Hand Position

[BongoCajon]

Hi Friends,

I hear several different opinions on hand placement and playing on the congas. Some say fingers only past the rim to help prevent injury unless your doing heel-tips and others put knuckles past the rim... what is your playing style and why?

[Gretschhead]

For open tones I strike using the palm of my hand on the bearing edge with the fingers wrapping over the top in a cupping fashion. For slaps my entire hand is on the head with the outside of my palm clsoe to the edge. Allow the meaty part of palm to absorb the impact, not your joints. You will also get a much fuller tone than striking with just your fingers.

[bongobro]

On slaps and fast playing, I pull my fingers back quickly (as a brother conguero shared with me in another thread), like a baby waving "bye-bye"; to me, that makes the notes sound sharper and cleaner.

[BongoCajon]

I find that my right hand slaps can most often sound as good with just the 4 fingers of my left hand pressing down just inside the rim so the left hand is ready for the next move instead of being all the way on the middle of the drum. I had a friend who play's the Djembe tell me he plays his drum, "Gentle playing with fingers in order to hear all the possible sounds and don't overpower which could injure your hands."

[Gretschhead]

I find that my right hand slaps can most often sound as good with just the 4 fingers of my left hand pressing down just inside the rim so the left hand is ready for the next move instead of being all the way on the middle of the drum. I had a friend who play's the Djembe tell me he plays his drum, "Gentle playing with fingers in order to hear all the possible sounds and don't overpower which could injure your hands."

I play all open slaps, i rarely play muffled slaps unless I'm playing a very slow song, or in a tumbao where my hand is already there.

[BongoCajon]

I find myself doing much less heel-tip action and mostly playing just inside the rim for my slaps, opens, taps etc. The heel-tip is becoming more of a fill-in for me now.

[midgard]

Here is how I learned it:

Open tone - Fingers together, hit it so that the outside curve of the drum is along line where my finger connect to my palm, then quickly pull away to allow the open tone to ring out.

Bass - hit the center of the drum with the palm. Again, pulling the hand away to allow the tone to ring out.

Closed Slap - Fingers together, the base of my palm comes down and contacts the outer edge of the drum (not hitting so much as being placed) while the fingers together whip down to hit the head, ending in a slightly cupped manner, griping the head. This is the most common slap I use.

Open Slap - I don't see these on the conga so much, they tend to be more of a djembe thing. But with the fingers splayed and straight, you impact the bearing edge of the head with the base of your palm. This causes your fingers to whip down, hit the head, and bounce back up.

Muted Slap - Same as the slap, but the other hand presses on the head during the slap

Drop - Like the bass, but without the pull back.

Mute - Like the Open, but without the pull back.

[bongobro]

Good definitions, middy!

I don't play the heel-toe with the heel and fingers...I tend to do mine "sideways," using the edge of my left hand (from the heel to the pinky) to mute the drum. This enables me to hit ghost notes with my left thumb, which to me adds a little more complexity to my playing.

Also works well with the bongos, too...