4-Way Coordination with Congas

[Gretschhead]

Hey guys, I'm new to the board today, you will probably see alot of me around here as I can't get enough of talking about drums. I'm a drumset player/percussionist, I spent the last few years focusing on congas, but recently switched my focus back to the kit.

A while ago I was studying with a teacher who was putting a book together at the time called "Congas and 4-Way Coordination". The idea was to have 4 independent limbs playing like with drum set playing. We came up with some really amazing stuff that was an absolute blast to play. For example: left hand playing a basic tumbao rhythm on the conga, right hand playing a clave on the cowbell, accents on the clave down beat on a kick drum, and quarter notes on the high hat with the left foot.

These days there are so many accessories on the market such as the LP Gajate foot bracket where you can attatch a cowbell or woodblock or tambourine, etc. I was checking out a new Meinl cabasa foot pedal that looked really cool today. I've seen Tamboras set up like bass drums before as well.

Do any of you guys use bass drums or hats or other foot accessories with your conga setup? I personally used a hi-hat and a custom 16" kick that I built with my 3 conga setup in the middle.

[bongobro]

Hey, Gretschhead! Welcome aboard! And--as you can guess from my member name--I'm one of the resident hand drummers on this site...

If you have the September '08 Modern Drummer, you'll see an example of a dude whose kit is a perfect example of 4-way coordination...

here's an example of "bongodoggie" in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1TaW-mzH14 "Island Beat"

and that's only the beginning...

Again, welcome aboard, and...

[Gretschhead]

Bongobro, very cool video thanks for posting. I really like his setup and this is exactly what I was talking about. Those are some very nice congas he has too, I'm jealous.