z6 -> RE: Picado. New to guitar and flamenco (Sep. 27 2012 14:48:56)
|
Yes, but the 'minimum movement' principle, because it sounds so rational, is almost always trotted out when 'efficiency' is mooted. I don't disagree about all the arguments in favour of minimum movement I just think that it's a bum steer for beginners. That is, there are more important things. Relaxation, for example. But we know that simply trying to relax or advising someone to relax will not induce the relaxation we mean when we are talking about playing guitar. Norman, for example cited his observation of the best players always using minimum movement. Unfortunately, that does nothing to get us there. And also I would suggest that the term 'rest stroke' though it seems identical to picado (indeed 'is' picado) is entirely different... Something of a paradox... But I played many years with minimum movement yet picado was simply impossible for me. Minimum movement 'seems' right. And there's nothing wrong with it. But it must come after picado... it will not take you to picado. If it did, then I would have arrived many years ago 'at' picado. All classical guitarists play with minimum movement but very few (or even 'none' that have not studied flamenco) can play something with the impact of a strong picado. The commonality is not minimum movement. That's why I'd suggest 'high and wide' or indeed any old way, as long as the result goes bip bip bip. The only thing that matters is that bip bip bip leads us to picado. It leads to relaxation, efficiency. It leads us to control. Screeds are written 'about' technique in the classical world but there seems little 'real' in it. It's a lot of talk. Flamenco seems to have hardly any talk anout technique outside the the techniques themselves... it's a continuum between the technique, the sound, the result. ( i.e. this is alzapua, this is picado, this is rasguedo, you can do it this way or that or make up your own way, but this is the thing.) It's not really about whether tension is introduced by first doing this and then that or doing that from the start, it's about a foolproof method that leads to picado. And there is one... bip. But, for me, it required glue (to eliminate a hook nail) and flat filing before the magic could take effect. That's all it took. I could play Bach fugues thirty years ago but I could never play a picado until I got the nails right... then I could truly relax. Segovia's first teacher was a poor flamenco player. His dad moved the flamenco guy into his house for three weeks then, when Segovia had learned all he needed, they chucked the guy out. (This is my memory from reading his autobiography years ago. Indeed, there was a foreword in the book in which Segovia bragged about writing the thing himself. He shouldn't have written it himself. He was an important guitarist but a tiny, horrible man.) I reckon three weeks with a flamenco player is enough to learn everything a classical guitarist would need to do everything Segovia did... technically. And I realize that the accepted wisdom is that flamencos 'took' from classical. I know I'm harping on about this but the reason is because it's so huge. With the right nail shape and a simple exercise that requires no analysis, it's possible to develop a technique for playing single line music on nylon strung guitar capable of anything in any repertoire... a 'real' technique, available to anyone, not just the 'prodigies' who happen upon it or are 'born with it'. I reckon Segovia's 'revulsion' to the noisy flamencos was nothing but a cover up, a deflection, a red herring. I have witnessed many similar 'denials of reality' from classical guitarists in their reactions to flamenco dexterity and command of the instrument. Apologies for my off-topic ramblings. I always think I might be connecting to someone in the same boat. Someone who most people would describe as an accomplished player but who once thought what flamenco players did seemed 'impossible', and now sees it's just a matter of practise. But the nails must be right. (Or one can do it 'nail-less' but it is so much harder to do... much, much harder.)
|
|
|
|