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Ricardo, thanks for answering -- I thought of you immediately. What order do you have a new student learn the palos in, i.e., one who's never had flamenco instruction?
"Anything you do can be fixed. What you cannot fix is the perfection of a blank page. What you cannot fix is that pristine, unsullied whiteness of a screen or a page with nothing on it—because there’s nothing there to fix."
Solea starts it off, unless they like rumba I’ll start with rumba if they request it. Then buleria. Alegrias or tangos next. Siguiriyas and fandango. After that I hope the student is inspired to request specific forms or material they want to learn about.
Once the student gets the concept of keeping compas with strumming and simple falsetas, other forms can be worked on simultaneously. The idea is the forms are open ended and as new techniques and patterns are developed, the student replaces the old material with updated stuff as he or she advances.
Starting 4/4 palos with Tango is good. Btw, tango rhythm in flamenco reminds me of one drop rhythm of reggae. One drop rhythm can be heard in many reggae songs. This drum beat resembles very much the tango dropping the 1st downbeat and accentuating the 3rd beat.
Once the student gets the concept of keeping compas with strumming and simple falsetas
I think this is a key point. Just from casually paying attention I see many people who can't stay in the pocket consistently attempt to play complicated pdl solo compositions.
Grooving is a universal musical thing -- can you be "funky" Kaloguitarist?
I find it easier to work on things when they're simplified and separated.
I'm not sure how long you've been playing guitar but changing chords in the left hand, playing arpeggios/rasgeos with the right hand, AND keeping everything groovy is a lot to handle all at once.
To get better at basic compas, keep it...basic. You can start with just hitting the bass notes at the right times. Then maybe play around with the accents, maybe add an arpeggiated remate, one step at a time.
IMO it's better to sound awesome doing something simple than struggle through something complicated.
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