Strike the edge of a head for the singing open tone, the middle for a muted tone, the centre for the deep bass, and hold Shift for the crack of a slap. Start the basic tumbao over the clave, switch off your part, and play the heel, toe, slap and open tones yourself.
The tumbao is the heartbeat of Cuban music. Here you hear it on recorded drums, and play it yourself.
The open tone rings when the fingers bounce off the edge; the muted tone stays on the head. The bass is the flat palm in the centre, the slap a cupped hand that cracks. Heel and toe rock the palm back and forth to keep time, softly, between the louder strokes.
The open and muted tones of the quinto, conga and tumba are recordings from the Versilian Community Sample Library, in the public domain under CC0, with two strengths and two takes each. The slap adds a crack to the muted tone, and the bass, heel and toe are the recordings shaped by filters.
Heel, toe, slap, toe, heel, toe, open, open: the basic tumbao, with the tumba answering at the end of the second bar. Play it over son clave 3-2 or 2-3, slower for ballads, or try Three drums talk, a GOONS original where the quinto calls and the others answer.
Press My conga part: the clave and the bell keep going, your lines light up, and each stroke you play flashes blue when it lands in time on the right drum. A counter keeps the score.
The two sticks of the clave hold the pattern everything else locks onto. A cowbell keeps the beat, and the güiro scrapes its long-short-short figure. All three are recorded.
The left hand rocks heel and toe on Z and X while the right plays slap and open tone on D and A, just like on the drum. The tumba sits on J K L, the quinto on Q W E. Keys are read by position, on any layout.
Strike the edge of the conga for the open tone, the middle for the muted tone, the centre for the bass.
Hold Shift and strike the conga, or press D: a short, high crack.
Press Play the groove and follow the grid: heel, toe, slap, toe, heel, toe, open, open.
Press My conga part and play it yourself over the clave; the counter shows the strokes in time.
| Type | Congas: quinto, conga and tumba (Cuban hand drums), playable on this page, free |
|---|---|
| Strokes | Open tone (edge), muted tone (middle), bass (centre), slap (Shift), heel and toe (keyboard) |
| Sound | Recordings from the Versilian Community Sample Library, CC0: 2 strengths and 2 takes per tone, in one 180 KB file |
| Grooves | Basic tumbao (clave 3-2), tumbao with güiro (clave 2-3), slow tumbao, Three drums talk (GOONS original) |
| Parts | Quinto, conga and tumba, clave, cowbell, güiro; your conga part can be muted and played by you |
| Tempo | 60 to 180 BPM |
| Keyboard | Quinto Q W E, conga A S D F + Z X (heel, toe), tumba J K L; mouse, touch and pen with pressure |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari |
Congas are tall, narrow, single-headed drums from Cuba, of African origin, probably descended from the makuta drums of the Congo. Played with bare hands, they come in a family of sizes: the small, high quinto leads and improvises, the conga keeps the main pattern, the large tumba gives the low answer. Early drums had tacked heads tuned over a flame; modern congas tighten the head with metal lugs.
In son and salsa, the conga plays the tumbao, a steady pattern of soft heel and toe strokes framing a slap and two open tones. It locks onto the clave, a five-stroke rhythm over two bars, played 3-2 or 2-3 depending on the song. Arsenio Rodríguez brought the conga into the son conjunto, and in the late 1940s Chano Pozo carried it into jazz with Dizzy Gillespie.
Pair the congas with the bongos, their smaller partners in the son band, or sit on the cajón from Peru. For Africa, try the djembe, and find them all on the world music studio map.
Yes. The congas at the top of this page are free, with no account and nothing to install. They run in your browser with the Web Audio API and load one 180 KB sound file.
The open and muted tones of each drum are recordings from the Versilian Community Sample Library, released under CC0, with the clave, bell and güiro. The slap, bass, heel and toe are built from those recordings with a synthesized crack or filters, because the library has no separate takes for them.
The basic conga pattern of son and salsa: heel, toe, slap, toe, heel, toe, then two open tones, over one bar. Here the tumba plays the open tones at the end of the second bar, as many players do with two drums.
The son clave has five strokes over two bars: three in one bar, two in the other. A song in 3-2 starts with the three side, a song in 2-3 with the two side. The tumbao stays the same; only where it sits against the clave changes.
Yes. Press My conga part to mute your lines, then play them with the mouse, your fingers or the keyboard. Each stroke flashes blue when it lands in time on the right drum, and a counter keeps the score.
The congas are free, with no account. GOONS Studio adds a looper, synths, drum machines and a sequencer that play together - free for 7 days, no card required.
Free on this page, no account. Play the online bongos →