The 7 most common conga sounds

People often think that if you're a drummer then you can play any kind of drum. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unlike the snare drum or tom toms used in modern rock and pop, hand drums like congas, bongos and djembes are played by getting a variety of tones or sounds from just one drum. There are slaps, basses, open tones, open slaps and so on and so on.

This video is designed to be an introduction to what I consider to be the 7 most common and useful sounds that a beginner conga student should learn and master. I teach a lot of young children and this video is made with the idea of supplementing their lessons or serving as a reminder or refresher of the materials I have introduced to them.

Hopefully it will also be useful to viewers who are not fortunate enough to live in a place where learning from a real teacher is possible. I hope I have demonstrated the different sounds in a manner in which it is easy to understand them and that those unable to find instruction are able to take advantage of this video.