The Incredible Bongo Band used both congas and bongos. I guess the Incredible Conga Band wouldn’t have been as marketable, especially considering people still ask me to play my bongos. Half of the time, if I’m asked to play “bongos,” I end up playing congas, further confusing the congas vs. bongo question. What’s the difference, anyway?
It’s not actually a question for many people because perhaps they haven’t thought much about it. Since I am trained in Afro-Cuban percussion and music, my brain is wired for the stark contrast these instruments present. Regardless of how knowledgeable some may be about congas or bongo, I try to give all requests the benefit of the doubt and get to the part where good music is played and appreciated.
Although size matters a lot when comparing congas and bongos, the sounds, design, techniques, and patterns are just as different. Additionally, the development of these instruments have some similarities and differences — being rooted in the Afro-Atlantic exchanges, yet spawning from different Cuban ensembles.
Today, congas and bongos (really called bongo) are one of three main drum parts in a salsa ensemble. Add timbales to the two, and you have the battery of most salsa-based Latin jazz groups, as well as many of the timba ensembles of modern Cuban popular music.
Let’s get into the specific characteristics of these drums.
1. Size
The size of the drums is the most obvious difference between congas and bongos. Congas are larger in diameter, and the depth of the shells is much larger than on bongo.
Although sizes for each type of drum can vary from one model to another, the following sizes are the most common among the top brands.
| Congas | 11 inch, 11.75 inch, 12.5 inch |
| Bongos | 7.15 inch, 8.5 inch |
Related: Best Replacement Head for Congas or Bongo – Real or Fake?
2. Sounds
Bongo sounds are higher in pitch and thinner in terms of the air that they move. The drums are smaller, so they just can’t impact the soundscape like a conga drum.
The way the sounds are produced is also a major difference. Bongo sounds are made with mostly fingers, while congas more often incorporate the entire hand. You can play a slap on bongo like you would play a slap on congas, but even then the sound is different because we’re back to the drum size difference.
Conga sounds have more resonance because the waves that travel through the drum head can move farther before bouncing back and canceling out sound. Plus, the bongo heads are proportionally tighter, further restricting the travel of waves moving through the drum head to one end and back.
I didn’t think I was going to get to scientific, but think of it like dropping a big rock in a round swimming pool versus dropping a rock in a small kiddie pool. The waves come back to the origin of the wave faster in a kiddie pool and lose energy. Sound works very similarly.
3. Design
The fact that bongo has two drums connected to one another is the most fundamental design difference between the two. Congas can be mounted two drums on one stand, but it’s not the same. You will see a drummer playing on one conga, but you’re not likely to see someone playing one bongo drum — just the macho.
4. Origin
Bongo was used in the dance band orquestras of Cuban decades before the conga drum was adapted to these groups. The congas was added to Cuban Ensembles in the 1930s, while bongo had been played since the late 1800s.
The beginnings of salsa were established when the bands in Cuban and the United States started playing with both congas and bongos (and timbales).
5. Technique
Although both congas and bongos are played with hands, each instrument requires different techniques to produce the sounds. Bongo techniques involve more individual fingers while congas use more of the whole hand.
Tones on bongo are produced by striking the drum head with either one or three fingers. Strokes can be either with the finger(s) up to the first joint or up to the second joint (knuckle). The difference between how many joints you use to make the sound will determine the tone that you produce.
This article on how to play bongo includes more explanation and pictures of specific bongo techniques.
Basic conga sounds, like slaps and open tones, are produced by striking the drum near the edge of the head with the part of your hand where the palm meets the fingers.
For more detailed information on conga sounds, check out this article that explains each sound and technique.
6. Patterns
Martillo is the main pattern for bongo. It means “hammer,” and that’s exactly what your fingers will do for the duration of the song, hammer the drums. This is why playing with excellent technique is so important in avoiding injuries.
Bongo: Martillo
Tumbao is the main pattern on congas. This pattern, like martillo, is all eighth notes with specific sounds assigned to each note. The main sounds are slaps and tones, filled in with heel and toe strokes.
Congas: Tumbao
Check out this article for more conga patterns.
🔽 10 Conga Patterns FREE Download 🔽
7. Role in Ensembles
The roles of congas and bongos in a modern salsa or Latin jazz ensemble are different. Bongo plays more improvisation around martillo and a certain accent pattern, while congas are the heart of the drums in the ensemble.
The tumbao played in congas is like a backbeat with a slap and two tones. The marcha pattern played with heel, toe, and touch strokes adds a thickness to the ensemble that’s also supported by the bongo playing.
Bongo players have a compana (cowbell) part that’s played when the song moves to the louder section of the arrangement. This bell part anchors the group on the half note pulse and keeps the band together while the montuno section supports solos and more overall volume and energy.
8. Popularity
Bongos are more than twice as popular than congas, according to search volume on the Internet. Although search volume tools can be inaccurate, the inaccuracies in numbers are not the real problem with this conclusion.
If bongo is searched more, why are my conga article and videos three to fours more popular than the bongo material? Perhaps this has more to do with the amount of material I’ve made on bongo — it’s been significantly less than congas. But it could also be because a lot of people search bongos to buy a set or to learn about them because they know nothing.
Maybe congas are more popular than bongo yet bongo wins the data game because people who think they are interested in bongos are actually wanting to know about congas. I bet some people looking to purchase bongos are actually look for a doumbek or djembe.
Nonetheless, congas and bongos are still searched as much as instruments like drum set, so they are at least as relevant as the most common type of drums in pop music.
9. Portability
Bongos win the portability question. Congas are much bigger, heavier, and can be harder to take places when the vehicle is filled with other things.
You can take your bongo on the train, walk through the city, or stuff it in the overhead compartment on a plane. If you do take your congas or bongo on the plane, make sure your tuning wrench is in the checked luggage. It’s a tool and the TSA will take it from you. True story, unfortunately.
If you’re taking congas to a lot of gigs, a truck or van are the way to go. It’s so much easier than stuffing them into a car. If you use bags like I do, the bags will take a beating as you grab the strap and pull them out of the car four times a week. I have a van, now, and it’s the best.
10. Expense
Bongos cost about 60 to 80 percent of what one conga will cost on the top end of the quality. You can buy two congas that sound great for a few hundred dollars and a bongo on the lower end of quality for about a hundred and fifty.
I recommend checking out the prices of these instruments on the Rhythm Notes recommended gear page (see link below). It includes different sizes, models, brands, drum heads, and cases, among other things.
Final Thoughts
What’s more important than the differences between these drums is the great music they can make together. I love the sound and feeling of playing in a salsa or Latin jazz ensemble with timbales, congas, and bongo. The feeling of being one drum part amid our difference layers and interlocking rhythms is when I feel most alive.