Playing The Bongo Drums
The bongo drums are a pair of drums joined together by a piece of wood as shown. You can play them with your hands by either alternating right and left hands on the same drum or by alternating hands on separate drums.
Strike the center of the drum with the part of your hand shown in the middle photo. When you play a drum with your hands, it is important to strike the drum quickly and be sure your hand doesn’t remain in contact with the drum. The movement of each hand should start from your wrist.
To begin playing the bongo drums, alternate the hands on one drum at first. Try to get the same sound with each hand as you play. If you don’t have bongo drums, any drum will work for these exercises. If you don’t have a drum, you can get a good sound by turning a bucket upside down and playing on the bottom of it.
The Eighth Note
This is an eighth note. It lasts for half a count. There are eight eighth notes in one bar of * time. When eighth notes are joined together, the tails are replaced by one beam.
Remember to alternate your hands right, left, right, left to play this exercise.
To become more comfortable with the timing of eighth notes, it is a good idea to practice going from quarter notes to eighth notes and back to quarter notes. Start with your right hand and then alternate. Then play the song again starting with your left hand. The notes in the bottom space here are played by tapping your right foot. This will help you to keep time and also prepare you for playing the bass drum.
Here is a song in ^ time to play on the bongo drums. Once again, use your right foot on each beat to keep time.
