Total newbie here...

Costs are rising and times are tough.
Please consider a donation to keep this
place going.

Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.

This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.

We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.

You are logged in as Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >>Discussions >>General >>

Page: [1]

Message

<< Newer Topic Older Topic >>

dpalfstad

Posts: 26
Joined: Jan. 10 2010

Total newbie here...

Hello,
First off, I want to give you a little background about myself.
I am 42 years old and have been playing guitar for about 35 years. I mostly played Country music and played pedal steel for about 10 years. For the past 6 years or so I have been flatpicking Bluegrass music and learned to play a bit of mandolin. I have spent a good portion of my life making a living playing music. I wanted to give you this background so that you can see that I am not a beginner to guitar or music.
For the past year I have been listening to Flamenco music extensively. It has become a passion of mine and I have tried to absorb as much as I can. I don't know what it is, but when I listen to Flamenco it often moves me so much that it has a physical effect on me.
I want to buy a Flamenco guitar and begin learning the techniques but I live in the middle of Iowa and the amount of Flamenco here is almost zero! There are not many people here to get guidance from. Money is a factor and I cannot afford a new guitar at this very moment, but I have given some thought to selling one of my Martins to be able to buy one.
Anyway, I feel like there is much learning that I can do before purchasing a guitar. I would like to get a better understanding about the Flamenco compás. I don't really know the technical differences in the types of Flamenco songs. For example, I know that a Bulerias is based on the 12 beat measure but it is difficult for me to hear the pattern of the accents. I know that Rumbas and Tangos are based on the 4/4 measure and I can identify songs that are in 4/4 but don't know how to differentiate between them.
Are there places online where these are explained in detail and I could learn more about the genre in depth? I don't want to subscribe to lessons at this point because I don't have a Flamenco guitar.
Thanks,
Dave

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 30 2010 16:35:12

sean65

Posts: 414
Joined: Jan. 4 2010
From: London

RE: Total newbie here... (in reply to dpalfstad)

Hi Dave,

I've just joined Foro and I can tell you there's a ton of information on here. Just familiarise yourself with the search function. There are some fantastic players and teachers using the forum.

If you have internet access then you're laughing. You can check thousands of videos on YouTube, subscribe to some of the members online multi media classes etc...

Couple of books that seem useful for beginners are

Graf Martinez Book 1- For technique
Juan Martin Book 1 - For repertoire

This is also helpful for some basic info.

Have fun

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 30 2010 22:46:54

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Total newbie here... (in reply to dpalfstad)

Wlcome to the foro.

In order to start playing flamenco you dont need a pro level guitars, but of course, if you have a lot of Martins to sell, it might not be a problem

With respect of the 12 cycle compás, I find that Alegrias are the easyest to follow when you are new into this compás style. Also, its a lot more difficult to follow the rythmic pattern when listening to solo guitar. When listening to flamenco with guitar and singer only, the compás is in general more easy to follow.

Alegrias have their main accents on 3, 10 and 12 and they mark the 7 and 8 strongly in order to go to 10 which is "the remate" , the conclusion of the 12 beat cycle.

Good luck. Here, you´ll find a lot of information.

Anders

_____________________________

Blog: http://news-from-the-workshop.blogspot.com/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 31 2010 0:01:12

HolyEvil

Posts: 1240
Joined: Nov. 6 2008
From: Sydney, Australia

RE: Total newbie here... (in reply to dpalfstad)

welcome mate.. i'm a beginner too.. just listen to more albums and it'll come to you?

hope you have fun here

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 31 2010 1:56:56

Escribano

Posts: 6417
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Total newbie here... (in reply to dpalfstad)

Welcome David.

Manuel Granados helped me a lot

http://www.flamenco-world.com/guitar/granados_antigua.htm

_____________________________

Foro Flamenco founder and Admin

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 31 2010 4:35:03

dpalfstad

Posts: 26
Joined: Jan. 10 2010

RE: Total newbie here... (in reply to dpalfstad)

quote:

welcome mate.. i'm a beginner too.. just listen to more albums and it'll come to you?

I'm not sure that it is possible for me to listen to "more albums". My wife says that my iPod has become a permanent part of my body and I'm always listening to Flamenco. I have almost every Flamenco album that I can get my hands on with the exception of some of the older stuff. I enjoy recordings with good fidelity so I don't listen to the really old recordings very much. Paco de Lucia in the 1960's and 70's is generally as far back as I like to go.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 31 2010 6:54:00