Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent resource for the beginner-intermediate player
Comment: Excellent resource for the beginner-intermediate player. He includes information on the 4 tones, history of congas, tuning, and the concept of clave. He then teaches 3 patterns, then plays 'La Guajira-style' with a trio. The trio then repeats the song but Bobby plays the clave pattern and you play along on your congas. Bobby is a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican heritage who has performed and recorded with luminaries such as Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. He has a BM from the Berklee College of Music and knows his stuff. Recommended!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Should have been two separate products
Comment: I also have Bobby's tapes, Techniques for 1 & 2 Congas, and Techniques for 2 & 3 Congas. Bobby loves what he does, and possesses natural teaching skills. He communicates beautifully in both English & Spanish. He is as scholarly about Afro-Cuban music as he is passionate about it. In his videos, he doesn't just teach you to beat your hands on a drum. He teaches you the history of these wonderful instruments and the beautiful culture and heritage from which the emerge. He also teaches you about the concept of "clave", which is essential to understanding afro-cuban rhythms. Not only that, he does it all well. Bobby was born with a remarkable brain. He can speak to you while playing three congas and tapping out a clave with a foot block. As if that were not enough, toss in that he flows back and forth from Spanish to English as if there were no difference at all.
What does bother me is his choice to make one bilingual tape rather than two separate tapes, one for English speakers, and one for Spanish speakers. My reason for this is simple: Bobby moves slowly on these tapes, especially the first two. He explains the history, the rhythms, the claves for those rhythms, and so forth. It goes slowly enough. That I have to listen to every word twice becomes frustrating. I would enjoy the tapes in either language, but the bilingual version is frustrating to me because it becomes so time consuming to listen to. When you go back to listen again for practice, or to catch points which you may have forgotten, it just gets more frustrating.
But other than that, they are well worth the money for beginning conga players.
Customer Rating:
Summary: THE Great Place to Start
Comment: Bobby Sanabria is to say the least one of the most articulate percussion educators I have ever watched, and that's when he's speaking English. His ability to alternate between languages and continue the momentum of the lesson is amazing. I own numerous drums and percussion videos, and on many of those, even the instructors who obviously have English as their first language, struggle to convey concepts anad ideas... in their first language.Aside from the linguistics, the video is shot very well, with clear unhindered view of the percussionist. The accompanying assemble are included as well but do not distract the viewer from the instructor.
The lessons taught are more than sufficient for the beginner drummer to nut over until they purchase part 2. The lessons are not overwhelmingly hard so as to put you off and make you check into the self storage warehouse (as some instructional videos tend to do).
Most of all Bobby's vibes and energy is addictive, and he certainly makes it look like a whole lotta fun... to play congas.
