Bongo drums are typically played as a pair, with one larger drum (known as the hembra) held on the right and its smaller counterpart held on the left – both can then be struck using various parts of your hand to produce music.
Beginners can start out with simple beats and gradually advance towards tones and faster rhythms.
Start with a Small Bongo
Bongo drums, usually constructed of wood, consist of two wooden cylinders connected by wooden pins that connect them. Once together they’re mounted with hardware and one drumhead that can be tuned to alter its sound. Though an entire set may tempt you, starting small is best so that you can master basic techniques before trying more complex rhythms.
Bongos, commonly played between your knees, involve striking the drumhead using different parts of your hand to create unique sounds. Striking gently is key; hard hits could damage hands if done too forcefully; instead, strike near (but not directly on) bearing edge to generate open tone tones and protect hands at once.
Use cupped fingers when striking the head of a drum to add an accented, or louder note and to add style and flair to your playing. Furthermore, try striking with the heel of your palm for a muted strike – to do this rock back and forth between heel and tip of fingers as in “Manoteo,” which allows for playing several styles of bongos simultaneously.
At first, let’s focus on an easy pattern that will complement any music genre you listen to. This rhythm consists of four notes on a larger drum called the macho followed by two on the smaller one called hembra – this can often be found in Latin music recordings and recordings alike – you can learn this rhythm either through listening or by reading standard percussion notation notations.
Size Matters
Bongo drums are two open-bottomed drums in various sizes used as hand drums in Cuban music and is most frequently played alongside conga or tumbadora rhythms. Their larger drum is known as the “hembra,” while their smaller one is known as the “macho.” Bongos should always be held with the “hembra” on the left and “macho” on the right – initially this seems somewhat counterintuitive!
Like congas, bongos offer an accessible musical experience for beginners. Made of wood cylinders with tight skin stretched tightly over their surfaces – known as bearing edges – bongos offer an extensive array of tones and techniques; striking their bearing edges using one or multiple fingers can change its sound depending on finger position on hand and can help produce different tones altogether.
Beginners should start out by learning a simple rhythm called martillo that allows for consistent bongo playing without too much variance in timing between notes. Once this step is accomplished, most other beginning drummers will fall behind!
Once you master the martillo, you can progress into more beginner patterns and grooves on bongos. Bongos are very flexible instruments that can fit almost any genre of music; Latin styles tend to suit rhythms that feature Martillo accented beats 2 and 4, while rock songs typically prefer more open tones on their right drum.
As your bongo skills advance, upgrading to higher quality instruments may become necessary. Serious bongoseros often spend considerable money purchasing high-grade bongo drums. A quality bongo can produce deeper sound with reduced vibration for easier hearing of different strokes; also important when upgrading is that any replacements be in good condition without cracks or other signs of wear and tear.
Rhythms
Bongo drums offer a diverse array of rhythms to play. These range from easy rhythms that can be picked up simply by listening to music and mimicking it to more complex patterns that require using standard percussion notation notations.
Beginners can start out by moving their fingers back and forth over the drum, experimenting with various sounds. A basic open tone stroke involves gently hitting the head with thumb and index finger to produce a clear, rich note without overtones; muted tone strokes create sounds similar to open tones but without their overtones.
Slap Strokes can also add flair and color to your drumming by cupping fingertips slightly as you strike the head of the drum, producing louder notes that add flare.
Once you’ve learned these different strokes, it’s time to apply them in rhythm. Bongos are typically found in Afro-Cuban music genres such as salsa and reggae; however they may also be present in jazz or reggae styles of popular music.
To play a simple bongo rhythm, start by placing both hands over two drums: the larger “macho” drum and smaller “hembra.” Gently place your fingertips over each drumhead without touching any of its rims; start playing tones on beats 1 and 4, starting on the macho drum (play it first!), before switching over to playing two tone on beats 2 and 3, playing one tone per beat 1-4 or vice versa (2-3); switch back over for beats 7-8 before returning back onto macho for beats 10/11 to begin more complex patterns of playing bongo drumming! Once you mastering these two basic strokes it’s time to move onto more complex patterns of play; start building complex patterns based on these basic patterns!
Techniques
Before moving onto more advanced patterns, you must learn some fundamental rhythms. Bongos are easy to play but require knowledge of certain tricks for maximum enjoyment – even if this is your first experience playing music, learning these fundamentals will improve your timing, coordination and musical sensibility.
Bongo technique begins with the open tone stroke: to play this style of bongos, strike the head of the drum with the knuckled part of your palm while allowing your fingers to bounce off its edge, producing a clear note without overtones.
Slap stroke is another excellent stroke to add color and volume to your drumming, providing an accent note with louder tones. Simply cup your hand slightly as you strike the drumhead, and relax your fingers after contact to create a popping sound with higher pitch – creating an accent note!
Additional techniques that can make your bongos sing are the muted strike and heel-toe techniques. A muted strike involves striking the drum with one hand while deadening its slap using another – this method works especially well when playing bongos due to their inherent sound-making potential. Manoteo drumming involves two parts; heel-toe is simply rocking your hand back and forth between heel and toe. You may also try finger rolls – quickly moving fingers across drumheads quickly to produce different tones – for added variety. Foot pedals may provide more experienced percussionists with the means to balance hand-drumming techniques with feet rhythms and add another layer of articulation to their sound, adding another creative dimension. Though not standard in Afro-Cuban drumming, foot pedals may add extra flare and creativity to their playing experience.
Practice
To play bongo drums successfully, it will require some dedicated practice time. Either listening to music and following along while you play along or learning bongo notation which resembles standard percussion notation may work well; we will focus on the latter here.
First things first when reading bongo sheet music: the upper line represents the macho drum while the lower one represents the hembra; quarter notes and eighth notes can be distinguished using dots and solid lines respectively. As an example rhythm, we’ll focus on keeping an even beat on our macho drum before adding accents with our hembra.
Once you are comfortable with basic rhythms, the next step should be adding more dynamics into your playing. To do so, work on developing finger techniques; if your fingertips start hurting this is a telltale sign that your palm may be hitting the drum instead. In such instances, moisturizing hand cream could provide much-needed protection from further injury to fingers.
One way to expand the dynamic range of your playing is to cup your fingers while hitting drum heads, creating louder notes with more color and character.
As you develop your technique, it’s also essential that you use caution not to hit the drums with too much force, which could cause your fingers to strike against the edge of the head and wear away at your knuckles over time. Furthermore, prolonged playing requires using moisturizer to prevent hands from drying out and cracking as a result of playing for extended periods.