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This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
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RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
5-7 years. Flamenco. Electric guitar for 17-18years
Done pretty well i think. Im sure i would have progresed just a little bit more if i had a flamenco teacher from the very beginning. But im quite happy. Learning takes time.
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This is hard stuff! Don't give up... And don't make it a race. Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
I'll let you know how long it takes to perfect a technique when I do so. But if you want statistics and erudite discussion on the subject of mastery, check out some of Anders Ericsson's papers on it. If you google him you will find some of them online. Basically you have to engage in something called deliberate practice, which isn't messing around but practicing with focus; you need a teacher; and you have to spend 4 hours a day for 10 years. And then you should be a master at that point. That's 14,600 hours for the top level. But you could probably be very happy with 10,000 hours, 6.85 years of this routine.
Henrik is being a misleading as he was already an excellent guitarist before he took up this discipline. He could play Paco before he took up flamenco. Naughty Henrik...
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
quote:
Henrik is being a misleading as he was already an excellent guitarist before he took up this discipline. He could play Paco before he took up flamenco. Naughty Henrik...
I could play Gerswin,Duke Ellington,Charlie Parker,Thelonius Monk ,Coltrane,cick corea On electric. not realy finger style and flamenco....you tease!
_____________________________
This is hard stuff! Don't give up... And don't make it a race. Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
good question ya gotta know flamenco is tough stuff I have played the guitar for 35 years rock, metal, jass, fussion, folk and country. about 5 years ago I started with flamenco and only for about a year can I say I play with confidence. c p.s. I had to play 2 or 3 hours every day ......now its pure fun
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Sure, shroom, I started playing at age 16 around 1991 or so. So, that's about 15 years. I started on heavy metal and blues, did a little classical on the side. In college, I took classical lessons and 1 theory course which I got a C on. Up until around 5 years ago, the guitar was something I tinkered around with and doodled on when bored. At that point, I got into a rumba band and started amping up my practice time. So for about 5 years, I have actually been getting paid to play! Two years ago, I managed to get together several hours of solo repertoire and have been going it solo. Last year I did 120 gigs and this year am on pace for the same.
Probably for the last 4 years I did about 3-4 hours of practice average. I have always struggled on the LH and had a relatively good RH. But it's finally starting to get a little balance. Actually last year I was injured and hardly got to practice at all...that really slows you down.
After 15 years I am finally starting to believe all the great players who have told me to practice real slow, go for relaxation, be disciplined and focus your mind. I'm a believer now :) Hey, there's my life story!
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
i've really only been playing for a year all together though i had some classical lessons fifteen years ago and have noodled around (badly) ever since. i've only managed to progress recently with a teacher and taking practice time very seriously: focusing on one passage or problem and playing it over and over again then playing it some more!
and holy crap, this is a lot of freaking work! flamenco requires so much research and listening and immersion away from the guitar.
like any true obession, its almost as if you have no choice in the matter.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Paco Peña said to me that it takes about 5 years to start to get a grip on the music and the technique. After that, then it's just how much time and effort you want to put into it. I was really keen in my late teens/early twenties, but life circumstances change, so you end up leaving it for awhile and coming back to it again unless you are a serious musician. I rediscovered it again in my mid 30's for awhile, and later on in my 50's.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Wow, with 20 years Im under the top 3. But I have to say that I wasted around 13 years with classic.... But finally I got the right way to flamenco!
I think a voting on "how many hour do you play during a normal day" would be interessting, too. In my holydays in past I allways played around 6-7 hours a day. At the moment I play 1hour and not every day, coz Im very iｓogashi at the moment.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
i go for 5-8 hrs unless theres any disturbance like cleaning or laundry or work Like when it´s holyday
If i work is maybe 2-4hrs, but then theres also the amount of playing i do that is NOT flamenco so it ads up to much more. And i get paid for it!! HAHAHAHA!
_____________________________
This is hard stuff! Don't give up... And don't make it a race. Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Well, I've been playing guitar since I was 22, and I'm now 25. But that was electric guitar... stuff like heavy metal. I find Flamenco is something quite different, although there are some similarities. I've been playing Flamenco about a year and a half, maybe 2 years. But its not how many years you've been playing, its how often in those years you practise... 2 years with practise once every now and again isn't going to give fast progress. Whereas an hour every day for 2 years will probably get you somewhere quite fast. It depends on how busy your life is, and how seriously you take your music. It also depends on how you are learning too (eg. if you have a good teacher). And last but not least, whether you have any natural ability. Those with the natural ability for it would probably progress much faster than those without. (But thats not saying to quit if you're struggling at first).
