Hi, I’m thinking about buying some bongos and have been watching your great videos for inspiration. When you play along to songs,do you go from standard drum notation? Or do you use only bongo patterns? Or do you just follow along to another instrument on the track and improvise? Apologies for the questions, hope you can answer.
I'm certainly not of the traditional school of playing bongos, to be sure, which drives the purists crazy. However, that's not by intention but rather, it's simply been my play way of playing with a handicap and compensating for that lack of musical knowledge and with no prior experiences and exposure to such a structured environment and the disciplines therein (but it's possibly been a freeing agent as well). It's like picking up an instrument the first time in your life (typically as a kid) and finding your own with it, so no notations to speak of and just pure freedom of expression given my aforementioned limitations above. So, I've not had any formal training, mostly being a self-taught thing and playing by ear. When I first started playing bongos, I did watch a few instructional videos and picked up primarily the "martillo" pattern, which is a basic 4-beat pattern that translates very well into lots of other genres of music, I think. It's great when I hear others are getting into bongos and by the numbers of subscribers to my channel, it tells me there is a great interest in the hobby of drumming in miniature. Since my only real experience is playing the kit in a garage band, I tend to think of the bongos as a miniature drum set, and I'm sure it shows in my playing. Finally, to answer your question, I just follow along and my ears pick up on different instruments in the song and I find myself latching on to the musical patterns e.g., I could be following the pattern on the high-hat cymbals, etc. It seems to be a sub-conscious thing and other times, deliberate. Anyway, it's great to hear from another soul on the planet and I appreciate your kind words. I hope you find some bongos and as long as you enjoy playing for the sake of playing, the rest does not matter very much. In the end, there are other videos on YT that can show the proper and more technical way of doing things with these instruments and I recommend for you to explore them. But my own humble attempts at bongo videos are just a way of sharing my personal drumming hobby, all in an attempt to connect with others of the same interests. Best wishes to you, my friend.
bongorilao Hello Sir, and thank you for the long and detailed reply. You may think you have limitations but you are an excellent bongo player. As the old saying goes, limitations breed creativity. I like your outlook on learning, I’m someone who likes structure but maybe I should take your train of thought. Again thanks for the reply and best wishes.
If you want structure, I think a very good teacher on YT is Michael de Miranda, so check out his channel, if you have not already. My thoughts are that teaching is harder than playing, which he has a great gift for showing the patterns which will get you started. Like everything, once you've gotten the feel of it, then you can begin to really explore the instrument on your own, ie, get past the initial mechanics of playing and too many rules. Thanks for the interest and exchanging your thoughts with me on this Internet thingy.
You are a beast, bongorilao! Great video, great beat.
Some days the bongo Gods are more favorable than others. Thanks for the positive bits of energy.
awesome!! love all your vids :D
Thanks kind Soul!
Nice! Thanks for share
Hello Brother.
Nice song!
Eres grande!!! So sick!!
Nice cover Mr Bongorilao!!!
Thanks very much, Sir!
Hi, I’m thinking about buying some bongos and have been watching your great videos for inspiration. When you play along to songs,do you go from standard drum notation? Or do you use only bongo patterns? Or do you just follow along to another instrument on the track and improvise? Apologies for the questions, hope you can answer.
I'm certainly not of the traditional school of playing bongos, to be sure, which drives the purists crazy. However, that's not by intention but rather, it's simply been my play way of playing with a handicap and compensating for that lack of musical knowledge and with no prior experiences and exposure to such a structured environment and the disciplines therein (but it's possibly been a freeing agent as well). It's like picking up an instrument the first time in your life (typically as a kid) and finding your own with it, so no notations to speak of and just pure freedom of expression given my aforementioned limitations above. So, I've not had any formal training, mostly being a self-taught thing and playing by ear. When I first started playing bongos, I did watch a few instructional videos and picked up primarily the "martillo" pattern, which is a basic 4-beat pattern that translates very well into lots of other genres of music, I think. It's great when I hear others are getting into bongos and by the numbers of subscribers to my channel, it tells me there is a great interest in the hobby of drumming in miniature. Since my only real experience is playing the kit in a garage band, I tend to think of the bongos as a miniature drum set, and I'm sure it shows in my playing. Finally, to answer your question, I just follow along and my ears pick up on different instruments in the song and I find myself latching on to the musical patterns e.g., I could be following the pattern on the high-hat cymbals, etc. It seems to be a sub-conscious thing and other times, deliberate. Anyway, it's great to hear from another soul on the planet and I appreciate your kind words. I hope you find some bongos and as long as you enjoy playing for the sake of playing, the rest does not matter very much. In the end, there are other videos on YT that can show the proper and more technical way of doing things with these instruments and I recommend for you to explore them. But my own humble attempts at bongo videos are just a way of sharing my personal drumming hobby, all in an attempt to connect with others of the same interests. Best wishes to you, my friend.
bongorilao Hello Sir, and thank you for the long and detailed reply. You may think you have limitations but you are an excellent bongo player. As the old saying goes, limitations breed creativity. I like your outlook on learning, I’m someone who likes structure but maybe I should take your train of thought. Again thanks for the reply and best wishes.
If you want structure, I think a very good teacher on YT is
Michael de Miranda, so check out his channel, if you have not already. My thoughts are that teaching is harder than playing, which he has a great gift for showing the patterns which will get you started. Like everything, once you've gotten the feel of it, then you can begin to really explore the instrument on your own, ie, get past the initial mechanics of playing and too many rules. Thanks for the interest and exchanging your thoughts with me on this Internet thingy.