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Tough times with the guitar
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at_leo_87
Posts: 3055
Joined: Aug. 30 2008
From: Boston, MA, U.S.A
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 RE: Tough times with the guitar (in reply to Ailsa)
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hey ailsa,
i think these tough times happen with everyone. i mean, look at paco, he doesn't sound like he'll EVER be satisfied with himself! and it's PACO!
all i'm seeing from your post is that you really love the guitar. it takes someone who really loves the guitar to want to improve so badly that they feel depressed when don't get there. so even though you're feeling low, just know that it's just the low point of the journey that you're supposed to go through anyways.
take it easy on yourself and you have to remind yourself that billions of people on this earth don't even have a hobby or anything to be passionate about, nothing to strive for!
sometimes i get really busy and stressed or really upset and disappointed with myself, but underneath, there's an undercurrent of joy because i know that i'm doing what i love to do.
so keep playing and keep loving it! good times and bad times happen in love, it's only natural. 
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Date May 19 2010 5:58:29
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Ricardo
Posts: 14822
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Tough times with the guitar (in reply to Ailsa)
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quote:
What does it for me is listening to a player really groove. This morning in my lesson I couldn't even get through one single compas and feeling it was absolutely right.
I have said before you can get the mechanics of strumming rhythm in a week, but it takes YEARS to get all the details of dynamics and such till you feel you are doing it "right" but can still improve. I have repeated many times even with Rumba, I am still improving by just strumming rhythm with other good players, fixing and refining small details with each repeat. And every time I look back and think "man I can't believe how much i was sucking doing this last year!!!". 
Anyway, you saw the falseta of tomatito I did. Well you can actually approach compas strumming the same way, and in fact I DO when I hear a new compas detail in some player, old or new. No need to get frustrated playing the full compas over and over. Just take a small chunk, like 2 or 3 beats and get frustrated with just THAT! But do it over and over, not in the full compas, just the small phrase. Then add to it only 2 or 3 more beats. Like that, and keep repeating over and over and over and over, just like I was doing. And don't add on any more till you are somewhat satisfied.
Seems tedious, but I notice results in short time that way, rather than doing the entire thing half assed (as ron said) over and over, never fixing important details.
Hang in there. Remember also the deal with learning new things, sometimes it takes a day or 2 for your brain to connect the wiring after your fingers figure it out.
Ricardo
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CD's and transcriptions available here:
www.ricardomarlow.com
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Date May 19 2010 11:50:29
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NormanKliman
Posts: 1143
Joined: Sep. 1 2007
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RE: Tough times with the guitar (in reply to Ailsa)
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Ailsa:
Here's what I think, although it's nothing new because other people are saying about the same thing.
quote:
I don't care about the falsetas. What does it for me is listening to a player really groove.
Grooving can be even harder than falsetas because it all happens so fast. I think that, just as you need to have at least a few falsetas in order to make it fly, grooving requires a certain number of short ideas to keep it from sounding too repetitive. IMO it's a minimum of 5-6 ideas for each of the compás segments 1-3, 7-10 and 10-12. So let's say 20 short ideas, and of course a few ways to do a whole compás (rasgueados, arpeggios, etc.) When you multiply that by the number of palos that you want to play, it's a lot of ideas to memorize! Especially when you consider that, even though we're talking about rhythmic styles, there will be at least two toques for each one (por arriba or medio, alegrías in E, A or C, etc.) So there's a lot of information to be memorized, aside from the technical challenges of the instrument.
When I get tired I learn new material. It's like taking a breath before speaking. So the frustration comes and goes, but it's really important to keep expanding those two repertoires of short ideas and falsetas. Three years is not long at all.
Arash: Is that you singing then? That's excellent! If you ever notice any similarity between a specific cante and Persian singing, I'd be very interested in hearing about it.
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Date May 19 2010 14:00:32
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michel
Posts: 315
Joined: Apr. 14 2008
From: france
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RE: Tough times with the guitar (in reply to Stu)
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Ailsa, i went through the same mood when i decided to study fandangos de huelva, i think other members know what i'm talking about... OMG.
i wonder what's harder, nailing down the first buleria or the first fandango de huelva, this FdH palo made me nearly crazy, it's so tricky... my FhH went better as soon as i stoped trying to count, to control everything with my brain. it's strange, the more you try to do your best studying a palo with "scientific" approach, the more it kills the natural flow in a short run. that's why i switched to another palo i simply try to enjoy while playing and taking away all the pressure.
sit down in your beautiful garden, play a simple rumba, enjoy...
this brings inspiration back to you.
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Date May 20 2010 2:15:31
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gj Michelob
Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco
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RE: Tough times with the guitar (in reply to Ailsa)
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quote:
I've been playing for 3 years, and I can play quite a lot of stuff and I've done a fair bit of performing. I think what has got me through that is that have some understanding of the music through also learning to dance and spending a lot of time in Spain and listening. But before this I had never played guitar so have no knowledge of technique and to be honest I still sometimes don't know where a note is on the fretboard without working it out!
Ailsa, if I may, perhaps you should allow yourself some diversion from flamenco. Ricardo, Todd and Jason –to name a few- are awesome musicians, before they are formidable flamenco guitarists. I enjoyed Todd’s channel on youtube (before I even had a chance to exchange greetings on this and other blogs), particularly because he shows skillful versatility as he enjoys playing classical, blues and country music while winning the Tomatitio contest. Jason too has rock & roll and classical guitar to sharpen his nails with. And perhaps what we, the “gringos” of Flamenco cannot grasp of flamenco by not being Gitanos, Gypsies or Andalucian made, we compensate with the inevitable osmosis of our own culture and heritage into the music we choose to perform.
Focusing solely on one style of music is inherently dangerous, particularly when –as it is your case- you missed the playful time with the guitar as a teenager, whether the Stratocaster noise or more soporific Bach’s partitas days.
Nothing wrong with finding the same music a bit monotonous. My humble suggestion is that you should expand your repertory, your technical palette, your appreciation of any music you can play on those six nylon strings.
On a personal note, after completing my entry for the Composition Challenge I realized how much I miss playing other music, yet how much studying Flamenco has helped me. As I wrote to Jim Opfer after submitting my composition “I now need to decide whether to really focus on Flamenco and hire a teacher or revert to the country music which inexorably sneaks into anything I play”.
Have fun with the guitar, even if you should become a professional, follow the scent of fun… it will lead you to whatever is cooking inside of you.
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gj Michelob
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Date May 20 2010 7:35:40
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edguerin
Posts: 1589
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania
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RE: Tough times with the guitar (in reply to Ailsa)
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quote:
Ailsa this wouldnt have anything to do with having just come back from a Gerardo Nuñez concert would it?
Ailsa, some 15 year ago I attented a workshop with Paco Serrano. It was horrible! There were 20-30 guys in the course, all playing simultaneously, all levels, from semi-pro on down. Paco and a friend of his would show us a falseta ("y ahora tu"), and too bad for you (i.e. me) if you didn't grasp it immediately. I went there feeling I was an intermediate flamenco player and came back feeling I was the worst in the class, had no idea of the guitar etc. etc.
Within about a year I stopped playing altogether, I was so frustrated.
About a year and a half ago, my interest revived, I visited Anders, ordered a blanca, and have been playing again ever since. It took me about year to reach my old (mediocre) level. This year I feel I'm making progress.
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Ed
El aficionado solitario
Alemania
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Date May 20 2010 9:02:56
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