The Conga Era − 11 May, 2006
For years, I played with a drum machine. How I came to hate it. The robotic grind of the relentless, even beat -- annoying, like listening to a washing machine spin. Then I joined a few real bands in town and got spoiled by playing with a real drummer.
I decided I wanted to learn to play drums. However, I have a few weird musical handicaps:
One, I can't talk when I play, not at all, not even a word. This was a problem in my first jazz band, since I was the band leader -- but the eventually learned to listen to how I was playing the chords and keep their place that way. Sensible.
The second one is more bizarre. When I play, I can't move my feet. I don't know why, but years of people telling me to tap my foot for this beat, or for that one, or anything -- just doesn't work. It seems like most of my brainpower is turned to playing the instrument, and the rest of the world turns to shadows. When I'm playing, I enter a state where only the music matters, and time seems to go by in fits and starts out in the real world. For some reason, my legs don't make it into this shadow universe with me, but stay in the real world, no doubt providing important functions like keeping me from falling over.
Well, that's a big handicap for drumset.
My hands are a different story. I picked up keyboard without any formal lessons, only previous experience with jazz guitar and a lot of theory books. Within a week, I'd already recorded my first tune.
Now, about this time, I got into Latin music, and one of my heroes was Poncho Sanchez. I thought: hmm.
So I began playing conga drums. At first, I had a small beginner set. But on this day, May 11, 2006, I got my first professional grade congas.
What I play is a set of three Meinl Woodcraft Series congas: the largest is the tumba, the middle is the conga, and the smallest is the quinto. I ordered them from a family owned business, Music Explorium in Durham, NC.
I can only tell you the difference was amazing. These drums have a rich, full sound that makes you want to groove. I recorded all of my second Jamendo album, handmade, using these drums as the main percussion.
Today, I'm working on my skills in preparation for my third Jamendo album: as we say in Jazz, I'm "in the Woodshed." My earlier experiment with trumpet didn't work out so well; but the conga drums are here to stay.
I decided I wanted to learn to play drums. However, I have a few weird musical handicaps:
One, I can't talk when I play, not at all, not even a word. This was a problem in my first jazz band, since I was the band leader -- but the eventually learned to listen to how I was playing the chords and keep their place that way. Sensible.
The second one is more bizarre. When I play, I can't move my feet. I don't know why, but years of people telling me to tap my foot for this beat, or for that one, or anything -- just doesn't work. It seems like most of my brainpower is turned to playing the instrument, and the rest of the world turns to shadows. When I'm playing, I enter a state where only the music matters, and time seems to go by in fits and starts out in the real world. For some reason, my legs don't make it into this shadow universe with me, but stay in the real world, no doubt providing important functions like keeping me from falling over.
Well, that's a big handicap for drumset.
My hands are a different story. I picked up keyboard without any formal lessons, only previous experience with jazz guitar and a lot of theory books. Within a week, I'd already recorded my first tune.
Now, about this time, I got into Latin music, and one of my heroes was Poncho Sanchez. I thought: hmm.
So I began playing conga drums. At first, I had a small beginner set. But on this day, May 11, 2006, I got my first professional grade congas.
What I play is a set of three Meinl Woodcraft Series congas: the largest is the tumba, the middle is the conga, and the smallest is the quinto. I ordered them from a family owned business, Music Explorium in Durham, NC.
I can only tell you the difference was amazing. These drums have a rich, full sound that makes you want to groove. I recorded all of my second Jamendo album, handmade, using these drums as the main percussion.
Today, I'm working on my skills in preparation for my third Jamendo album: as we say in Jazz, I'm "in the Woodshed." My earlier experiment with trumpet didn't work out so well; but the conga drums are here to stay.
