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Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Manuel Molina on guitars
I've been on a long hiatus from posting here, but still read the foro daily. I want to get back to contributing, and while re-watching this short film posted below last night I heard Manuel say something that I think is extremely insightful regarding guitars/instruments - to paraphrase:
"Guitars are neither good nor bad. The guitar depends on how you get along with her. The guitar, like any instrument, is a conversation between two. If they argue, it all emerges from the loudspeakers. The sound is bad - there is no communication, no music. Then you have a guitar that isn't of the highest quality, but you get along so well with her that you get to the point of loving her ... and there is communication."
I think that is brilliant, and very true in my experience. The last steel string guitar I owned before I went totally flamenco was a Lowden, and I remember thinking at several points "this is it, the best steel string I have ever owned" - and I've owned more than a few over the years. However, when I was drawn into flamenco I lost the relationship I had developed with that guitar. I played it night before I handed it off to it's new owner, and it felt alien to me.
This also makes me think of my experience so far with flamenco guitars. Like many of you, my first couple of guitars were purchased online due to the lack of local options. My first 2 handmade instruments were a Jesus Bellido blanca and a Pedro de Miguel negra. As a total beginner with flamenco techniques, I didn't know how to talk to those guitars and therefore couldn't develop a relationship with them. My technique was weak, and both required more strength and authority that I could deliver at the time. I felt frustrated playing them both, and it was clear in the sound I was producing. I think to play them today, my experience would be much different.
Where was I going with this? I guess my point is that this is something important to keep in mind when looking for a new guitar, and when feeling frustrated with an old one. Maybe deep inside you feel that only a Conde will do, so you will never be satisfied with anything else. So get yourself one and focus on the goal of making music. Maybe you are poor and can only afford a $300 guitar, but you have heaps of drive and passion to play and so you make the best of it with what you have. Ole to you because you likely deserve what you may never have more than the guy who is collecting high end instruments and only playing once a week to keep up the appearance of being a musician.
Over the past year or so, I have been developing a very deep relationship with my Stephen Faulk guitar and one day soon hope to start sharing some music with you guys. It's a very easy playing guitar, and I think it has helped me a lot in developing my technique.
Oh yeah, here's Manuel - highly recommended watching, the guy is a treasure:
RE: Manuel Molina on guitars (in reply to ralexander)
Good to see around, man!
I understand what you are saying, though uncertain myself about the whereabouts. True that everyone has his optimal proportions and feel with guitars.
On the one side there are guitars with tough pulsation which can only fit hard diggers, hence usually only advanced players ... On the other hand there are flamencas like the one I dearly miss since a very long time, which allowed my fakemenco to sonically sound of the finest, even though I had no clue about useful flamenco technique back then in the seventies. And it certainly was no amateur axe / estudio, but a thoroughbred as it gets. Its pulsation definitly was not slow. -
As sad as it is somehow, I can see how your Lowden felt alien. Once used to the pliability of nylon, steel becomes almost indigestible, unless played with a pick; and yet only nylon will let you feel really at home. Picking steel takes precautionary angling and touch / very different from dealing with friendly nylon strings. ( I am glad to do without all the callus since years.)
PdL mentioned somewhere how he grabbed a steeler on a party once, and how his finger tips felt like minced next day. -
Nice to have you back posting.
Ruphus
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RE: Manuel Molina on guitars (in reply to ralexander)
quote:
ORIGINAL: ralexander
"Guitars are neither good nor bad. The guitar depends on how you get along with her...
I think that is brilliant, and very true in my experience. The last steel string guitar I owned before I went totally flamenco was a Lowden, and I remember thinking at several points "this is it, the best steel string I have ever owned" - and I've owned more than a few over the years. However, when I was drawn into flamenco I lost the relationship I had developed with that guitar. I played it night before I handed it off to it's new owner, and it felt alien to me.
Some great points, but that one above and losing connection/the relationship makes a lot of sense.
PdL mentioned somewhere how he grabbed a steeler on a party once, and how his finger tips felt like minced next day.
Yes it takes quite alot of playing before fingertips get hard for steeler... I've noticed now that I play mostly nylon string guitar it has become less comfortable to play with steel strings because the fingertips are softer when playing nylon string guitar.
I think guitar and a player are a bit like a couple, some fit , some don't. But I think that a good guitarist can make almost any guitar sound good.
PdL mentioned somewhere how he grabbed a steeler on a party once, and how his finger tips felt like minced next day.
