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Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
strumming patterns of Solea/Cana
Hi, my friends. Recently I am learning Solea and Cana accompaniment for the performance this July.
I am so confused that there are too many strumming patterns. I have watched some videos of great guitar players such as Yerai Cortes and Juan Campallo. I don't know how they can catch the beat because their strumming is not completely following the Compas. I try to do it with my style but the chords they strum are not regular when they are accompanying Escobilla. Should I imitate their accompaniment exactly？
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
I have watched some videos of great guitar players such as Yerai Cortes and Juan Campallo. I don't know how they can catch the beat because their strumming is not completely following the Compas. I try to do it with my style but the chords they strum are not regular when they are accompanying Escobilla. Should I imitate their accompaniment exactly？
Are you only asking about escobilla accompaniment? I'm guessing that you already know standard/typical accompaniment variations for Solea escobilla?
Please can you post a link to the videos of Yerai Cortes and Juan Campallo so we can see what you're referring to? Then we can see how near or far they are from the standard/typical Cana escobilla accompaniment patterns, and if you need to imitate them or not.
Here are the typical cana escobilla variations. First is arpeggio similar to alegrias, then at 00.40 the typical pulgar variation. At 1:07 typical rasgeo.
Posts: 15722
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
yerai "no hay" is the last guy you want to imitate if you are trying to learn what is "orthodox". Although he is fairly conservative here, things like what he does in the llamada at 1:56, ending the rasguedo alone at count 9 and the rest all go to 10, that just screams at me "it is all about me over here and my funky remates!!!!", when actually the job of an accompanist is to blend, match, and make the rest feel "comfortable". A guitar solo is a different story. By doing what he did there, it disconnects him from the dancer and the group. Some people might have thought he was off time even, though he did this quite deliberately. That is why I call him "no hay" cuz he messes with the expectation a little too much.
There is no escobilla before the bulerias (or rather it is a falseta he does a short footwork over before the llamada I mentioned), and the two don't match up in any special way, so I am not sure which section of the caña you really need help with. The cante section, the llamada, the transition to the buleria? Please specify.
Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to Ricardo)
Yes. There is no Escobilla part in the video. The Escobilla is from another guitar player, but I forget his name. I would like to learn the way how he creates his patterns. I know he's a little abrupt there but his accompaniment is not dull. I need to expand my strumming reserves.
Posts: 15722
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
I know he's a little abrupt there but his accompaniment is not dull.
Which part though? For the singing he is playing quite normal, the accents are expressed and the only thing is the inverted chord he liked which is unusual but he reverted to the normal way the next time. The bulerias is where he likes to be funky and it some of it, I feel again, it is disconnecting from the dance at times. But if you specify a spot that you are either confused about or want to know where it comes from or what he is doing, we can address the specifics, but otherwise you are making general questions that the answer is "spend 20 years playing for baile" is the correct answer.
Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to Ricardo)
0:20-0:30 llamada. 1:55-2:20 cante These two parts are hard for me. I wonder if I need an accompaniment like this. In the Bulerias section. He plays very fancy, is very flexible and does not easily capture the beat. I've also noticed that many guitarists like to play outside of compas. Maybe Soniquete?
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
I would like to learn the way how he creates his patterns.
He sat in tablaos for years picking up rhythmic phrases and ideas from following the baile.
I recommend learning the basic cante melody and tonos, then follow the dancer and singer you are accompanying. Mark their breaks and expression. Practice being able to hear/see and mark less typical places. 4, 7, 7&, 9, 9&, 10& etc.. are often done but it can be all kinds of less expected places but do whatever the baile calls for.
quote:
I wonder if I need an accompaniment like this.
Probably not. It could be a good ear/eye exercise to work out what Nino de los Reyes is doing and how Yerai supports it, or not. But you will likely learn some phrases from Yerai that will not work with the dancer and singer that you actually accompany.
quote:
There is no Escobilla part in the video. .
Escobilla starts at 3:02 - this is a need to know guitar pattern to accompany cana baile. Nino de los Reyes llamada breaks on 12 and then goes straight into a short 4 compas escobilla. Listen from 0:40 in the video I posted and learn that.
Posts: 15722
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
0:20-0:30 llamada. 1:55-2:20 cante These two parts are hard for me.
So it is basically the same as basic soleá and/or soleá por bulería. So you need to start from those basics. Too many tutorials out there should get you started for that in terms how to strum and change chords. The cante is also just like soleá, however, the cambio goes to G7 with repeated first verse (D7-G), then again with the second line, and when that repeats you conclude to E. The 4 line verse therefore splits in half. The lamento or "ay ay ay" or which ever vowel they are on, moves E-F-G-F-E with the voice, in 6 count phrases. That is the unique thing about caña and polo musically, but is a very simple concept. The rest of it should be developed from understanding DEEPLY the soleá (that is why it is the "mother" form).
The middle llamada was the one he ends early, then they finish the other two lines of verse. The form is the same as the first half.
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
So it is basically the same as basic soleá
Well: the letra de soleá is nomally one compás, so the tocaor can play a cierre. La letra de caña is often 2 compases, so the tocaor has to wait to play his cierre.
Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to orsonw)
I see. So, the only thing I need to do now is accompanying for my dancers. I will do basic accompaniment first and then I will try to add something new. But the most important part is not to be too fancy.
Posts: 193
Joined: Mar. 19 2024
From: Hunan, China
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to Ricardo)
Thank you, Ricardo. I agree with you that I should begin with Solea. I have watched some Solea videos, and the tempo are slow. So, guitar players need to add more things to the compas. Recently, Juan Campallo went to Japan with his sister and a singer who was the winner of Cante de las Minas 2024. Juan's accompaniment is crazy, and he treated a slow beat as two beats to accompaniment, which taught me a lot.
I have watched some Solea videos, and the tempo are slow. So, guitar players need to add more things to the compas.
E.g. Playing rasgeo fast, even and in control of time e.g. 4 abanicos per beat at 70-80bpm covering beats 1 to 3, landing on 3 con peso. That said, it is also about using silence and space and still feeling and expressing time whilst doing that. It is harder at slow tempos. If that means using the off beat as an anchor "treated a slow beat as two beats" - that's ok if you're aware that is what you're doing.
Posts: 15722
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: strumming patterns of Solea/Cana (in reply to hxwhf72752003)
quote:
I have watched some Solea videos, and the tempo are slow.
There would normally be two sections of soleá (two different style letras), not including the bulería ending. The dramatic slow tempo is usually done to contrast the 4 line verse letra from the transitional letra of 3 line verse. Footwork and llamadas between are designed to lift the tempo to "normal" aka, from slow like 60 bpm to 120+ bpm.
Keep in mind, in the old days, there was no tempo distinction....what we could call "soleá por bulería" is a convention to point out this distinction, that the tempo was always the same for cante/guitar. In other words, Caña, polo, solea de Alcala, and solea from Cadiz or Jerez, could all be around the same tempo. So the typical dance thing today is a very slow Alcala style or Serneta, 4 line verse, then speed up to solxbul and do Frijones from Jerez, or even buleria por soleá, etc.
So Caña as a whole is indistinguishable from Soleá por Bulería guitarwise, and that is what allows the extra compas length hold on the first line of verse as Morante just pointed out. Not unlike certain styles of Bulería por Soleá that hold out the first tercio before resolving to A minor. By contrast Frijones is a similar melody delivered in one compas only then an answer can occur. All this is pretty easy to catch once you have a lot of Soleá under your belt. The same aggressive rhythms for dance at this tempo are used in Alegria so, the right hand gets used to this very generally.
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