Golpe tips please

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Golpe tips please

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val

Posts: 800
Joined: Apr. 4 2007
From: London

Golpe tips please

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 16 2007 13:43:20

Pimientito

Posts: 2481
Joined: Jul. 30 2007
From: Marbella

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val) 1 votes

Hey Val
Going from classical guitar technique to flamenco is in my opinion harder than starting with flamenco. I had exactly the same problem learning golpes.
First thing is to make sure you have some fingernails. If you dont have nails you wont hear anything since it is the nail that makes the distinctive percussive tap.

Secondly try using your middle finger to make the golpe, your ring ringer or both your middle and ring finger together and see which is more comfortable. I found using the middle finger easier initially and could change to ring finger later on. While most guitarists use the ring finger, you can use the middle finger almost as well. If you get into the habit of using both fingers you will get a golpe sound even with a broken fingernail.

Lastly getting the golpe to combine with the down stroke of the first finger is tough. This is cos you gotta flick the first finger down and do a completely different downward tap movement with the (second) third finger at the same time.
Hold down a buleria A chord and do downstrokes with the first finger
1,2,3 1,2,3. on each 3 put a golpe. You have to twist your wrist very slightly to the right (if you're right handed) while you make the golpe. Repeat 1000 times

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 16 2007 17:53:46

Georg

Posts: 405
Joined: Feb. 5 2006
From: Germany

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

You can practice this movement even without a guitar.

If you have a boring office job, this is the thing to practice.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 16 2007 18:29:16

John O.

Posts: 1723
Joined: Dec. 16 2005
From: Seeheim-Jugenheim, Germany

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to Georg)

You'll realize you don't have to hit very hard at all if you have your finger aimed directly at the guitar and don't slip off sideways. This is achieved by bending the joint of the ring finger on the way up to keep the finger at a constant angle to the guitar.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 16 2007 18:40:04

Filip

Posts: 403
Joined: Apr. 23 2006
From: Paris

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

I was thinking about that golpe too lately! I tried and it is very difficult for me! And maybe what's making it more difficult is my classical guitar, because the strings are not so near the neck as on flamenco (I am not sure, I think it is called "lower action", correct me if I'm wrong)!

Anyway, you can practice it without the guitar, and when you practice it you should do it very slow, for about million times

and then faster and faster, till you start doing it in a particular falseta! And you will learn it good (now, maybe I sound like I know it very good, but actually I don't know it! But I'll practice it)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 16 2007 20:22:20

val

Posts: 800
Joined: Apr. 4 2007

[Deleted]

Post has been moved to the Recycle Bin at Nov. 8 2010 13:48:49

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 16 2007 20:40:21

Wannabee

Posts: 131
Joined: Jan. 13 2007

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

I don't know if this will help, but one thing I had to do was change the shape of the nail on the A finger.

When I played classical, I had kind of a pointy-round shape to get the tone I needed, but if when I started flamenco I kept breaking the nail.

Now I use a very straight shape for the A nail, with slightly rounded corners.

I get a better golpe sound and I don't break my nails.

cheers

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 17 2007 4:42:15

val

Posts: 800
Joined: Apr. 4 2007

[Deleted]

Post has been moved to the Recycle Bin at Nov. 8 2010 13:49:19

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 17 2007 10:33:08

Ricardo

Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val) 1 votes

Can you just do a golpe by itself and make the sound you want? If so, this exercise usually helps my students get the hang of it.

Pick a chord sequence, like Solea escobilla say, so F-C-F-E. And you strum 16th notes, semi's or whatever you guys call em, 4 notes per beat. Taka taka, taka taka, taka taka etc. OK? So the way you strum is actually GOLPE by itself, then UP with index, then DOWN with index, then UP with index, then Golpe, iup idown iup, etc and keep reapeating changing chords every three beats. If you are strumming real even, so you have Gople, i i i all in one beat, (the beat would be quarter note equalls 70bpm or something slow like that so the golpe is on every tick), then you notice how the index moves up and down constantly.

Watch in the mirror your right hand as you do this. In order for your INDEX to get into the position to play UP stroke AFTER the golpe, it had to swing DOWN while you do the golpe. So you are DOING IT already, you just need to let it touch the strings on the way down. So that is the idea, but first makes sure you get that GOLPE, iup, idown, iup, going nice and smooth and even.

