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Guest -> RE: Classical Guitar for the Flamenco Guitarist (Feb. 9 2010 7:41:03)
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1. Classical guitar method does not necessarily teach you to read WELL. Most of the time, unless in an ensemble, you end up working through a piece and going through the positions and fingerings slow. I recommend if you want to read, and this might help your flamenco better, is to find a jazz teacher and work on reading with him. REASON is there will be an emphasis on reading AND keeping time, and feeling what you read rather then just finding the notes, plus, you will get a focus on chords and scales, and how they fit together. Again you won't get that with a classical guitar teacher. Also, the jazz teacher won't care your flamenco technique or whatever method you use to play a chord or notes you are sight reading, and may think it "cool" you do it that way. He may get you start reading in the middle of the fingerboard too so you get more understanding how the fretboard is laid out, vs open position scales and such.
Classical guitar teacher of any repute will not let you get away with making "flamenco sounds" when trying to interpret a classical piece, or even just an exercise, no matter how beginner level (and especially if it is lower level). Deliberately avoiding making "flamenco sounding" strokes will affect your playing for sure.
2. Your problem with adapting falsetas, and compas, is also a rhythm problem, not to be fixed with a classical teacher. Again, perhaps a jazz teacher will get your rhythm going, and ablity to both read and improvise, and this in tern helps your creativity and ability to compose, since improvising is composing on the fly.
However, a warning is that your concept of composing flamenco and adapting your own "falsetas" of your own make is not good. That is not the way to go about progressing in flamenco (unless you want to end up on Jason's fakemenco list, then go ahead). You need to first get grounded in the traditional rhythms and falsetas, at least SOME of them that are from the masters, so you understand even HOW to compose in the style. That will take some time, and in this regard, both the classical and a jazz teacher will not be helping you. Flamenco improvisation is NOT like jazz improvisation at all.
Ricardo
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This is good advice. Having a background in both Classical and Jazz and now spending all avail time learning/playing Flamenco i found the aural skills acquired by both of these genres has enabled a quicker understanding of what is going on harmonically, melodically and rhythmically in the palos. But unlike jazz and classical guitar, flamenco is less cerebal and more visceral.
Saying this Stoney it is maybe the basics of music that need attention and not the interpretation of classical pieces [so much strategic rubato!] or how many 'gnat' notes one can squeeze out of a diminished 7th chord.
The teacher is the key here. So many classical players carry on the tradition of tier teacher who carried on the tradition of their teacher and most of it all leads back to segovia. Listen to the original barrios recordings and compare them to how they are played today. Somehow those scatchy no-tone recordings have a life and viruosity that cannot be instituitionalized...everyone plays those beautiful pieces in much the same way except for barrios himself. [lots of thumb....somehow the transcribers missed that or thought it too 'folkloric' for a concert repetoire]...
I put the video link up of Alessandro Pennezzi to demonstrate the idea of mixing techniques and expanding on tradition. Most classical teachers will not explore that possibilty...[in fact they will beat it to a pulp]...The south Americans and Flamencos understand this idea of exploration well.
So look at drum notation, glue yourself to you tube, practice the palos on the steering wheel of the car...count beats...off beats...polyrhythm explore harmony and the fingerboard...it requires so much time to work up classical pieces, time better used for a living, breathing music....listening is the key.
Thats my view after the last 40 years of guitar.
But yes i can read music...but i listen mostly....[:)
To my ear there is nothing like Flamenco......
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