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Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Triplet rasgueado wall (in reply to estebanana)
Practicing in this way is good for you. I worked on ami scales in 4 with this. It is also old advice to practice 5-stroke ras in 3s. IM picado triplets, etc. I feel it is good to strongly accent the beats, and you can always take those away for a smooth effect later.
Yeah yeah yeah, I slowed everything way down. I think it's high time I just overhaul my whole technique from A-hole to breakfast. And get some newer material. I read ( I think I remember this) Todd mentioned that it could take one year to completely rebuild your technique. It's not a bad idea for me at this point.
Posts: 14822
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Triplet rasgueado wall (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
ORIGINAL: estebanana
Yeah yeah yeah, I slowed everything way down. I think it's high time I just overhaul my whole technique from A-hole to breakfast. And get some newer material. I read ( I think I remember this) Todd mentioned that it could take one year to completely rebuild your technique. It's not a bad idea for me at this point.
Before you reset think about some simple math/rhythm tricks.
You want triplet technique to work as 4's? Use 3/4 meter:
P-am-p-P..am-p-P-am ..p-P-am-p/ P stop and let beats 2 and 3 click by then repeat
Notice the marote happens 4x per measure even though the BEAT is felt in 3... So even if you have a Heavy P upstroke you can still get this thing to work as synchopation targeting only the Downbeat of each bar as you get faster. The metronome just helps with speed.
Similar idea if you want say triplet or 4's using 5-stroke rasgueado. Again you need use 5/4 METER... And repetions of 3 or 4 patterns of 5stroke work out ... And at high speed you target down beats:
e-a-m-i..I-e-a-m..i-I-e-a..m-i-I-e..a-m-i-I/ i down w golpe... Wait 4 counts to repeat
My Amigo Ramzi made a good video which he re posted on mechanics.
I've been wrestling with the same thing ever since i started playing in 15 years ago. I f****** hate it because I can't do it with the sound and speed I want. Antonio Rey also has an amazing sounding Morote. What I notice about his and vA's is how even it is in time and sound. You can tell it was built with hard work on the metronome. Or a 1980 Enchanted Reyes...
I've always been so concerned with mechanics and getting good strikes that I've neglected to use a metronome. So now I'm taking the advice in my thread and this from Richard and going back to square one with the metronome.
Ricardo also pointed out his up and down rasqueado in the rumba video. I've been using that too to try and get my wrist loose and moving right and take the MA down out of the equation in an effort to simplify things for practice.
The last week I have been reconstructing this rasgeuado. You can only play as fast as you can think. So I slowed ot way down and re thought it.
And Orson did some practice away from the guitar.
Now I see how making it smooth and not 'three legged' ( reb ;) ) makes it sound faster. Now more slow work and I think it will gain speed over the next few months.
RE: Triplet rasgueado wall (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
Now I see how making it smooth and not 'three legged' ( reb ;) ) makes it sound faster. Now more slow work and I think it will gain speed over the next few months.
Good deal man, i love seeing people making breakthroughs like that. I know you'll have it down soon. ;) TK
Guys, just for fun, I uploaded me working a bit on the 4-stroke thing, on my new toy I got on Waikiki! Not sure if I kept up with the 32nd notes when I tried to speed it up.
Keep it up, Miguel, and you may become the Don Ho of flamenco. That's it, fusion! A flamencoized version of "The Hawaiian Wedding Song." You've got the talent, now you've got the instrument, amigo!
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Nice little pinneapple koaloha there Miguel. I have been playing uke for a while as well and finally just got my Kamaka tenor I've been wanting. I actually like using flamenco techniques for the ukulele I think it sounds cool because it responds so quick. Anyways back to triplet practice....
I have been bitten by the uke bug big time. Strums sound so fast and sharp on the sopranos. And you can just kind of take the uke with you around the house, playing with it whenever you want. I made a video of Aura Lee on my soprano last night:
I have realized that I need more frets, though, and am thinking hard about picking up a used tenor. I also inherited a Kamaka baritone, 50s vintage, from my great-uncle. We have a Flea and an electric Teton for my daughter and a Kala U-bass. It seems that ukes breed like rabbits, as I have more of them than guitars!
Steven, I meant to ask you if had made a uke. They would seem like a lot of work! The luthier-made ones seem to fetch prices not too much lower than guitars.
Going back to flamenco, it would seem that it could be used to accompany something light! Definitely columbianas or guajiras. Seguriyas with a uke just wouldn't be right...
Steven, I meant to ask you if had made a uke. They would seem like a lot of work! The luthier-made ones seem to fetch prices not too much lower than guitars.
I make them for fun and friends and I don't get enough money for how long they take. I think of ukes as little jewels. I'm making #5 right now on the side.
If you get serious about making them seems like you need to assembly line it to make it worth it. But as a side thing you can make them with left over guitar wood.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Triplet rasgueado wall (in reply to estebanana)
I see, I had sort of figured. There are a couple high-end luthiers and the rest seem to be factories. It is really cool what you craftsmen can do. Want a uke, just make it. The luthier Michael Thames told me he was thinking about taking up the lute again, so he planned to just go ahead and make one. I thought that was cool.
I can't sit in a chair and play without back pain. My discovery about playing guitar is that sitting on the floor with my lower spine supported by a cushion is better for my back.
I sit cross legged and try to lengthen my spine as if doing a yoga stretch. If I sit in a chair to play in about ten minutes I have terrible back pain. For some reason playing while sitting on my butt has enabled me to practice for two hours and fell ok when finished.
I have tried Abel Carlevaro's classical guitar seating, which also works for the cello, and other chair seated positions but it still causes back pain. As consequence I have pretty much stopped playing cello, which I was getting better with, and concentrated on flamenco while sitting.
Posts: 2536
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England
RE: Triplet rasgueado wall (in reply to estebanana)
fair enough. You know your body and have to do what's comfortable. I looks cool. like you're a yoga guitar player or something. Whats with the back issues in a chair?? an old injury or purely due to guitar playing?
I moved house once and didnt have my original chair and ended up playing on an office swivel chair as a temporary measure. within weeks I had tendonitis in my wrist and awful neck issues. I switched to a straight back chair and almost over night my issues went away. That's why I'm such a supporter of a good old fashioned chair. but if thats your only option then who am i to say elsewise? good luck with those triplets
Old injury that was not guitar related. The slow practice of the "triplet" is also helping strengthen my back.
Some tissue around the inner edge of my right shoulder blade was torn and that is a difficult place to heal. Coupled with getting hit by a car on my bike, the injuries happened week apart and effected my posture and health a lot. The car smack happened when some one opened a car door as I passed them and the door corner picked me up just right of my breast bones, like a jousting lance, and threw me several feet back. In retrospect I should have sued the driver or at least made their insurance pay for therapy, because they did not look first. The injury seemed not a big deal at first, but a few days later I was in terrible shape. I was knocked pretty hard and could not get up out of the street, but crawled to the side of the road. Looking back I was unwise to have been so casual about the seriousness of the hit.
So I am floor sitter. And quite happy to get in some guitar playing.
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like you're a yoga guitar player or something. Whats with the back issues in a chair?? an old injury or purely due to guitar playing? 
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