I count it like this 1,e,&,ah, 2,e,&,ah, etc
1=golpe
e=i up
&=i down
ah=i up

repeat. Hope that makes sense.

Ricardo

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 18 2007 15:19:14

Posts: 20
Joined: May 13 2007
From: Warsaw, Poland

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to Ricardo)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ricardo
Watch in the mirror your right hand as you do this. In order for your INDEX to get into the position to play UP stroke AFTER the golpe, it had to swing DOWN while you do the golpe. So you are DOING IT already, you just need to let it touch the strings on the way down. So that is the idea, but first makes sure you get that GOLPE, iup, idown, iup, going nice and smooth and even.

This is very similar to how my teacher explained it to me, and it DOES make things a lot easier to understand.

I also noticed that you don't really have to straighten the index finger to strum the strings while you do golpe. You can make a circular motion with your wrist while doing the golpe and keep your index finger bent towards the strings (in a natural way). With the right angle, this will also work. I don't know how "correct" it is though :)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 18 2007 17:52:05

ecgfc

Posts: 31
Joined: Apr. 18 2007

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

I learned the "golpe" from Gerhard Graf-Martinez's DVD VOl 1. You may want to check it out if you can. Good luck.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 18 2007 20:02:09

wiseguy493

Posts: 73
Joined: May 9 2007

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

This stroke was very difficult for me because I have quarter-webbed ring and middle fingers and when i first learned Paco's farruca I used thumb downstrokes+golpe just so I could play the song without having to wait for my hand to learn the much more difficult (for me) index downstroke+golpe.

Then, through many months of SLOW training and practice, I managed to get a decent index+golpe and adopted it more thoroughly in other songs I had already learned as well. What did the most for me was just playing through the simple soleares compas in eigth notes with index stroke+golpe on the accented beats. I used the opportunity to practice smoothing out my continuous rasgueado on the unaccented beats. I wish I had been a member of this foro when I was first learning, it would've helped a LOT!

Whatever exercise you go through (and I'd say try them all!!), make sure you're using the correct motion for both fingers because it should not require much effort from your hand to make the proper golpe sound. It's mostly about the angle that the fingernail contacts the guitar. Your index stroke shouldn't require much effort either. Be cautious not to use too much effort and create tension in your hand during practice because this will teach poor technique. It may help to practice playing this as lightly as possible at half tempo if you feel your hand becoming tense

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 19 2007 0:02:29

Ricardo

Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to wiseguy493)

quote:

this stroke was very difficult for me because I have quarter-webbed ring and middle fingers and when i first learned Paco's farruca I used thumb downstrokes+golpe just so I could play the song without having to wait for my hand to learn the much more difficult (for me) index downstroke+golpe.

Good post wiseguy. I would just like to add that it is not necessary to hit ALL the strings when doing this technique, sometimes it is just the bass strings you hit like 5,4,3, sometimes just the trebles like 4,3,2,1, it depends on the chord.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 19 2007 0:25:26

gato

Posts: 322
Joined: Jun. 9 2007

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

Yep, golpe is cool. There are many ways to play the guitar, just as sure as there are as many compositions out there, and there is no one way to count it out. Practice and do what is comfortable and akin to your cordination, and go from there, and learn it and get to know it in as many ways as you can. That's the rule I use when trying to learn. That is explore golpe and then get back to the piece you are trying to play. It's alot easier to put things on the back burners for a while. Then when you feel good....well, it's needless to say!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 19 2007 0:35:10

val

Posts: 800
Joined: Apr. 4 2007

[Deleted]

Post has been moved to the Recycle Bin at Nov. 8 2010 13:49:37

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 27 2007 21:53:24

Filip

Posts: 403
Joined: Apr. 23 2006
From: Paris

RE: Golpe tips please (in reply to val)

quote:

...So the way you strum is actually GOLPE by itself, then UP with index, then DOWN with index, then UP with index, then Golpe, iup idown iup, etc...

This is genius! Thanks Ricardo! I have to admit that my golpe is quite improved after this, and believe me or not, but I didn't spend more than 10 minutes practicing it like this!!!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 7 2007 21:26:35