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Thread: Seated or Standing?

  1. #1

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    Default Seated or Standing?

    Hey conga/percussion players, do you like to play seated or standing up? Stands or no stands?

    I personally prefer to be seated when playing congas and don't use any stands at all. I originally used the gibraltar low stands, but found that they were too high off the ground for proper playing posture (with the throne I was using). I got rid of them and having the drums on the ground just feels much more natural. I strattle the lead drum, be it the conga or quinto, and have the other drum to my right. With a 3 or 4 drum setup I will have them in a diamond pattern with the lead drum strattled and the lowest drum on the right.

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Seated or Standing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Gretschhead View Post
    Hey conga/percussion players, do you like to play seated or standing up? Stands or no stands?

    I personally prefer to be seated when playing congas and don't use any stands at all. I originally used the gibraltar low stands, but found that they were too high off the ground for proper playing posture (with the throne I was using). I got rid of them and having the drums on the ground just feels much more natural. I strattle the lead drum, be it the conga or quinto, and have the other drum to my right. With a 3 or 4 drum setup I will have them in a diamond pattern with the lead drum strattled and the lowest drum on the right.
    You know, I think the choice is really a matter of what you can manage physically. I always play sitting down - but, that's a necessity for me, due to physical problems. If that wasn't a limitation for me, I'm sure I'd choose standing up for the sake of being able to dance around while playing. It's good for the show, and lets the player fine-tune their leverage over the drumheads when playing multiple drums. Having said that, I should qualify it by saying that it also depends on what kind of music you're playing; i.e., your placement within the orchestration. For example, there are conga ensembles where each of the conga players plays only a single drum. They play in seated positions, with the base of the conga between (held by) their feet. Doing that allows them to add a percussive thump into their riffs via lifting the conga off the floor with their feet, then dropping it back down (which is when the thump happens as it hits the floor). As for whether or not to use stands, I think it really depends on what you're after tonally (closing the drum end diminishes the resonance), and whether or not you're playing standing up. One standing setup I saw that was really very good was 1) Three Congas in a row on stands 2) Two Bongos sets on stands just beyond & slightly higher than the Congas (arranged like 4 drums in a row), and 3) A platform.so the player was elevated off the ground - which changed the leverage for hitting the drumheads, because the Conga heads were at approx. (just slightly above?) waist level. I had the chance to sit in for a couple of songs using that set, and it was really very comfortable (discounting that I had to stand the entire time).
    Last edited by scruffyeagle; 11-17-2008 at 11:33 AM. Reason: Spelling Typo

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Seated or Standing?

    I like your thoughts scruffy. I feel you on the physicalities of standing up the whole set. I had knee surgery about a year ago and standing for extended periods of time can be pretty painful on the knee. In fact, now that I think about it, it was my surgery that caused me to switch from a standing setup to a sitting. So I guess it just comes down to comfort.

  4. #4

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    I personally enjoy standing up for the reason that you mentioned Scruffy - I enjoy moving in rhythm with the music. I really like to feel the music as I play.
    Quoting gonefishin: Just have some bacon with ya when you go pick her up..........youre an instant chick magnet.





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  5. #5

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    Cool Re: Seated or Standing?

    I have played congas both ways (seated and standing), so here's the bongobro's take:

    Traditionally, Cuban congueros have played seated (so scruffy and Gretschhead, you're playing them the Cuban way, as I do--see the picture of my setup in the album section and you'll get the idea!). I prefer playing seated because, as I have learned from experience at Walmart, extended standing makes my legs and ankles hurt! Besides, it feels cool to play them the way the Cubans do (even if mine don't sound the way theirs do!)

    Regarding my setup, the CPs are on little rubber feet (available from LP) that raise the quinto and conga about 1 1/2" off the floor, which provides that "percussive thump" scruffy describes when each player plays only one conga. My Pancho Sanchez tumba, however, is flat on the floor; with the acoustics of the church auditorium being what they are, I have had little if any problem with makin' the tumba thunder when needed. Also, with the CPs on feet and the Remo flat, the heads are all the same height, since the Remo is about 1 1/2" taller than the CPs.

    However, as PB rightly points out, playing while standing lets you move to the beat (and that Remo strap you see in my current av--and I review elsewhere) lets you walk around and even dance while rockin' the conga (sorta like Desi Arnaz doin' "Babalu"). And if you're playin' only one conga, it's very comfortable and gives you the thumps you need.

    Most of my playing starts on the conga (the center drum in that ^-shaped set-up) and shifts off to the quinto, with the tumba providing some tasty accents as needed. And scruffy, my bongos are above and just to the right of the conga, which makes for some fast and easy shifting from one to the other...

    Gretschhead, if I ever play a fourth conga (requinto or supertumba), I'll try your diamond pattern! (Actually I have, but they were two sets of quintos and congas, so there wasn't much of a difference to me!)
    keep the beat goin' ... Don't keep it to yourself!

    Charlie

    "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." --Henry David Thoreau, "Walden," 1854

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