Hey guys, Paulo here from Conga Chops.com, and welcome back to our quick tip lesson series.

Now before we get started, make sure you hit like, and subscribe,

and turn on your notifications for the channel, so you know as soon as our next lesson is up.

In last week’s lesson, we worked on three different ways to voice the same figure,

while playing two eighth notes leading into a downbeat.

This week, I’m wanna focus on the second eighth note of the bar, the “and” of one, to get our inspiration.

Now, actively focusing a specific beat to use as a landing pad or jumping off point

is a great way for us to get really comfortably playing different shapes,

no matter where we are in the bar, or where we are within our tumbao pattern.

This is a great way to think about different phrases in order to make the choice about what to practice.

Of course when we find ourselves in a musical situation,

we really don’t want to be relying on thinking of these shapes as they're notated,

ideally we want have them mastered so that we can implement them freely in our playing,

as we make them a part of our musical language.

So, for this first tumbao variation, let’s work on a four-bar phrase in 2-3 Clave.

All we’re going to do is play a single open tone on beat four in the second bar,

and two open tones on the first two eighth notes of the following bar.

Now, I really like how this feels when I leave a rest on the “and” of four

to give the groove some breathing room,

but if you want to play a ghost note or tip instead, that can work great too.

Just make sure you take the time to practice it slowly, so you can adjust the sticking.

For our next variation, we’re essentially going to play the same exact thing,

except we’ll leave out the open tone on the downbeat.

I’ll also fill in those rests with a palm-tip so you can hear the difference in the feel

when I make sure I’m playing all of the eighth notes in the bar.

This specific variation feels great to me when I add in that palm-tip that would otherwise be two rests.

But at a faster tempo, it might be a bit more comfortable

to leave the empty space provided by one or two eighth notes.

Now, these are small details that you can sort out as you go.

Once you have the shape in mind of what you’re hearing,

you can always choose to “stick” it however it feels comfortable.

Now playing the downbeat with a less resonant tone like our tip

as opposed to a more resonant tone like our open tone,

really helps accent the upbeat on the “and” of one,

allowing that note to serve as a point of tension, before getting back into the groove.

Now for this last variation, I’m gonna to add another open tone, on beat two,

to connect our figure, with the two low-drum tones we’re playing on the “and” of two and beat three.

You’ll hear that this simple change will transform tension we created

and turn it into a single more fluid musical idea.

Let’s work on this slowly over a 2-3 Clave.

These three examples are more suited to be used as variations in the “up” section of an arrangement:

more specifically when the timbale player is mainly playing bell,

the bongocero is playing a handheld bell,

and the conga player is playing his or her main groove using two or more drums.

Using them in a “down” section, where the timbalero is playing cascara, could prove a bit tricky,

because the phrase might create a bit too much tension

and distract from a lead vocal in a salsa setting for example.

And, these variations also just tend to feel more natural in higher intensity sections.

So let’s work on playing these three variations freely at a bit faster tempo.

And remember we can use these however as often as we’d like,

just as long as we’re aware of the musical situation we’re in.

For this next example, I’ll work them over our Conga Chop Modern Montuno 2 Practice Loop.

So, the key to implementing all of these variations effectively, is to first develop a solid Tumbao.

It’s something you should be working on everyday as part of your practice routine.

Your Tumbao on one drum, two or more drums and of course your baqueteo,

will ultimately serve as the foundation for almost everything else

you begin to develop on the drum within the afro-cuban tradition.

We then want to study these variations slowly with a metronome, to polish the sticking and the tones,

before we work on them at faster tempos

and see if there’s anything we want to adjust anything as we speed them up.

Next, we need to make sure we’re always listening out for these phrases,

whether it’s in a timba, salsa, or latin jazz setting, to start to develop a feel for when and how to use them.

If you’re interested in checking out a ton of exercises to help you develop your sound, your tumbao,

and ultimately develop a killer practice routine that you can work on to improve daily,

no matter much or how little experience you have playing congas.

I strongly encourage you to take advantage of our 7-Day Free Trial on Congachops.com.

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and our members-only community forum,

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Thanks for watching!