So... I've been playing a couple of years (maximum) with only intermittent lessons (because I can't afford regular ones), infrequent and short practice sessions because I am busy and lazy, and occasionally my mind strays into other genres of music (eg. classical, metal, jazz) and other instruments (eg. violin). therefore, I'm not as good as I'd like, and need to really focus if I am going to progress.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
I have the 10 years of playing experience to thank for my technique, but when it comes to flamenco knowledege and accompanyment I'm quite the newbie with only 2 years under my belt.
I always try to get at least 2 hours of practise in, more or less depending on how stressed I am otherwise or if I have to focus my practise on other things for shows.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Ron, not to nitpick but be careful about the whole British/American English thing. Over here, a "tinkler" would probably be related to someone of the male persuasion relieving the liquid contents of his biological liquid holder. However, the word "tinkerer" would mean someone who spends bits of time adjusting and trying out different things in a fitful way on a particular project or hobby.
Posts: 6447
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
quote:
Ron, not to nitpick but be careful about the whole British/American English thing. Over here, a "tinkler" would probably be related to someone of the male persuasion relieving the liquid contents of his biological liquid holder
Miguel not to nit-pick or anything but in the UK "tinkle" can mean taking a pee as well, but is also used in the context of "tinkling the ivories" as in playing around on the piano.
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Simon, er, well you wouldn't want to say that here. Especially if it's an expensive piano--you wouldn't be invited back. But you would certainly be welcomed to "tickle" the keys.
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
Miguel not to nit-pick or anything but in the UK "tinkle" can mean taking a pee as well, but is also used in the context of "tinkling the ivories" as in playing around on the piano.
Exactly Mike.. And to add to the confusion, a "tinkerer" in Scotland can mean a man who enjoys the company of young children...
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Guest)
Ron, I would love to hear some American jokes! I wouldn't take it personally, in fact I bet I could make some of my own.
[start of American joke/rant] You know oil prices have been going up, and not coincidentally, Bush's approval rating has gone down. The administration can break the laws of our own country in wiretapping and treatment of prisoners, they can send us to two wars, they can hire the Vice President's old company for the biggest civilian contract in history, and no one cares (as long as the gays are kept in line), but if the price of gas goes up and your magic wand runs out of fairy dust, then you're in trouble! I don't really give it too much thought, although I have to drive about 60 miles a day if I have a gig. That's because I live in a suburb called Gilbert that is 30 miles away from town. You would think that I would be driving through miles of cactus and desert, but it's not like that. The whole way is full of rows of identical brown/gray homes, in subdivisions with names like "Saguaro Estates" and "Tuscan Vistas". The people clogging these wide free ways don't drive the small, fuel-efficient cars you will find in Europe or China. No, we are Americans and we use busses...well, I should say SUVs the size of busses--we don't really like to sit with the riff raff and public transportation is kind of dirty. These Hummers, Escalades, and Broncos are about the size of my old apartment in Sevilla. They get about 10 miles to the gallon, and barely fit in the somewhat small garages of the homes of the sprawling subdivisions. But many of them have GPS and DVD and cupholders big enough to hold your Big Gulps. If you add up 60 miles a day driving, with a huge SUV that gets 10 miles a gallon, and fuel prices that have increased 50%, well that is a significant expense. Enough to get us to the polls, it is![end of American joke/rant]
RE: How long have YOU been playing for? (in reply to Miguel de Maria)
OK Mike, but it's not a smartass joke or anything..just silly.
A retired American couple from Leveldirt, West Texas are visiting Aberdeen. Walking down Union Street the man keeps hearing this twittering noise intermittently and keeps looking around to see where it's coming from. Eventually he stops a local and asks, "Hey Buddy...what's that strange noise we keep hearin'?....like a bunch a birds or somethin'."
The local looks puzzled...then the noise starts again. "Ya hear it now?" says the visitor.
"Och that?", says the local.... "Thats just an audible warning from the traffic lights, so that blind people know when all the lights are at stop."
"Goddam!" says the overseas visitor...
"You know, back in the States, if you're blind, you cain't even git a Driver's License..."
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