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RE: Learning from Solo Compas CDs? (in reply to cigany)
just listen.... for a couple of years.... then you will start to get it!
sorry, it's kind of a joke, but it's kind of serious too, you can't listen to this stuff too much.
listen to the "palo con guitarra" tracks, and the escobilla tracks etc., very repetitive, and very simple, and very necessary to master
just off the top of my head, if you listen to the "tangos con guitarra" tracks, it's mostly B flat and A.... maybe a C chucked in occasionally.
the solea escobillas are mostly, if not all, F (maj7), C, F, E
if you don't know these chords, or how they work in compas, get a basic/beginners flamenco book/DVD
edit; ok, i just checked, the Tangos (2) is capo 3,
Bflat, A, Bflat, A Bflat, C(9), Bflat, A
the solea uses the basic "escobilla" falseta that is in all the beginning methods, or varations of, and the chords i mentioned above, capo 6
the solea por buleria is A to Bflat and back to A all within a compas (capo 2), with some Bflat, C(9), Bflat, A compas'
the alegrias (2) is E - B7, B7 - E within a compas (capo on 2), and occasionally a C thrown in, E - B7, C - B7 - E, again within a compas, and sometimes there is a compas of A - E - B7 - E (it starts with this). also there is E maj7 sometimes, which gives it a slightly different sound
RE: Learning from Solo Compas CDs? (in reply to cigany)
Thanks Mark. This is helpful. I think I've been spoiled by tabs and need to learn to hear the chords instead of "see" them. Use my ears instead of eyes. Your chords will get me started now. Thanks again.
Posts: 151
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: San Diego, CA
RE: Learning from Solo Compas CDs? (in reply to cigany)
Cigany,
You got it right on the money. You need to learn to hear it, not see it. Doing that will take lots of time but pay off hugely in the long run.
I use Transcribe! software to control the tempo so I can slow down a section if I need to. Occasionally, I use the marker feature to write in the compás for a section I am working on and then loop it to practice it over and over.
But you were exactly right, learn to hear.
Figure out what the key is by finding the chord to which others resolve, then you'll know most of the chords through just that.
RE: Learning from Solo Compas CDs? (in reply to cigany)
I heard some of the solo compas CDs. Always in dance studios.. I think they are made mainly for dance and not for learning guitar. Some of them are very useful to understand the structure of the palos, but there are many not normal things included here and there taht make it hard for the beginner (And even some more experienced "dancers"... ) Lately I had an experience with a dance-teacher. Shes teaching tientos-tangos and I play for her class. Tientos tangos is not very difficult and even easier to play for a beginners class, you just have to stick to the most traditional basics of tientos and they will understand it fastly. But in the second copla we got a big problem. There is no singer in the class, so I cant follow him through the coplas that are sometimes a bit special. So, I played the traditional progression. There are 2 a longer one and a shorter one. Both didnt fit to the coreograpy... She always ended on a media compas and got asynchron to me at the switch to tangos... Then after a while she told me she made the coreograpy for a solo compas track.... I asked her to play the track and I played alsong with the track. We quickly found out,,... they played a very strange media compas in the second copla of tientos... but the teacher didnt recognized this and thought Im playing false compas all the time.
After hearing that I fixed the problem and we were able to go on. But this was very stressy to get told "he you are playing false,..man what are you doing?? Concentration!"..And it is not my fault.. I cant tell her in front of her pupils that she maybe missed some media compases,... because I dont want her to loose her face... You know,.. no spaniard would let a foreigner tell them where and why something doesnt fit with the compas.. They are too pride in general.
Fazit: Solo compas is good, but check out what they are doing before using it. There are some "special" variations hidden without any comments.
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