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I started to learn flamenco since 5years now mas o menos, and always played a bit the guitar since child.
I can say i reached a level where i can play most of the palos like solea,tangos,buleria,solxbul.. but all of them in a traditional way i mean i can play compas with variations to create dynamic etc, and a lot of falsetas but all of this is traditionnal and most of the play is from the upper of the guitar (diapason), im not using all the diapason as i want to. I went to a pena for 1 year (2021-2022) where i learned a lot of acompanement of cante & baile but basics stuff.. i moved of city and now im alone in my bedroom :D..
The reason i write this to you guys is i need advices to step up and create my own style, i started to compose a bit but its so hard, some peole advice i see on youtube for exemple is to learn maestro's piece first like paco etc (things i didnt start to do).. the problem its there is so much stuff everywhere that u can get lost quickly..
Do you guys have a plan for me ? things to focus on, mandatory pieces i should learn for delocking me and alowing me to start composing etc ? I like traditional flamencos like for exemple paco of course, miguel vargas (extremadura), but times have changed and my idols now are vicente & antonio rey (its more my style)
The goal for me its not to be professional, but i want to make everything by my side to push forward the guitar playing and enjoying
Sorry for my poor english and the big text, hope u can help me !
Sounds like your on the right track with learning the foundational base. I'm not much of a composer, but I think actually learning pieces from Vicente or whomever is a must if you want to understand what is happening, to discover and develop new harmonic or rythmic ideas. Oh, and guys like Vicente started learning Paco pieces first!
making your own ramates is a good start. learn a bunch of variations, and then add your own twist or modifications, rather than try to come up with something from scratch. You dont have to only start with substituting notes, you can also start with a rhythmic idea first. When I come up with something of my own, its usually only after I hear the rythm in my head, then melody follows.
This guy's videos might be helpful. He has some good ideas for composing.
sit and try to compose something every day for 30 min. don't worry if it's garbage, just throw it out and start something new next time. after a year you should see improvement
The problem is i still dont play any maestro piece (except roma :D) and i think it can help me a lot, which one for u is mandatory ? i need a solea i guess first, i like very much tio arango but i dont know if it can be a good start, maybe later a taranta or alegrias..
I went to a pena for 1 year (2021-2022) where i learned a lot of acompanement of cante & baile but basics stuff.. i moved of city and now im alone in my bedroom :D..
The reason i write this to you guys is i need advices to step up and create my own style, i started to compose a bit but its so hard, some peole advice i see on youtube for exemple is to learn maestro's piece first like paco etc (things i didnt start to do).. the problem its there is so much stuff everywhere that u can get lost quickly..
You probably realize, if it is true that you have the basic training as you say, that the maestros draw inspiration as accompanists. Now, you have “nobody” to accompany. I mean, you could, in theory go to a dance school in your area. This at least forces you to find material that works with choreographies…a HUGE inspiration for composer guitarists as they are given a basic map which they have to create with, rather than improvise by tossing out learned falsetas. It may start with a simple reworking of a known falseta that “almost works” but not quite, and you have to take artistic liberty to MAKE it work. Later you replace these things with your OWN material.
The reason for learning maestro pieces note for note, at early stages, is so you get a sense and taste for what works and what doesn’t, specifically. You don’t have to learn entire pieces, but you can extract falsetas and devices that YOU like. But after a while, a logic starts to appear and hopefully you can create your own ideas along these lines. I know that Antonio Rey, who inspires you, draws on such sources of the maestros, but he and Vicente are not afraid to just blatantly steal stuff. That is actually how you discover your OWN voice…it starts in the details that YOU do differently than the maestro and grows from there.
In my case as somebody who transcribes a lot, I can draw inspiration of something I hear then transcribe or the other way around seeing interesting fingerings and chord choices. These very much come into my composing unconsciously and also give me some good examples of how solo pieces are structured. I usually have a harmony in mind for a phrase or falseta and I build the rest around that.
I think you shouldn't focus on composing at all at this stage and you're skipping a crucial stage too early imo, which is there is so much stuff around and covered from a lot of maestros, specially the modern stuff, and at least some of those should be learned first, before composing yourself.
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