rold Posted March 9, 2002 Share Posted March 9, 2002 Doing a little experimentation on this song I'm working on....is there any "standard" tuning for bongos - certain frequencies or harmonies on the key of the song? Just can't get them to sound right..Any tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance, Harold meh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzman Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 Hi,'rold, sorry I didn't get to you sooner, here is a link that may help you. http://rhythmweb.com/bongo/ Hope this helps.......... My fade out......... Jazzman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrummerCafe Posted March 16, 2002 Share Posted March 16, 2002 Originally posted by Jazzman: http://rhythmweb.com/bongo/ Although this is a nice little article, it's very vague on a few things ... which I'll try and clear up. Number one, there is no set tuning for the bongos. The sound should be crisp, and the drums should really "sing" when you tap them. You probably know most of this since you have already mentioned that they don't sound right to you. The article mentions about being careful when tuning, which is correct. One thing that it fails to mention is that you want to tune the drum by moving from lug to lug. Don't cross tune like you would on a drum which uses a mylar head. When tuning calfskin you want to start with one lug, then move on to the next one, until you've made it all the way around. Typically there are only four lugs on the macho (small drum, meaning "male") and the hembre (large drum, meaning "female"). As far as pitch goes, yes you can go for an interval of a Perfect 4th between the drums (which is the same interval used on guitar/bass strings). This is NOT necessarily a standard practice, although it may sound nice in certain situations. In Afro-Cuban music, the drums are more commonly tuned in such a way that they are octave apart. The most important thing is that you tune the drums so the sound good! Although I'm a gringo, I've played percussion for a good number of Cuban, Mexican and South American acts; many of which were live recordings. I've turned a few players heads just from my bongo sound. What follows goes something like this ... "man, your drums sound great. Most of the guys we work with never tune the bongos right; your's sound perfect!" All of this to say that it's quite common for people to NOT tune the bongos high enough ... for latin music that is. So, listen to some authentic recordings that demonstrate the sound you need and COPY IT. Experiment and tune SLOWLY. Because I live in an area where the weather changes daily, I make a point to loose the skin on all my hand drums ... especially the bongos. If you leave it cranked up, the skin may split with the dryer climate. Remember, it's skin ... just like what's on your body; so take care of it. Drummer Cafe - community drum & percussion forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rold Posted March 22, 2002 Author Share Posted March 22, 2002 Hi Jazz, Bart: Thanks for the link and the tips - helped a million! Actually managed to track a half-decent bongo track thanks to these tips...would be nice to have a real percussionist, but did what I could on short notice.. Thanks again, Harold meh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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