estebanana -> RE: Where to get an 8 string flamenco guitar? (Dec. 16 2014 1:58:40)
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Yeah, when I lived in Oakland I used to take the seven string guitars I made over to Jason McGuire and he would play them. He almost "stole" one from the guy who I built it for by not giving it back, but in the end he gave it back. He recorded with it and it sounds flamenco and you can do rasgueados and it will take you a few weeks to a few months to get used to the extra strings. It is not the same as a six string guitar and has practical limitations in terms how how it will perform traditional right hand techniques. There are also some rasgeuado advantages on a seven or eight string instrument you can't do with a six strings and in reality and advanced or extended range of flamenco technique is just waiting to be invented, or reinvented. I don't think of including a seven or more strung guitar in flamenco as an advancement per se, but as a extension of some attributes of playing and sound possibilities. Traditionalists are sometimes like the Borg on Star Trek, they have a "resistance is futile" type mentality. I find this rather intellectually and musically stultifying. It is true that a flamenco guitar is pretty much a set format and that is does not need any improvements or special kevlar saddles or tap plates to make it better. But at the same time I don't see a need for the screaming against an extension of the range of the guitar if a particular player feels like that exploration will help them create the music they need to create. The guitar is not here to put you in jail, that is the job of the cops. ( Michel Foucault actually said : "I don't write biography, that is the job of the police. ") Even though I can't play very well I can see the possibilities extended range tunings could give to a flamenco performance. Especially if there are two guitarists and one is playing an extended range guitar and the other is on a six string. The six string player can hold down the parts an extended range guitar would muddy up, but the extended range guitar could stay out of the way when not needed and drop in an envelope of sound below that guitarist in baile and cante accompaniment when is makes musical sense. Texturally the possibilities of a six string guitar played with cejilla and an extended range guitar together are quite vast. The six string guitar could be playing in one fret stop up high and the eight string could be used to take advantage of supporting harmony and bass line lower in the range. One of the very nice things about this kind of arrangement is that it give bass support, but without going into that "fart" sound of electric flamenco bass. So the basic guitar sonority is not broken into electric bass vs. guitar, but is left as two distinct guitar sonorities while allowing bass support. The support can go harmonically or be more bass like in how it thumps along and pushes the compas. And in palos that are more loose in compas where there is a more elastic pulse, the extended range guitar can add further texture either in unison playing or provide a countless number of ways to add pinches of bass aire. You can listen to the nattering nay bobs of negativity, or you can open your ears to new sounds. Either way, adding an extended range guitar to flamenco is not going to hurt or change a damn thing about traditional playing. Let's remember that the guitar and flamenco itself survived the introduction of the cajon. How can two extra bass strings on a guitar be such a big threat?
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