Yes it takes quite a lot of playing before fingertips get hard for steeler...
Or for nylon :-)......
Before i became a student of Paco Peña i spend most of my time behind the 12 string guitar. As a matter of fact 2 out of 4 pieces i played for Paco during my audition were 12 string compositions.
I passed the exam and then started to learn how to play the flamenco guitar a bit more decently. I can still remember that despite my steel string background i struggled with lack of "strength", pain and an overdose of callosity when i was still learning/struggling with my flamenco techniques. Only after i learned how to control/doze my flamenco techniques and how to avoid unnecessary force/friction my fingers became relatively soft again. It's all a matter of experience and practice.
Paco de Lucia once performed at the expo 92, 1 day after he returned from a long diving vacation. Although he hadn't played for weeks he believed a couple of hours of severe studying would make him performance ready again. Unfortunately the long break had softened his fingertips so much that the overnight training session resulted in a series of very painful blisters. Still he played pretty good that night.
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Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Manuel Molina on guitars (in reply to ralexander)
Damn, it's frustrating when you lose a good post
Thanks, Ruphus. What's this guitar you're still dreaming of? As flamencos go, my Faulk is the first I've developed a true bond with. There are many steel string guitars from my previous life that I still dream of, especially the 28" baritone that was a sonic cannon masterpiece of a guitar It was sad to have the Lowden suddenly feel that way, but we had already broken up. I tried walking the line between styles, but it felt like too much a compromise for both.
Erik, your comment about learning how to control your technique to avoid unnecessary force/friction is spot on in my experience. I had the same issue while transitioning styles. Since getting a bit of flamenco under my fingers I've learned to be mindful of tension in my hands while focusing on training new material. I'm making better progress these days, although I feel another wall approaching and need to find some direction.
Neal, good to see you man. I wonder the same, and I think it just goes back to what has been said about practice and playing well. I've never owned more than two guitars at one time, but these days I'm down to one and only playing flamenco. If I could afford it I'd likely have a load more guitars and no time to be good at playing any of them hehehe
RE: Manuel Molina on guitars (in reply to ralexander)
quote:
ORIGINAL: ralexander
What's this guitar you're still dreaming of?
Can´t say with certainty, because of at that time having no slightest clue about brands and makers. What I remember is that the name on the label sounded so strangely German too my clueless ears / apparently `not Spanish´. From there I suspect it to have been a Hermanos, Hernandez, Ferrer or maybe even Marin. I have tried to find the owner after all the decades. Ask her whether she´d sell or at least recall specs, but to no avail. Seems I will never really know, but suspect it to have been a Conde. At that time purchased from the maker for the equivalent of ~ $175 or so.
If she still be around well preserved I expect her to be going for around 15 € grands or so. It was simply a magic axe. >sniff<
RE: Manuel Molina on guitars (in reply to ralexander)
The guitar from the video is a Barba, the one that he has since he was a kid. Paco de Lucia told him about this one when they were young in Algeciras: when you grow up and it gets too small for you let me have it! He's got the orange Barba which was his fathers. And he has a 2010 Barba as Well.
Posts: 3431
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Manuel Molina on guitars (in reply to ralexander)
For quite a while I have been playing flamenco only on my all time favorite, a 1982 Arcangel Fernandez blanca. It is loud, percussive, quintessentially flamenco.
At the moment I have been traveling for a couple of months. Reluctant to take along the irreplaceable Arcangel, I brought my trusty travel guitar, the 1967 Ramirez 1a blanca. Since Larisa had to return to the USA for work and school I have been getting in a little practice.
I have made a bit of progress in my return to playing after a long layoff. But most interesting to me is having reestablished a relationship with an instrument that was for years the only good guitar I had. Back home, regularly playing the Arcangel, I would sometimes take out the Ramirez for a while, and think well, the old girl surely isn't up to the best flamenca I ever played.
But after more than a month reestablishing the relationship, I have again fallen in love with the Ramirez. As you guys have said, it's a conversation. I have learned again to listen to her speak.
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I guess my point is that this is something important to keep in mind when looking for a new guitar, and when feeling frustrated with an old one. Maybe deep inside you feel that only a Conde will do, so you will never be satisfied with anything else. So get yourself one and focus on the goal of making music. Maybe you are poor and can only afford a $300 guitar, but you have heaps of drive and passion to play and so you make the best of it with what you have. Ole to you because you likely deserve what you may never have more than the guy who is collecting high end instruments and only playing once a week to keep up the appearance of being a musician. 
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