Ron.M -> On playing "really difficult" stuff on the guitar. (Feb. 18 2005 20:53:57)
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To Begin at the beginning ... (D.Thomas) Why?.... I've been through this myself and tortured myself that I can play 50% of a particular PdL piece, reasonably badly, but the rest of it is totally above my level. So why do it? [&:] It goes great for 15 seconds, then gets into treacle and goo, loses compás completely and then gets good again for the next 15 seconds, and then back to goo again... [:@] All the notes are there... But is that music? Or an examination in fingering? Rafa said something like "Don't go so fast, you've got to savor the chords and the notes" Yeah, I can get that and and as a fellow guitarist, I definitely know what Raf's talking about. But can you do that at the expense of the palo, the compás? I doubt if that kind of attitude would get you very far in the world of accompanying, with a group of people, where the rhythm just goes on despite your technical difficulties! [8|] By the time you had got through your labouring and stuttering picado, they would be already be on the second half of the next compás! LOL! Flamenco is incredibly difficult, both in theory and practice, that's for sure. There are lots of guitarists out there playing really good stuff who are not so technically gifted as Paco or Tomatito, or Vincente or Gerardo. But they play great stuff! Guys like Diego Amaya, Niño Jero etc.. They play great Flamenco! Sometimes very simple falsetas, but with a great "spin". To me, that's where it's at... I really can't understand why anybody would put themselves under the stress of trying to play a composition by one of the World's finest Flamenco guitarists, which they will never even get near to, except maybe sounding a bit like that Russian guitarist! Set yourselves free (as Sting says) Lose the "heros", because you are very unlikely to even become close to where they're at. There are at least a few hundred Flamenco guitarists in Andalucia, who have recorded nothing and would just blow you away completely. Enjoy "El Mundo Flamenco" instead! Practise, and get as good as you can, I say... ...Listen to Todd, who in spite of being a "foreigner", still considers good timing, good tone to be the main ingredients of a piece. That's what makes him so good! Before anyone thinks, "Yeah, but he's got a great recording setup" etc.. Todd would still sound great on a mono Philips Cassette! And he's not even Spanish LOL! That's being a Musician IMO! cheers Ron
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