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 by Jim Greiner
More and more often, conga players are tuning their drums to specific
pitches and/or intervals. This is not absolutely required, but it does
open up new areas of playing possibilities.
Some people use a pitch pipe or keyboard, and some use an electronic
chromatic tuner. Whatever method you use, this is a great way for us
to develop the ability to recognize pitches and intervals. That is...
to “tune” our ears!
In my previous article, “Tuning Your Conga Drums”, I coverd
some of the fundamentals of how to tune congas and how to find the
resonant, “sweet spots” when tuning.
I will briefly review just a few of the most important of those tips
that LP also recommends, though. Reviewing my previous article will
also provide more information on the how and why of these tips:
Tune by going around the drum head, do not crisscross it
Tune each lug to the same pitch
Tune each lug in small to medium increments
Tune your drums down at the end of each day
I asked several other LP artists for their own tuning suggestions,
as well. I’ve included these here, in addition to my own specific
tuning concepts.
I play in a 10 piece band that performs at corporate events and resortsd
worldwide. I usually use two congas in this band, the LP805Z
Galaxy Giovanni 11” (head diamerter) Quinto and the LP806Z
11-3/4” Conga.
I tune the Conga to a G and the Quinto to a C a fourth higher. This
is the same interval between the first two notes of Mendlesohn’s “Wedding
March”. Sing the first two words, “Here comes...”,
to get an idea of this interval.
This is a tuning that I settled on many years ago because it gave
me a very melodic sound that worked with a wide range of musical styles
and key centers. As it turns out, many of the people with whom I discuss
conga tuning also use these pitches and./or this interval.
Here are some suggestions by a few of today’s top percussionists:
Richie
Garcia: “Generally I use 3 congas. I’ll use a 4th
between the conga and tumba and a 2nd or 3rd on the 3rd drum.”
Bobby
Sanabria: “I use two tumbadoras (low drum), a conga and
a quinto.I utilize a tumbadora tuned to a G or F and then tune the
other drums in intervals of fourth or fifths up from that.
Bobby gave me not only his own tuning method, but also those of two
of the originators of contemporary conga playing:
“Candido
Camero utilizes the tuning D, C, A with his lowest
tuned drum, the D to his left with the C in the middle and the A to
the outside right. He always plays standing up and does not use drums
of different sizes but rather three congas/llamadoras (the middle sized
drum) because they fit in the trunk of his car! I'm not kidding. :)
“Patato
Valdez utilizes F, G, Bb(flat), C. The lowest drum to
the outside left is the F. Then to the extreme outside right he utilizes
the G, then the Bb(flat) to the inside of that with the highest note,
C to the inside of that. Patato utilizes two tumbadoras, a conga and
a quinto and occasionally even a requinto, a 9" drum.
Michael
Spiro: “I don't necessarily tune to specific pitches.
I just tune to distinct pitches, looking more for where the drum
sounds good to itself rather than anything particular. The exception
is when I'm playing in a conjunto context, in which case my tumba
is at a G, and my conga is tuned to the C above it.”
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