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Would you rather be given the ability to play 1 great falsetta like a master?
Or the ability to play thousands, but not very remarkably??
ive noticed so many players blazing through large amounts of material. This is impressive to me in some ways. I usually get very worn out from learning something new, and i like to chew on little pieces for long periods of time, very in depth. I cant imagine starting a new piece every couple of weeks. I can spend 2 months on 1 or 2 falsettas. Sometimes more. Anyway, just hope to get different players' overall spin on this subject.
I fall into the first category. For me, Its much more satisfying to play 20 seconds of perfection, than to "just make it" through 50 complete solos.
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
Unfortunately, i fall into the quantity pile It's annoying, but the reason is that i get bored quickly and get annoyed easily. So i'll start learning something and it may be the same day or a week or 3 later, but i get bored and start something else. I don't think it's a good way to go but i can't help it. I've been like this from the begining of my playing career. I am a slight perfectionist though, so it's not like i'm REALLY dodgey, i do my technique practice and all that exciting stuff .....i think in a few years when my technique hits that comfort zone, i'll start leaning towards quality a bit more, and be able to play what i already can, better.......i hope!!!! See ya Larone
Posts: 495
Joined: Nov. 27 2005
From: North Carolina, USA
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I have always had the problem of never learning complete songs. When I was playing electric guitar, I was like the "intro master", which has to be the most annoying type of guitar player. I could play enough to get people to want to hear, then not be able to play the rest of the song. Because of this history, I think I'd like to be able to play a relatively simple song all the way through(mostly right but not perfect as long as it is in compas and has some aire) and enjoy that for a change.
I think flamenco will be different for me. I like to study short falsettas in depth, and I am not even close to being bored with it. If I study enough falsettas, eventually songs will come. I listen to old music now that I used to try to play, and can't believe how simple they sounds now after trying to study flamenco. Rod
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I think music in general is always about quality and not quantity. I would rather be able to play one or two songs really well than to fumble my way through a few hundred pieces, all of which sound terrible. I think the audience would quite prefer that too. If someone plays terribly, he probably wouldn't get to show off his huge repetoire because listeners may be put off and stop listening after the first few pieces.
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I think I fall inbetween. I dont learn lots of new stuff, and I dont work very much the single pieces. I try to relax and enjoy and simply play. I like playing tecnical exersices, and I think that I very often choose a falseta because I want to work a certain tecnique.
I f I have to say a goal, it would be something like being able to keep a good compas and play some few good falsetas in a lot of palos, so that I can join in and play with others, and that they would appreciate what I do
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I am usually only interested in falsetas which fit on dance. Or they have to be clear in compas. So it depends on the class which I actually play for, which falsetas I learn or compose. And I allways try to keep a repertoire. 4 years ago I learned the last complete piece. Since these days I only play whole pieces by using the falsetas of my repertoire. I dont like to copy complete pieces, coz the litening people allways only have the original in their mind. When I interpret something different, they dont hear my music and maybe like it..They allways only say..."but paco or mr.x plays it different here and there".
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
quote:
Anyway, just hope to get different players' overall spin on this subject.
Hi Todd, I'm fascinated by the sound of the Flamenco guitar. I like looking at stuff in detail...maybe just little note transitions or a particular piece of phrasing....or an apparanently impossible bit of thumb technique!
That's what makes me focus and get out of the everyday world. That's my joy of the guitar.
Others enjoy playing reams and reams of music with all the wrong sound, dodgy compás and fumbled notes etc and get a lot of enjoyment out of that too.
Each to their own I suppose...
The penalty for that is that I have no real repertoire because I can't stand anything I played last month LOL!
That's how I'd be much happier as an accompanist with a small bag of falsetas rather than a concert guitarist with hours of material I suppose..
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I tend to try to"master" (bad choice of words for me) a piece before moving on. My problem seems to be that I really have to kick myself in the butt to move on to something new once I start to get a piece to sound reasonably good. I just want to continue playing and perfecting it.
