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I have a question about rasgueado. Which ones are necessary to learn. I know the amii,aii, xamii and pmp (abanico I believe ?). Can I do everything with these. Or are there more that are absolutely necessary to learn ?
Benefit for me with Pai is it can use less wrist movement, be more controlled and softer volume even at high speed. I can't do pmp or p am p triplet stroke really fast and soft at the same time. So using it (pai) for a slow or medium Verdiales beat is essential for me.
Also, the loudest heaviest strum I can do is just up and down with the hand, fingers down, thumb up, with the wrist or arm moving. Like you are strumming pick style. So work on as many different rasgueados you hear about, and make up your own mind which you like, and when to apply them. Techniques are a means to an end. Rasgueado's are a rhythmic strumming technique, so the purpose of each is what the rhythm calls for.
I hear Tom Whiteley has like over a hundered rasg. on his site. check it out.
I know the amii,aii, xamii and pmp (abanico I believe ?)
These are basically the ones I use. Actually I use 2 others : the triplet iia you can find in tangos or fandangos... and there is another one I like a lot : a 4-stroke played x a+m i i. I took a few lessons with a guy who showed it to me as an introduction to the 5-stroke xamii. However I have no idea if this is a standard one or just an exercise... Anyway I keep on using it as I like its very percusive sound.
But I am certainly not a reference... actually I look forward to reading the more advanced players and what they think would be the "rasgueado survival kit".
By the way, I have just seen in the Juan Martin Solo book an 8-note rasgueado : xamixami, all downstroke. It think it is a little weird as I feel the i upstroke is missing... I am wondering if this is because of this one that I was told to practice the xamii rasgueado with the xam going back DURING the i downstroke. I do not know wether one should invest some time on it...
ORIGINAL: El Becko By the way, I have just seen in the Juan Martin Solo book an 8-note rasgueado : xamixami, all downstroke. It think it is a little weird as I feel the i upstroke is missing...
Its just the standard C-A-M-I four stroke, repeated. Many old school players play their continuous ras like this. Tricky to do as C has to be returning whilst I is playing, its a kind of rolling motion.
El Becko, did you see that rasgeado in the solea por bulerias section? If you have made it that far, let me know!! I have a compas question at that exact spot!
Yes this is in the solea por buleria section. However, I haven't practised this particular piece yet. I just read the part a few days ago as I am looking for a new piece to study and I am hesitating between this one and a few others. I'll see this week end which one it is going to be...
But you should go ahead with your question anyway...
After the first line of down stroke A chords, he goes into the rasgueados. How do you count the beats in this first section!!? The problem is that ol' Juan likes to play a little too fast for me to properly clap it out. The first beat is the little finger starting the first rasgueado, but it seems that the two rasgueados and the first index stroke make up one beat, and the second index stroke is the start of the second beat. Does this make sense?
I find that I can't learn the piece unless I can properly tap my foot to it. I wish that they would've included counts showing where the accents are.
I had a closer look at the JM solea por buleria. I guess your question is about bar 5 (and bars 9 and 13 where we have the same pattern). Here is my understanding...
Fisrt, if you have a look at bar 17, Juan plays a very standard strumming pattern on a Bb chord on the beat 1, 2 and 3 of the 12 beat solea compas. It goes:
Beat 1: e a m i i e a m are all donwstrokes and the ii are down then upstroke. You may want to tap on your foot on the beat: e stroke.
Beat 2: e a m i i e a m are all donwstrokes and the ii are down then upstroke. You may want to tap on your foot on the beat: e stroke.
Beat 3: i i ii are down then upstroke. You may want to tap on your foot on the beat: i downstroke with a golpe.
In the bar 5, the pattern is different. This a kind of a nice variation around the standard compas. Juan does not put the accent on beat 3 like it should be in the compas (accents on 3 6 8 10 12), but after it when your foot is up (do we say "on the counter beat" in English?).
To do that, Juan plays the two last i strokes with downstrokes only. The second one is accentuated or even with a golpe (bar 9).
So it goes:
Beat 1: e a m i i e a m are all donwstrokes and the ii are down then upstroke. You may want to tap on your foot on the beat: e stroke.
Beat 2: e a m i i e a m are all donwstrokes and the ii are down then upstroke. You may want to tap on your foot on the beat: e stroke.
Beat 3: i i ii are both down strokes. You may want to tap on your foot on the beat: first i downstroke. The second i downstroke is played stronger when the foot is up.
I hope this is clearer now. If not, let me know, I can play it slowly and upload a video.
WOW! Thanks for the breakdown! I´ve printed off what you wrote and I´ll put it to the test when I get home tonight. The problem is that my neighbor always complains when I play afetr 10 pm, so i normally practise tremolo at night. But you have a real talent when it comes to explaining the compas. I´ll let you know tommorow how I did.
Me imagino que me estas comentando acerca de que no puedo tocar guitarra despues de las 10 pm, verdad? Y que me aconsejas usar "stirofoam" para que no suene la guitarra? Si es el caso, gracias...lo intentare. Otherwise your spanish seems to be quite good! Keep practising mi viejo.
Maybe someone should ask Yamaha to make a silent flamenco guitar. I imagine that the biggest problem with the silent classical is that there's nowhere to tap...
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I am wondering if this is because of this one that I was told to practice the xamii rasgueado with the xam going back DURING the i downstroke. I do not know wether one should invest some time on it... 
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