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Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
I'm rubbish, I am!
I ripped a Solo Compas solea loop on to my new MP3 player and played along with it last night. Being a very small device, with light headphones, I can hear both the loop in my head and my normal guitar quite well. Highly recommended.
This loop is the same as the one Florian posted a while ago.
Anyway, once I had figured out the 3-6-10 palmas and cajon accents (I think that's right) I set off and woah! Am I crap or what? (don't answer). This is the slightly faster one (track 8) but it's still slower than I normal practise. I am terrible, rubbish, I turn my bottom in my general direction. Compas all over the place, I am just not worthy.
Simon, those CDs, even that one solea CD you have, is going to open your mind, man! Just keep jamming with it, or just sit there and listen to it for awhile and feel the accents. You are going to be doing the Tomatito thing pretty soon now!
Simon, You can't go back to basics often enough IMO. Each time you do though, it's from a more knowledgeable viewpoint and you pick up lots of stuff you never heard before. So it is, in fact, progress. So don't feel bad about it! By the way, it is much more difficult to play along with a recording than it is to play with someone actually clapping out compás with you, as there is a little bit of human "give and take" and generally getting on each other's wavelength. So don't judge yourself too harshly there! I've got the Solo Compás "Bulerías" CD, and I don't like it too much. I find ordinary Traditional CD's better. In all honesty, I have yet to find a better and easier way of practising compás than "Flamenco Master". Not on it's own though. As I've said before, a lot of practise can be done without the guitar, just using your ears listening to some good, solid guitar accompaniment stuff, and just let it percolate through the grey matter.
Simon, "the 1000 mile journey starts with the first step"! Right? Look at me, I've been at this a little over 4 years, and I still play bad!
But, there was a time my first year, I thought I would never accomplish the compas of solea!! (and I still have problems). But, believe it or not, the light WILL COME ON, and you will be so surprised!
The good thing about that mastering solea compas, really, everything else becomes a little easier to learn.
Hang in there, and NO MORE self degrading!! (it's not productive)!!
RonM, not to stroke you, but, your Flamenco Master was the tool that helped me most when it came to staying in compas! What's good about it is, it has the visual as well as the audio training...I can see the lights on 3 6 8 10 12..as well as hear the compas.
Thanks Ron and Merle, but I do suck on compas and Tomatito did the demostraciónon on me. It's a healthy lesson to learn.
See, to take my lessons in London, I have to leave work early, or drive up from the West Country, where my client is (about 100 miles) take two hours for $70 and drive back 40 miles. It's too much in the week and I would be knackered.
I tried ripping Flamenco Master to MP3 before buying it, honest But it does not compress well and I refuse to practise in front of the computer.
Flamenco is a group thing, that I realise now. So it's me and my virtual friends until I get to Andaluz.
Simon, Hear what you're saying. Especially the lessons thing. Lessons *are* expensive and are usually (in the UK anyway) a long way to travel to. Lessons should be taken when you have condensed down all your problems and questions into a manageable form yourself. I have only paid for 4 hours of lessons in my life (last year) and have still got plenty of material to be getting on with since! (Unless you are lucky like Phil and live just down the road from one of the best and inexpensive Flamenco schools on the planet! LOL!) You know Simon, I quite often record the "Flamenco Master" output onto tape and use a Walkman with headphones when practising. With very light headphones, you can hear both the guitar and compás beats very clearly.
Tomatito did the demostraciónon on me. It's a healthy lesson to learn.
Simon, please, do not do what I did many year ago!
When I was trying to learn guitar, I was learning acoustic...well, I practiced, and practiced, and practiced, again and again...then I went and bought an Eric Clapton video of one of his live performances, and got totally BUMMED OUT, and quit guitar completely for about 5 years...I just was never going to learn how to play like that...then I started trying to learn flamenco because I heard a CD given to me by a friend that had spanish guitar that sounded like the flamenco lessons I had when I grew up in Albuquerque...Ottomer Liebert(sp)...
Well, I started to play again (badly as of now), but, you know what? I could care less if I play like a Master guitar player...that is not my goal...my goal is to please myself...and if in the process I please others, then that icing on the cake...
In other words, there is a GREAT AMOUNT of frustration trying to play ANY instrument...but with perserverence, practice, and setting goals, and just pleasing YOURSELF, things will change...and guess what? YOU WILL BE LOVING IT!
Never compare yourself to the next guy, there is always someone better than you...please yourself and the whole music world will open up to you! ;>)
One other thing...flamenco music is one of the most difficult music to play...if you want to play it good...keep that in mind! It's wonderful to listen to, but, as a player, it's totally HARD to do, compas wise!
I don't play gigs, here and there, for any money...however, my neighbor lady (from Spain, that helps me with palmas, when I can corner her) ;>) had a party a few months ago, and she had many Spanish guests...well, being who I am...I crashed the party by going across the street and playing for them! Guess what? With the ****ty way I play, they thought I was I was real good...(when I knew I was not!!)
They all gathered around me and I played all my material for them, 25 or so people, and in the end, we all felt good...because I felt good about the way I played...there wer some nice ladies that keep palmas for me too! (and also, I knew that anyone there could not come close to playing the ****ty flamenco that I play) (lucky for me there was not another flamenco guitar player there) ! ;>)
The bottom line, flamenco is an art form that not many people understand or know, but, when they hear solo guitar like I play, they are confused, or amazed...take your pick! Not everyone knows about the art of flamenco, and when they hear it, it's like a new experience for them...
NOW, like Pat tells me, "Get off the computer and start practicing"!
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But it does not compress well and I refuse to practise in front of the computer. 
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