So I guess I'm on the "Don't want to move on" end of the spectrum.
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
toddk i want to be able to play marginal maybe one hours of good music instead of 50 solos. i don't know how to make a difference of playing flamenco like a classical guitar player who must play perfect. maybe someday but the cds that i listen to sometimes i hear fumbles here and there of some of the great players and that is why i like to learn flamenco. to me i am going to try to learn the bascis first, solea, alergrias and bulerias but maybe not master them as long as they are in compas which is hard for me now, but that will be my goal. david
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I choose perfection, but still quantity is very important if you want to speak the language, specially in flamenco when each palo has it's own personality. Anyway I enjoy making a piece different, like I would compose it(arrange if you will),It makes me sometimes come up with my own ideas.
Posts: 2006
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
I like to make stuff up as I go along, which leads to a lower level of quality, but gives me satisfaction when something good occasionally comes out. I do have a few falsetas that I've played for a long time, in the hopes that they sound good when I play them. I used to have many solo pieces when I did a lot of solo gigs, but they are long gone now. I was watching a dvd I got from Bill Davidson, who sells dvd's of festivals and pena gigs. This unknown guy in Huelva was playing for a few singers for an hour. He didn't have great technique, and played simple falsetas in between the coplas, but he was in the middle of the whole juerga. that's a pretty cool way of doing it to me. I'd say I much perfer quality over quantity any day, but still like to improvise a bit.
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
Hi Todd
My problem is, i can't get satisfied after practiced one short falseta over 8month! what can i do? that really depressed. i thougt i should move on for some new pieces so i can keep energy on playing.
Posts: 495
Joined: Nov. 27 2005
From: North Carolina, USA
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
like that quote from Amadeous(I love that movie) something like "Too many notes...yes, yes, too many notes" Pretty funny. I wonder if the last poster just had some language or grammar issues?
Posts: 432
Joined: Jan. 7 2005
From: Iasi, Romania
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to ToddK)
i dont read scores that well,so this is my excuse for polishing the same thing again and again it gets my technique better...but my knowledge limited cause my ear doesnt evolve too much.
I would like to improvisate but be able to write what I play and really know what I'm doing.But this will take centuries :)
RE: Quality/Quantity in your playing (in reply to duende)
Unfortunately i am the guy that sometimes has to move on to the next one even tho he didnt have as much time as hed like to digest the first one, but its not by choice its by necesity most of the time.
I would love to have time to chew a faseta and do it perfectly but most of the time, i am on a deadline to learn it for dancers or to accompany another guitarist, or to play an intro in a gig next week.
Depends sometimes i get more time at it, most of the time i get about 4 days to learn a few falsetas for gigs, most of the times i get the night before a gig to finalize a intro because thats where i digested the dance choreography.
Recently i have played with many different guitarists for gigs who's style i didnt have time to digest. Sometimes i find the falsetas i really like and i go back to them and develop them for my own repertoir.
Sometimes i get in over my head and say yes to every gig and realize how work i have to do only when i am in the middle of it. Like last year in december i was in 4 end of year shows 1 week after the other, in each one i had to learn compleatly new dance choreographys new guitar pieces from new guitarists i was playing with new cante letras. Mibe i shouldnt say yes to everything but i need the money and i enjoy beeing busy playing. Sometimes is a litlle more quiet and i get time to digest the stuff i wanna play and work on it.
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It's annoying, but the reason is that i get bored quickly and get annoyed easily. So i'll start learning something and it may be the same day or a week or 3 later, but i get bored and start something else. I don't think it's a good way to go but i can't help it. I've been like this from the begining of my playing career. I am a slight perfectionist though, so it's not like i'm REALLY dodgey, i do my technique practice and all that exciting stuff 
.....i think in a few years when my technique hits that comfort zone, i'll start leaning towards quality a bit more, and be able to play what i already can, better.......i hope!!!! 
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