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I am an absolute beginner to Guitar, not just flamenco. I started with a face to face class, for regular guitar lessons but covid has put a stop to it for now. Also my only reason to learn guitar is to learn flamenco guitar. I want to learn that first and maybe practice other style if I live long enough, as I am over 40 now. I have however been practicing heavily but watching various youtube videos on l/r hand techniques, chords, arpeggios, picado; however am not finding this a structured way of proceeding.
My query - what is the best way forward to proceed for a person like me.
1. Should I get the 'Flamenco Guitar Method' and start working through lessons ? 2. Should I sign up for 'Atrafana School' beginner lesson 3. Are there other online structured classes available which you would highly recommend. 4. I am based out of India and there are hardly any f-to-f flamenco classes here.
I already practice about 2-4 hours a day and am willing to do more.
RE: Absolute Beginner - Best Online ... (in reply to Dev)
Dev Hi and welcome. You might get a million and one answers to this so I'll only make a few generic points based on my experience.
Try lots of different materials. Many online sites offer beginner lessons you can use for free. What suits one will not suit another. Pick a site that offers live sessions, maybe live online lessons both one-to-one and group - plus the materials. Try to only do what you enjoy. "No pain, no gain" is in my humble opinion rubbish and is in part the reason 90% who start quickly give up. Make sure materials are of the right level. And something I learned the hard way - you can never play slowly enough to get a new exercise or piece in those fingers.
Where in India do you live? I love the mountain areas and would have been visiting friends in Shillong if the CCPvirus had not reared its ugly head.
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nigel (el raton de Watford - now Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz)
Posts: 1598
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania
RE: Absolute Beginner - Best Online ... (in reply to Dev)
Hi Dev,
of all the methods I've tried in the last 40+ years, Juan Martin's "El Arte Flamenco de la Guitarra" helped me most (apart from f to f lessons of course).
I agree with Nigel. "No pain, no gain" is rubbish, until you get to the S&M "no pain, no fun" level ...;)
RE: Absolute Beginner - Best Online ... (in reply to Dev)
Dev, I'm fairly new to Flamenco myself and had hoped to be hooking up with an instructor but the Covid has us on a serious austerity program. I'll need to beg the boss for strings sooner then later.
I think landing an instructor and then using whatever materials they recommend would be prudent.
I'll plug Ricardo who contributes so much here on the Foro. A few weeks ago he offered up a covid19 special: on-line lessons for half price for Foro members. Not sure if his offer stands.
Oh ya, welcome to the Foro. There are years and years of threads filled with good info, some entertaining, more then a few contentious, but over all a good group.
HR
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I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
RE: Absolute Beginner - Best Online ... (in reply to Dev)
Thank you all for your excellent comments and directions.
@nigel - Thank you for your generic comments. Points are very valuable and noted. I am culling material from various forums and youtube videos from different instructors and trying to work through them. And your thought on slowwwly is spot on. BTW, I am based out of Bangalore in India and also visit Shillong often. Do ping me when you visit and we will catch up on a call.
@ Ed - Saw the reviews of "El Arte Flamenco de la Guitarra", seems very good. Unfortunately it is not available in India, not sure why. Also the price quoted by Amazon seems pretty high $90 vs. price quoted for the same book and CD in other sites (32 pounds). Either way, I will place an order once the delivery lines open up.
@rasqeo - Thanks am checking out Kai's site. My concern is the structure though. I did find that these guys - https://www.atrafana.com/beginners.html - seem to have some of it with some free lessons.
@ernandez - Agree, that would be the approach most useful; but there are no flamenco instructors in place where I live. So I am thinking that I will pull through the regular guitar classes and practice the flamenco on the side using online material. Lots of material on foro and its good the see that site is so active and useful.
RE: Absolute Beginner - Best Online ... (in reply to Dev)
I meant to reply to your post earlier.
Forget classical, if you want to play flamenco, learn flamenco. The first things you should learn are compas, rasgueado and pulgar apoyando. A classical teacher won't teach you any of these, and the first thing they will do is likely put sheet music in front of you and start teaching you to read. This is not the flamenco way, and brings me to the second point:
If possible avoid books. You need, as far as possible, to develop your ear and learn by ear and use your memory. Flamenco artists do not write or publish scores, and transcriptions are made by other people and often wrong. If you cannot have face to face lessons locally, consider skype. And/or video lessons. I used to recommend Oscar Herrero's Paso a Paso videos, but there are now streaming lessons.
One tip is to try to get close to the source, by which I mean you don't necessarily have to have someone spanish or from spain, but someone who plays or has played with singers and/or dancers, so check out their work and their credentials.
These videos of Salvador Andrades are in Spanish, but you can use the auto translate, and if you go to Algeciras or get him on Skype he has good English. He grew up in Paco de Lucia's hometown, had lessons from Paco's father and accompanied Camarón among other accomplishments:
RE: Absolute Beginner - Best Online ... (in reply to mark indigo)
Thanks Mark!
That's a fantastic set of resources, have booked marked them all.
Your comment on classical vs. flamenco is spot on - that's precisely what they did, put sheet music and I have no interest in that. Unfortunately, I did not realize that Flamenco Guitar was different and ended up buying a classical one from them. Regardless, I am using it to practice flamenco.
I am getting the book, not so much to learn the moves but to understand the history and the theory. In my experience, seeing the instructors explain it online and watching the moves helps a lot in getting them right. I am still in very early stages though (as in talking to left hand to do what I want it to do ) but not disappointed with my progress going through online.
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