Conga Drum Hand Positioning

Series Summary

Conga drums have a sound all their own. Whether you are listening to Latin music or you are joining a jamming drum circle, congas bring rhythms to life. Not only are they extremely fun to play, conga drums make you want to get up and dance! Congas are a narrow, single-headed Cuban drum of African origin. As an integral part of rumba and Latin music, the conga drum has a sound all of its own. Traditionally used in religious ceremonies, the conga has had many different names, and because of the creative techniques of playing the conga, this instrument can have a variety of sounds as well. As any conguero knows, this drum is one of the best percussion instruments.

In this free video series our expert conga player will teach you how to play one drum conga rhythms. You will learn about hand position, basic drumming techniques and sound development for conga drums. You will also learn about the clave and it's role creating rhythms for the conga drum and get tips on playing a variety of Latin music rhythms such as the rumba. If you are interested in learning to play the conga drum, let our expert music instructor teach you the basics of playing a single conga drum in this free music lesson video series.

Video Transcript

"This is the conga drum. This is the middle drum of three drums. The generic name is conga. Conga drum was developed on the island of Cuba back in the 40's, when the hardware was actually put on. Before that, they were tacked on heads and nailed, and they would adjust the skin over it. And they would heat them up, by fire, to raise the pitch or the sound of the drum so it wouldn't sound flat and dead. To play this drum, takes technique, style, form. Hand positioning in playing is part of that technique. Having your arms at a ninety degree angle, your hands placed like this, so that the rim of the drum falls around the knuckle line of your hands. You'll be stroking with this part of your hand, to the drum. Like that. This is the hand positioning to get your sound. There will be other hand positions, for slap, which is like this. Bass, which is like that. Okay? So the first hand position is here. You notice that my wrists are straight, not like that. I lift my wrists and I would raise my hand from the wrist, not my arm. You want to relax the three points of the arm, the shoulder, the elbow, and the wrist. You'll be coming from here, not from here. Not raising the arms. This is about technique and efficiency. Keeping your hands close to the drum, keeping your hands in front of you around the knuckle line. The hand you will stroke from this part of your hand to get a tone. This is your basic hand position. Now this isn't for playing rhythms, this is the hand positioning for doing exercises and creating your sound, developing your sound. Notice how I stroke. I'm not coming down; I'm coming from out and down. Notice I'm not doing that. Hand positioning."