I think that relationship (fourth) is used and it makes the quinto really stand out and add tension.
Interesting, when I play guaguancó pattern on the piano, I play it like 5-8-8-1 (like G-C-C-C, first two C's are high and the last is low). When I play it on two congas, with your tuning, it'll come as G-C-C-G, which is quite similar to what I play on the piano.
From what I remember, playing it with 3 congas, it consists of four open tones, Tumba-Quinto-Quinto-Tumba, so with the tuning you suggested it becomes G-F-F-G, i.e. 5-12-12-5 if I use the same scale as before. I hope my interpretation and numbers make sense... I am going to experiment a little with the keyboard to listen how it sounds
They say it sounds better if everyone in the band stays in the same key
For conga player it's not practical to retune between songs.If I play by myself I tune my main drum (conga) to it's sweet spot - best tone/slap combination. Then I adjust others accordingly. I like the 4th/and 3rd, but really it does not matter if I get the combination I like. Each drum has limited range where it sounds the best. So I try to get all of them there.
Also depending on style of music I'd tune my congas higher or lower. If I want to play melodicaly I'd go lower, if percussive cutting sound is needed, I'd go higher.
sweavo
Changui
Hmm that doesn't sound right. I would expect tumba-conga-conga-tumba, with the quinto playing the high, "improvised" part. That's why I put the quinto on the 4th.
Code:
4.|1.2.3.4.|1.2.3.4.|1.2.3.4.|
x| x x |x x x| x x | Clave
| | ooo o | | Quinto (F)
|o o | |o o | Conga (C)
o | o | o | o | Tumba (G)disclaimer: I'm getting well outside the territory where I know what I'm talknig about here!
What you say does make sense to me, but I remember seeing this method of playing on some youtube video - I will try finding it.
I see that you write the guaguancó the way it appears in cuban music - I noticed that in music from Columbia/Puerto Rico, they play the open tones on the 3-side of the clave... It fits together so nicely !
sweavo
Changui
Yeah. But if everything fitted together so nicely then everyone would just play quarter notes and never change chord. No harm in studying the "pure" forms then allowing for the existence of the simplified.
It was only two months ago when I discovered the cuban form - until then I heard the other form in songs like Rumbón Melon and En Barranquilla Me Quedo, so I thought this was the way to play...
Anyway, I found the relevant youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYIeRH-wekQ
I see he does play it the way you said - I probably just assumed that the conga was in the middle the first time I watched it, but now listening to the pitches of the drums it seems like he puts the Quinto in the middle... Did I get this right ?
sweavo
Changui
Certainly the highest of the three is in the middle. They seem to be tuned to G A and C
I watched a few additional videos, it seems like it's a common practice to put the quinto in the middle.
You mean - the quinto in the video is tuned to A, conga to C below and tumba to G below I got that right ?
sweavo
Changui
no, G A C from lowest to highest
Tuning can be tricky, but in general I do it this way:
Tumbadora - G
Conga - C
Quinto - E
This tuning was mentioned in the LP video mentioned earlier, and it also explains the actual process of tuning (lugs and screws and all that). Here is the link:
http://www.lpmusic.com/Play_Like_A_Pro/Tips/dvd_handpercussion.html
Also the explanation above is pretty right-on. De-tuning when you're not playing is also a good idea (though honestly I play a lot so I probably don't de-tune as often as I should lol).
On a similar note, how do you tune bongos and timbales? I'm asking about notes, not the hardware. Thanks
Tumbadora - G
Conga - C
Quinto - E
This tuning was mentioned in the LP video mentioned earlier, and it also explains the actual process of tuning (lugs and screws and all that). Here is the link:
http://www.lpmusic.com/Play_Like_A_Pro/Tips/dvd_handpercussion.html
Also the explanation above is pretty right-on. De-tuning when you're not playing is also a good idea (though honestly I play a lot so I probably don't de-tune as often as I should lol).
On a similar note, how do you tune bongos and timbales? I'm asking about notes, not the hardware. Thanks
sweavo
Changui
On a similar note, how do you tune bongos and timbales? I'm asking about notes, not the hardware. Thanks
With bongos I got the advice that you need to find the sweet spot for the hembra so whatever pitch it is happiest at, then get the macho basically as high as you dare.
With timbales I'm torn a little with tuning because I haven't settled on my sound yet. Sometimes I love the low, cavernous ringing that you get on Grupo Folklorico y Experimento... they sound incredible recorded in that low-fi distorted tape-compression style, then other times I just want to cut across the top of the band with the abanico like most modern salsa recordings.
I usually for for G (hembra) C (macho) but for a time I tried dropping the G down to the E to give it more movement and really give me something low to whack on the bombo (I don't use a kick drum). But that took the two drums out of relationship with one another so I reverted.