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Hello, I'm all new to this forum, so first of all: Hello to everybody and sorry for any mistakes in my english... My name is Tobi, I'm a 29 year old doctoral student from Germany. I never had any guitarlessons, but ca. 1 1/2 years ago I startet to practice on an old classic guitar that i borought from a good friend after i had watched the MAriachi-trilogy . I startet with some Rumbalessons from youtube and decided to make it serious, so i bought the two books by Gerhard Graf MArtinez and started practicing on my own. 5 Month ago i found a flamenco teacher at the local flamenco studio. Now i take 1 lesson a month and one time a week i go with him to the flamencostudio an play with him for the solea beginners course... so far.. I looked a while at this forum and it seems to me that i could dare to ask some Newbie questions and hope to get some answers:
1. Practice Time: I really don't have the time to practice everyday, but i practice at least 4 times a weak, ca. 90 minutes per session. because my teacher told me that the basic techniques are all important, i always start with the same program: Arpeggio: Pima (5 min), Pimami (5 min), Pami (10 min), 5 and 4 stroke rasguado (10 min), triplets with P,Ma,P (10 min) and ligados, especially with my pinky and a little pulgartechnique. The Problem: Thats 1 hour off technique, sometimes more, so there is not too much time left to practice the falsetas etc. actually the only time i really just play is the 2 hours per week, that i spend in the studio... The consequence is, that i'm learning new material very slow, cause i practice so much tech, ist little variation in my practiceroutine and I'm just getting a little frustrated... So: What should/could i change? is it enough to practice one tech per day? help!
2. I was practicing Solea for 8 month now and my teacher suggested that I should start with a new Palo, he suggested Buleria or Allegrias, to complete the most important ones at first... At the studio i heard a lot Tangos de Malaga, wich sounds great to me, because i prefer sad sounding flamenco... Would you suggest to learn the "major" palos at first? Or du you think it's ok to learn the palos first, that you prefer listening to?
1. i'm really no teacher, but i think your practice routine is fine...and frustration is normal, be prepared that the better you play the more frustrated you become with the little things!...but it's also wise to enjoy each practice session so let's make that half technique, half playing falsetas, pieces you like etc...and the more enjoyment you have in each session the more motivated you become and the better you concentration becomes...
2. it's just my opinion, but focusing on one palo is a mistake...learning the compás of all the palos is the base you build your flamenco knowledge on, you go to a dance class and you'll be asked to play alegrías, tangos, bulerías, seguiriya, soleá, soleá por bulerías, tarantos, you'll have to know these well...i mean the compás and the 3-4 chords that come with these...no need to know difficult variations and several falsetas at this level, but it's very important to be able to recognize these whenever you hear them and play the main cycle...surely if i taught someone i would teach at least two of these and when the basics are fine i'd move on to the next two, because these are foundations that you must build on in the future...
Hallo and welcome! who is your teacher by the way?
If you feel you are getting better and better i would not change anything. I dont know if you are ready for bulerias already. Tangos is a good start. So is solea. But that is all relative. More important is that you feel inspired by the material and that it meets your technical abilities.
Hey, thats a lot of fast answeres, thank you guys!
@xirdneH_imiJ: Yes, maybe I should practice half/half, that would be more fun, but i'm always afraid of learning a bad technique, so i liked to ask a few guitarists, that have more experience than i have. But please tell me, what do you mean, when you say, that i should learn the basic compas of ech Palo? In Solea I learned an Intro-falseta, 4 more falsetas, a letra (same thing as a copla, by the way?), some escobilla variations, llamada... which off these "parts" would you consider to be the basic rythm?
@arsh: I'd like to spend more time, but i'm late home from work and i'm livin with my girlfriend, who wants time to
@Deniz: I think i'm becoming better, buts very slow. At slow tempo i don't Have any problems with my stuff (besides the pinky ligados), but when i play a falseta with a very fast arpeggio, i feel unsecure and often make mistakes. i work on this practicing very slow, but it seems to take 1 million years to improve... my teacher is Diego Rocha, he's the guitarist from the "Tanzschule Renate Wagner" in Mannheim. --> http://www.myspace.com/diegorochapozo
The "most important" palos are not always the best for a beginner student. Flamenco technique is difficult, and its best that the palo be simpler.
I like to teach my students farruca or tientos first since they are in 4/4 time, which is easy for most people. Only after that do I start them working on a basic solea.
all of the above are fine and useful, but i think the basics are without falsetas, just chords - at least until you're comfortable with the compás...accompanying a letra and doing a llamada is fine for a starter...do that for the more important palos and you can add to each slowly...at least that's how i've done it...i would've been bored to death had i had to concentrate on just one palo and i would've probably given up on flamenco completely... i'm an exception and by no means a rule because i never practiced technique, nor palos, i tried to create the tone i wanted to hear and associated with flamenco, slowly my right hand learned how to play, and i always played full pieces, and complex falsetas...now that's not a very wise thing to do because it takes a bit of time until everything falls into their places...but i don't regret it because all my practice time was fun...once you have a repertoire to maintain it becomes a bit more difficult, more like a job...
ORIGINAL: Arash some guys here even divorced , so that they have more time for guitar
thats understandable: a guitar does not talk if you dont want it. and if it talks, it talks only things that you want think about it it really makes sense!!
Your Lucky, I'm not good enough to play 1 on 1 to a dancer, yet. I'd like to do so very much, because i think one could learn a lot from a direct dialoge with a dancer. in the studio i just play the same as my teacher, in front of 15 dancers, but it already helps a lot to understand "akzente" and the compas...
ORIGINAL: Schalli because i think one could learn a lot from a direct dialoge with a dancer.
yeah but depends on the dancer, and on whether there is "dialogue". At least that was my experience with the last dancers i accompanied anyway. On top of that when i started working with dancers i had never before seen or heared how dance accomp works. There was also no teacher where i lived. So i taught myself via going to concerts and casual dance workshops, the only places where i had the chance to actually see dance accompaniment (and videos of course)! I thought the same way as you, but the dancers were of no help. After 5 years on the guitar and almost 0 experience with dance i had to work out the accompaniment for a one hour show. That was a hell lot of work and artistically a pain in the ass (low level compas/choreography and interaction with music).
What im trying to say is, im obviously crazy and a wimp :D and you are actually lucky to having access to dance classes and most of all a guitarrist who knows accompaniment. Im going to see tomorrow whether I was just unlucky with the previous dancers or not, but my expectations are very low atm.
and i'm livin with my girlfriend, who wants time to
thats no excuse.
some guys here even divorced , so that they have more time for guitar
I have been single for a long time and I genuinely feel that every time im seeing a new girl theres always this worry in the back of my head thats if things go well and we get more serious that my guitar time will suffer! and its simply terrifying!
it will suffer unless you make it very, very clear that you need that time and don't function as a person without it...probably best if you find a flamenco dancer as a girlfriend :)
Your right Arash, that would be the top choice ! That girl will not only understand the need for practicetime, she will save me the money for a teacher, too^^
After thining about it for a night I decidet to play Tangos de Malaga as my next Palo. Does anyone have any hint how to start best? Any tipps, tabs, infos about palo etc?
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. I startet with some Rumbalessons from youtube and decided to make it serious, so i bought the two books by Gerhard Graf MArtinez and started practicing on my own. 5 Month ago i found a flamenco teacher at the local flamenco studio. Now i take 1 lesson a month and one time a week i go with him to the flamencostudio an play with him for the solea beginners course... so far.. 
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