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im currently trying to learn a few falsetas and one piece by tomatito from his encuentro vid. i cant seem to deal with the barre chords he does on some of the falsetas looking at his index finder on the vid its seems unnatural that a finger could bend like this.
the one piece im having the most difficulty with is la andonda, the intro is a nightmare for my left hand, its coming along little by little, my pinky just dosn't have enough strength to get an adequate trill note on the rasquado.
my hand is usually tired after 15mins of trying this sequence over and over, could i get some tips on barre chords.im trying to use as little tension as i can and am trying to put the forearm rather than the finger into clamping but still not much success.
or has anybody here attempted to learn this piece in full, how did you go about tackling it?
RE: barre chords nightmare. (in reply to henrym3483)
Hi Henry,
are you talking about a barre similar to the typical open A in flamenco? If so, my experience is you just have to keep practising until your top knuckle is flexable enough and you find the right pressure points.
I spent a lot of years previous to flamenco playing Barrios pieces, who had an extremely flexible left hand, so I had little trouble with that.
By the way, "La Catedral III" from Barrios is a great advanced exercise for the left hand as well as for arpeggios, I even saw Tino van der Sman playing it in Sanlucar and heard part of it in a very old PDL falseta por Tarantos. It's played by 100's of classical guitarists in Youtube so easy to find.
My problem actually has always been barres which require a straight hand, especially at the higher frets - puts a major strain on my wrist. Manolo Sanlucar likes doing a lot with such positions, makes it impossible for me to play his music...
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RE: barre chords nightmare. (in reply to henrym3483)
Dont know if this will help but you can play a half barre on strings three and four and use the second finger tucked in for the second string, this means that you needn't bend the joint quite so much to clear the open first string. Also flamenco guitars tend to have a low nut and if the height of the open string at the nut is really high (like it is on my classical ) then a more flamenco setup can alleviate the problem ( although it may have repercussions ).
RE: barre chords nightmare. (in reply to henrym3483)
This is one of those things that eases up over time as you develop strength in your hand. Just keep at it, and after a while you will discover that chords that are difficult now, will magically become effortless in time.
I sometimes use a hand riveter for doing pop rivets, and it is a real hand killer. If I do a lot of it, I notice I get rather dramatic speed increases when guitar playing.
RE: barre chords nightmare. (in reply to henrym3483)
quote:
yup, its looks unatural and bad for the joint imho.
The Flamenco "A", covering three strings with the index and middle and with the index alone, bending at the tip joint is totally essential to Flamenco playing. This is used A LOT. So, there's nothing you can do about it except practise it. (Just don't tell your chiropractor or medical consultant.. )
cheers,
Ron
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A good guitar might be a good guitar But it takes a woman to break your heart
yup, its looks unatural and bad for the joint imho.
The Flamenco "A", covering three strings with the index and middle and with the index alone, bending at the tip joint is totally essential to Flamenco playing. This is used A LOT. So, there's nothing you can do about it except practise it. (Just don't tell your chiropractor or medical consultant.. )
cheers,
Ron
lol in case i'm not getting it, this is just the regular x02220 A chord fretting the D and G strings with the index finger and the B string with the middle, right?
ok heres a clip of me attempting the intro, btw i was quite feckless at the end, not doing the arrpegios but im having enuff trouble with the left hand never to mind the right
RE: barre chords nightmare. (in reply to henrym3483)
Looks like you have the finger in place! You'll have to get used to that position I'm afraid. Just gotta keep practising very slowly, and with a metronome in compas! You have the video too?
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Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things
yeah ive got the vid john, its great, like having jose in your front room.the tab in the book though could do with reform as it took me and hour to understand the note bending and hammer on's were in the stave above only.
lol in case i'm not getting it, this is just the regular x02220 A chord fretting the D and G strings with the index finger and the B string with the middle, right?
Yep, that's it Ramparts, The next step is using just the index to cover the 2,3,4 strings while keeping the 1st string completely free and to be able to move that shape all the way up. The secret is to keep the thumb really low on the back of the neck.
cheers,
Ron
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A good guitar might be a good guitar But it takes a woman to break your heart
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From: Hamilton, ON
RE: barre chords nightmare. (in reply to henrym3483)
oh...haha, i've been playing that for a while now...not particularly well, mind you, but i didn't know it was something other people also had issues with. with a split second to prepare the chord it works for me (I can play it fine in a granainas, in my farruca it poses issues ). Thumb low on the back of the neck, thanks!
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(just to connect it with Edgar's thread) 
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