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Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
Which technique do you find the hard...
I have been wondering whether some techniques come easier than others? I have not listed all of them; and I mean playing them properly, in compas and consistently.
Posts: 169
Joined: Apr. 5 2005
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
My choice isn't there so I'll say alzapua. I can play a handful well and up to speed but to get them really controlled, nicely balanced, cleanly articulated and be able to jump right into it ... well I find that the hardest thing for me.
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
I'd say the hardest thing to acquire is compás. Not just counting out the beats mechanically, but having it flow from you so it's just as natural as playing as any 4/4 song you know. With mucho compás and little technique you have Flamenco. With mucho technique and little compás you have....well..just mucho technique!
I voted picado. I don't play any fast picado but I admire those who can.
Fast picado is a strange beast. To me, it's a bit like a stage magician doing his stuff. If you get it 95% to 100% right it's really impressive! If it's under that, then it's a bit like the magician doing his trick, but the audience just happened to see the object in his hand slide up his sleeve... So the magic is lost.
I think in all the techniques, fast picado is the only one you can't really give marks out of ten for. It either works or doesn't IMO.
Posts: 15725
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
I would say moving between different techniques is the challenge, keeping timing and fluidity along with what Ron said.
But for a single technique I might have said Tremolo since I dont' use it much. But I have 5 short tremolos I have been working on and it is getting alot smoother nowadays. I like to use it as a warm up.
But I will vote PICADO, just because I can play almost all of the stuff in a certain PDL piece until I get to certain Picado passages, then my true speed limit is revealed clearly. So, I wish my picado was several notches more up to speed with the rest of my techniques.
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
I said tremelo too, but that's because I spent alot of time trying to get it even (not necessarily in compas). Then, once it was even, I hear someone that plays it a little less even, and have to admit that this sounds more flamenco to me. Now, I'm trying to learn how to play it less even.
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
Picado is the hardest one I think. There are many ways of playing the same notes. If you are good you can let one note sound very different coz of the picado technic. So not only the fast picado is hard, its hard too to pronounce it well. I know some players who have a very fast picado, but they just hit the strings as it comes. Also when they play slow. The true challange is to manipulate the tone right. Vicente is a good example of that.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
Picado. Nothing else requires such long sequences of coordination with such little room for error. Most tremolos only change once a beat, so the coordination requirements are much smaller. But I would say tremolo is probably second hardest.
Posts: 103
Joined: Mar. 15 2005
From: Toronto, Canada
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
I must admit, I was initially surprised to hear picado is a harder technique to master compared to Alzapua. However, I'm not sure we're comparing apples to apples here. I think it all depends on the level of skill one is talking about. In other words, the answer to this question may depend on the skill level of the person answering it. For example, Alzapua may be initially much more difficult than picado for beginners (like myself) to get used to, but the opposite may be true for a more advanced player who is trying to achieve excellence in picado. Does this make sense?
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Posts: 377
Joined: Nov. 22 2005
From: Quepos / Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
Here's a question: If you could only practice a couple of techniques, what would they be? For example: Practising alzapua will help your pulgar playing, but not the other way around, right? So its probably better to spend more time on alzapua? And will tremolo help your arpegios, or do arpegios help your tremolo? Does anybody think that one or more excersises or techniques gives you all around more control? Make any sense!!??
Posts: 169
Joined: Apr. 5 2005
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to Escribano)
fevictor, great question.
I think that something like alzapua involves many little techniques found else where (i.e. pulgar downstroke, pulgar upstoke, planting, p-i-p-i technique (forget the name of that), etc) and that trying to learn all of those in one technique is less efficient than working on each individually since its harder to focus on all at once. So I work on pulgar upstoke in isolation, for instance, when I notice that my alzapua isn't as sharp as it could be. Then I go back to alzapua and listen for the result. That is why I don't find picado 'harder' since as a technique it is less complex (m-i alteration and right hand position shifts for string crossing). Of course, you can focus on i-m string crossing, m-i string crossing, i-i and m-m string crossing within picado as well.
I view tremelo and argeggios as the same thing where tremelo is simply one type of argeggio and played on one string. I'm a big believer in figuring out what is 'breaking' in a technique and then isolating that and maybe making an exercise for it then apply those results. For instance, a lot of folks have the most speed issues in picado when crossing strings so isolating that can really help your speed over all without playing entire scales over and over.
RE: Which technique do you find the ... (in reply to fevictor)
quote:
And will tremolo help your arpegios, or do arpegios help your tremolo?
Interesting question. I think arpegios are my strongest technique, yet my tremelo sucks. Fortunately, you can get by without tremelo, but I'd still like to be able to play an even, clear tremelo.
BTW has anyone ever heard Moraito play tremelo? I don't have any of his solo stuff, but I do have a lot of him accompanying but no tremelos on any of those recordings.
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