Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky

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Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky

Here's something that came up ages ago on the usenet classical guitar discussion group, but I've never heard any of you guys mention it so I thought I'd post it to see what you think.

One of the regulars on that forum is a friend of Juan Serrano, and he once mentioned that Juan 'preloaded' his pinky (little finger) in rasgueado in order to give the finger more punch and make it more evenly balanced with the rest of the fingers.

I asked the guy what he meant, and he said that basically Juan places the tip of his little finger just behind the tip of the third finger, tenses it slightly against that finger, and then flicks out - so its a bit like the idea of firing a ras off the inside of your thumb, except that he's just flicking the pinky off the inside of the third finger, and then following with the other fingers in sequence (A, M, I) as normal.

Thoughts on this?

It appears a little clumsy to me and I don't like the idea of introducing that extra tension into the hand especially with two fingers opposing each other like that.

_____________________________

Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 1 2003 12:27:25

gerundino63

Posts: 1743
Joined: Jul. 11 2003
From: The Netherlands

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Hi jon

when I make a rasgeado I make a firm fist, and use the flesh of my hand beneath my pink ( ball of the thumb, at my pinky side) to "preaload' my little finger.

In fact, I use it for all my fingers, and it gets real powerful., only the three other fingers are ''prealoaded by the ball of the thumb.

greetings, Peter.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 1 2003 13:37:57

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Jon, my feeling is that there are many ways to skin a cat, and just as many ways to play flamenco guitar. The more I play, the more I am amazed at the variety of methods... but I'm with you on this one. I don't feel it is necessary to "shoot marbles" on the rasgueo, I think power can be generated simply by accelerating into the string.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 1 2003 16:41:17

Jim Opfer

Posts: 1876
Joined: Jul. 19 2003
From: Glasgow, Scotland.

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Hi Jon,
I've not heard about this one before, I guess everyone adapts to suit their own hand so it might not be feasible for everyone to use this.
I sometimes fire off from the ball of flesh at the base of the thumb but only for a m i.
Also, hook the thumb under 6th string with the nuckle turned down and fire off over the underside of the thumb a m i.
Cheers
Jim.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 1 2003 17:46:52

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Jon Boyes)

The fellow that was involved in the big FT blow up (I can’t remember his name), that I believe lives in Washington DC, was recommending something similar. He is a very knowledgeable guy. He recommended placing the little finger behind the third, the third behind the second, and the second behind the first. That way you would pre load all fingers for more power. Sounds reasonable, but it didn’t feel comfortable.

Pat

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 1 2003 20:09:34

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Miguel de Maria)

Yeah,
I agree with Mike here, it's only very occassionaly that you would use a very heavily accentuated rasgueado....certainly nowadays in the modern style of playing.
Most rasgueados I hear on CD's are pretty relaxed and I tend, most of the time use a relaxed hand position so that normally I'm not even conscious of even playing rasgueado, but am using the "fill time" to think about the next falseta.
Seems to me that the old Flamenco-Teacher Forum was always full of posts about who could "fire off" (I hate that expression) the most powerful, and even rasgueado which seemed a bit strange since you don't generally hear that much in quality Flamenco.
I reckoned it had more to do with machismo than music, so I usually didn't comment.
But it's no wonder there were so many complaining of tendonitis and other hand injuries.
There's no need for it.
It's just part of the stronger, faster, louder brigade that has more to do with motorcycle
enthusiasts than music in my humble opinion.

cheers

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 1 2003 20:53:44

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Ron, so are you saying I'm wasting my time trying to play loud, fast picado! It sure is difficult to do consistently!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 3 2003 5:14:39

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: Rasgueado: pre-loading your pinky (in reply to Miguel de Maria)

It's not a waste of time to practise any technique Mike.
Fast, clean picado is nice, but not essential to play decent Flamenco guitar.
I personally wouldn't give it any priority time-wise.

To me, rhythm, some rasgueado and a reliable thumb are the basis of all Flamenco guitar playing, Traditional or Modern.
On that, one can then build the "adornments" such as picado, arpegio and tremolo etc.

I think if one plays the adornments very well and the basics poorly, then the overall sound is poor regardless of how clean and fast the fancy stuff is executed.

Just my opinion based on my own experience of time wasting!

However, as I've said before, the guitar should be a pleasure, not a chore, so unless you are training to be a serious professional then focussing in on the bits of technique that interests you most does no harm at all. Enjoy it!

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 3 2003 8:34:16