Playing a conga solo isn’t all about chops. Some of the best improvisation is sparse and melodic. Okay … chops are pretty cool, too. But it’s not enough to keep things interesting. So I thought about a list of things to consider when developing ideas for a conga solo.
Conga solos, like any improvisation, should be musical, appealing, creative, and take on some formal elements that make the song better. The solos that seem out of place are often disconnected from the songs in which they are placed. To avoid this, consider some of the tips on this list.
The list is somewhat in order of the way many players think about ideas. Many of these ideas work together, so if it feels like you are doing several of them at once, you’re on the right track.
Try some of these techniques, and listen to great congueros to catch them doing some of the things on the list. These tips, however, are only guidelines as you develop your own ideas as to how to play a conga solo.
1. Be Patient When Developing a Conga Solo
Try starting a conga solo with sparse syncopated sounds to tease ideas and gradually form rhythmic themes (see 8). Build the theme by adding more and more of the rhythm into the phrase, like shown in the example below.
Find the space in the rhythm instruments that are supporting you. These spaces will allow your improvisations to stand out. Consider this tip as you try some of the following. It may make more sense after going through this whole list.
2. Use Different Sounds
Think of conga sounds as open or closed. The closed tones include bass tone, mute tone, touch, toe, and closed slap. The open sounds are the slaps and tones, and these sounds are generally the ones that come through the mix.
Although the open sounds tend to be louder, don’t underestimate the muted sounds. These sounds can add a contrast to the open sounds that find a way to be heard and felt.
Consider using sounds as double stops and in combination. This includes examples like an open tone on one drum and a slap on another played at the same time (see the below).
Related: Good Sounds on Congas – Developing 5 Basic Techniques
3. Play a Conga Solo With Dynamics
Consider how loud you want to play and when to establish dynamics that support where you want to take the conga solo. If everything you play is all the same volume, it becomes like listening to someone do a talk in monotone.
Try crescendos into sections that are louder, and try transitioning into sections that are much quieter. You can use dynamics to define phrases much like how rhythm or melody marks a phrase
The example below applies a crescendo (getting louder) to the single-stroke roll on the quinto. The roll resolves with a slap on the quinto, and sets up the second measure in terms of volume. The second measure contrasts the roll with sparse slaps and tones to open up the rhythm and reconnect with clave.
4. Apply Rudiments to Your Conga Solo
Some conga players apply rudiments like double stroke rolls and paradiddles to their conga solos. Although these rudiments are very cool, it doesn’t have to be a chop fest.
The first example of applying rudiments to conga solo includes basic accented and unaccented groupings with some flams at the end of the phrase. The accents punctuate the pattern and the flams open up the rhythm to contrast the rest of the phrase with fewer subdivisions of the beat.
Hirtas are one of my favorite rudiments. I grew up listening to Carter Beauford play hirtas on the snare, toms, and cymbals. They are an easy way to spice up a conga solo and add some intensity to a phrase.
The examples below include different conga sounds. Make sure your slaps and tones are clearly defined. Otherwise, the hirtas and the phrase will be messy and perhaps not too exciting.
5. Use Quinto Parts and Licks
Let’s take rumba guaguanco from Matanzas, Cuba. The Quinto, like the salidor and segundo, has a part and improvisation (licks) in relation to clave and the other drums.
The parts and licks overlap and take on a particular phrasing, while maintaining a connection with the dancers. The examples below show the basic quinto part as well as an example of a lick and extended phrase.
Consider using the ideas from quinto parts and improvisation because they are already designed to stand out among other rhythm instruments. Plus, they provide more opportunities for interaction among the supporting musicians complimenting the conga solo.
6. Call and Response in Your Solo
The call and response musical concept was brought to Cuba from Africa via the slave trade. Although practice of one musical phrase calling another’s response goes back to European music brought to the island, it’s more explicit roots are from Africa.
Clave itself is a call and response rhythm. The one side calls or answers the other. The conga drum parts, which are always in relation clave, are also calling and responding in formal ways. Since the foundational music from which the congas were developed includes call and response, it’s no surprise that the concept works for a conga solo, as well.
Related: Clave Rhythm – A Brief History Of A Sacred Popular Rhythm
The idea is simple. Play something, and play something that answers the first thing. The example below is a four-measure phrase with the same call on the two side of the clave. The response is on the three side and includes some variation for each response.
Call and response brings us to the next tip on the list – play melodically.
7. Play Melodically
Use different drums and different sounds to create melodies to build your conga solo. Consider the movement of pitches up and down and resolutions at the top, bottom, or middle of the range of potential sounds.
Try playing simple melodies to songs you know. The example below is to the tune of Frère Jacques. It’s for two drums with four different sounds, so it’s not perfect. But it still works to support the need to develop a fluency for expressing melody during a solo.
This exercise will help you develop themes as well as quoting melodic material during your solo. It will connect the ideas you hear in your head to the techniques you’ve developed on the conga drums.
Playing melodically will benefit from the call and response tip, as well as other tips on this list like the next one — themes and variations.
8. Themes and Variations
Once you have melodies with themes, try changing up the themes with variations on the melodic idea. We call this themes and variations.
The example below is only a two-measure lick that is varied slightly in the second line. Consider using variations to help develop call and response ideas. This tip also works well to establish song form.
9. Develop a Song Form for Your Conga Solo
Try a song form like AABA. Play something, play it again, play something different, then play the first thing again.
If you’re still not getting the concept, listen to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The verse is AABA. The same melody is repeated twice before the song uses a different melodic phrase. It brings the melody back to the same phrase that started the song, and it repeats.
Do this with loose structure, too. Not every A section has to be exactly the same as the last. You can do variations on the melodies and use dome of the other tips on this list like themes and variations, call and response, dynamics, rudiments, and everything.
These tips are cumulative — building on one another
10. Have Fun!
Most importantly, you are in the driver’s seat. It’s your solo. Have fun! Enjoy the drum sounds and the music you create with them.
It’s the best when other musicians in the group feed off your playing and compliment your solo with hits of their own. It raises the energy and begins to develop a vocabulary for conversation as a group, which should ultimately be one the for ensemble performance.
Final Thoughts
If you try these tips and still feel unsure about your conga solo ideas, perhaps you are being too hard on yourself. It’s easy to watch a master conguero play with effortless chops and think that you should play the same way to catch the attention of the audience. But it wouldn’t be you.
Play your ideas. This list of tips are guidelines, not rules. Follow the tips, don’t follow tips, and come up with your own ideas and concepts for developing a conga solo.