Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
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.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Hi Val, Very strange!! I've just this second put my guitar down and that Farruca was the song I was playing.
A good way I've often found is to use Guitar Pro 5. It has a chord function on it where you get a blank chord diagram box and you then put in the finger positions (it plays the notes as you put the finger positions in place so you know it sounds right) once all notes are in a list opf possible names for the chord appears in the window next to it. very handy.
Hi Val. The GuitarPro thing is an option. But I would say, try to discover the theory behind chordbuilding. It's more useful then just learn every chordname. Besides, you will learn to understand connections between chords inthe progresses.
And another thing: You will never find a book that covers all chordshapes. Especially flamenco chordshapes.
The most common chords you play as bar chords are the "A" or the "E" chord which you move up to another fret, while your index finger functions like a capo.
So if the chord reminds you of an A-major or a-minor, you just have to get to know which note you are playing on your A string.
If it reminds you of an E-chord type, the E-string is the one you have to look at.
The notes on your E-string from 0 - 12 are:
E F Fis G Gis A Ais B (I call it H, but Ricardo doesn't like it ) C Cis D Dis E
For the A-string:
A Ais B C Cis D Dis E F Fis G Gis A
So if the chord reminds you of an a-minor, and you are pressing the A-string at the 5th fret, it's most likely a d-minor.
I hope this helps.
Forgot to say that flamenco chords aren't always easy to identify. There must be a thread where some members collected every possible and impossible chord they could think of.
Somewhere I must have a sheet, where this is shown, if you like it or anybody else, I can scan it and send it to you.
Flamenco guitar chords are very cool because often times they are "guitar specific" and putting the proper theory name for a certain chord defeats the purpose. (For example the tonic chord in Taranta is F#7sus4b9, but it is easier to understand it is just the "taranta chord" in F# or Fa sustonido). Por medio is A(b9), but "flamenco A" makes sense because you can add or remove the b9 or 7th at will.
Point being you dont' need to relate flamenco chord shapes to other music styles or standard chords, because it is so different. Just remember how it goes and understand root notes mainly. Either ABCDEFG or do re mi fa sol la si, whatever you prefer. Good to know both actually because that is what working flamenco's use.
The cantaor will say "dos por arriba" or "alegrias en Mi a uno" or "en La...flamenco..." or "por medio" or "en tono de granaina" or "tono de Minera" etc. Or sevillanas "a tres...mi fa...". That is info you need in the real flamenco world. No need to understand proper names for chords unless you want to relate it to what you know already coming from a different style like jazz, rock, or classical guitar.
Printable Version
) C Cis D Dis E 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread