Probably the most common auxiliary percussion instruments come from Latin America. In pure Latin music, however, many of these percussion instruments are likely to be more prominent than the drum set.
In most popular and jazz music, Latin percussion is used to add color and help keep the beat. It is easy to find an album that features some sort of Latin percussion, but if want to get a real earful, pick up just about anything by Santana. Carlos Santana has always prominently featured all sorts of Latin percussion on his albums; it's an unmistakable sound!
Conga drums are essential to any Latin groove. Congas are deep-shelled wood or fiberglass drums, often with calfskin heads, that you play with your hands. You generate different sounds by hitting the head in different places and with different parts of your hand. A conga player typically uses two or more congas of different sizes mounted on stands, and often surrounded by an array of other Latin percussion instruments.
Bongos are kind of like small congas. Bongos come in pairs (a large one and a small one joined together), are very shallow, and are much higher in pitch than congas. You play bongos in pretty much the same way you play congas, using your hands and fingers to get different sounds from the drums. Traditionally, bongos are played sitting down, held between your knees, although in today's multi-percussion environment, it's more common to see bongos mounted on a stand for easier access.
Where congas and bongos are played with your hands, timbales are played with sticks. The drums themselves are steel or brass with either calf or plastic heads, tuned rather tight; timbale sticks are thinner than normal drumsticks, with two butt ends and no bead. Where congas and bongos are used to keep a beat, timbales are also used for fills, accents, and color. You will also find timbale players surrounding themselves with cowbells, woodblocks, crash cymbals, and other instruments they can use to add punch to the music.
Latin percussion is about more than drums, of course. When you want an authentic "click" sound for a bossa nova or a mambo (think "Girl from Impanema" here) and playing a rim click on your snare just won't cut it, then you have to pull out a set of claves. Claves are two small wooden rods that you strike together to get a highly resonant "click" sound and play in a repeating rhythm. (Somewhat confusingly, the rhythm you play with a clave is also called a clave.)
When you want a "ch-ch-ch" or "sh-sh-sh" sound - the Latin equivalent of a closed hi-hat - then you turn to any number of shakable instruments. Among the most common are maracas (two small, hollow pods filled with steel balls or seeds), shakers (a large, hollow ground wrapped in a net of beads), and shakers (any hollow wood or metallic cylinder filled with steel or plastic balls).
In most popular and jazz music, Latin percussion is used to add color and help keep the beat. It is easy to find an album that features some sort of Latin percussion, but if want to get a real earful, pick up just about anything by Santana. Carlos Santana has always prominently featured all sorts of Latin percussion on his albums; it's an unmistakable sound!
Conga drums are essential to any Latin groove. Congas are deep-shelled wood or fiberglass drums, often with calfskin heads, that you play with your hands. You generate different sounds by hitting the head in different places and with different parts of your hand. A conga player typically uses two or more congas of different sizes mounted on stands, and often surrounded by an array of other Latin percussion instruments.
Bongos are kind of like small congas. Bongos come in pairs (a large one and a small one joined together), are very shallow, and are much higher in pitch than congas. You play bongos in pretty much the same way you play congas, using your hands and fingers to get different sounds from the drums. Traditionally, bongos are played sitting down, held between your knees, although in today's multi-percussion environment, it's more common to see bongos mounted on a stand for easier access.
Where congas and bongos are played with your hands, timbales are played with sticks. The drums themselves are steel or brass with either calf or plastic heads, tuned rather tight; timbale sticks are thinner than normal drumsticks, with two butt ends and no bead. Where congas and bongos are used to keep a beat, timbales are also used for fills, accents, and color. You will also find timbale players surrounding themselves with cowbells, woodblocks, crash cymbals, and other instruments they can use to add punch to the music.
Latin percussion is about more than drums, of course. When you want an authentic "click" sound for a bossa nova or a mambo (think "Girl from Impanema" here) and playing a rim click on your snare just won't cut it, then you have to pull out a set of claves. Claves are two small wooden rods that you strike together to get a highly resonant "click" sound and play in a repeating rhythm. (Somewhat confusingly, the rhythm you play with a clave is also called a clave.)
When you want a "ch-ch-ch" or "sh-sh-sh" sound - the Latin equivalent of a closed hi-hat - then you turn to any number of shakable instruments. Among the most common are maracas (two small, hollow pods filled with steel balls or seeds), shakers (a large, hollow ground wrapped in a net of beads), and shakers (any hollow wood or metallic cylinder filled with steel or plastic balls).
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