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Mark2 -> RE: Anyone see Antonio Rey in LA? (Dec. 3 2021 16:55:55)
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I was the same-started playing electric at 16, and played a lot. Took lessons, studied. I dropped out of college even though I was a music major-I was completely focused on studying modern guitar. When I was 21 in 1979 I got a gig playing five sets a night six nights a week. We would play two weeks in one town, then move on to the next. I did that in a few bands, then played with many other groups.
By the time I was 26 my electric playing was pretty solid. I could cover a lot of different types of gigs.
Then I decided to study flamenco.......thought I could figure it out and play at the same level I had reached on electric, but despite my efforts, that never happened. To this day my technique on electric is far better, even though I never practice on it.
I don't regret the shift though. I still do a gig here and there on electric with pro musicians. And the experiences I've had with flamenco guitar have been well worth the effort, despite not realizing all the expectations I had when I started.
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ORIGINAL: Ricardo
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Antonio said he had no idea. He said it would take two lifetimes for him to play all the guitar he wanted to play. He said he practices for 8-9 hours a day when he is preparing for concerts, playing his rep over and over. He said even when there are no scheduled concerts he does two hours everyday on technique. Two solid hours, no TV, no beers, just hard work.
I practiced like that as a kid when I played electric. I did find myself with a good 4 hour a day sessions or so in college, but for sure my other subjects suffered for it. I remember a book report I turned in around the time I was busy transcribing Tauromagia….the professor comment was “excellent summery and analysis of the FIRST HALF of the book!!!”[:D][:D]. After college I started gigging. I realized doing lots of gigs, even if it is rumba, keeps the technique in shape. Normally 3 hour gigs are broken down into 3 40 minute sets. Doing that weekly, usually several days a week, I started to hardly ever practice at home unless I was learning a new thing. I have shown how I work on new material (tomatito falseta in 8 minutes). I totally get Antonio running his repertoire before a concert. I WOULD have to do that. But eventually I found a gig where I could do just that in a small bar. I would literally run my repertoire once a week and that kept my brain sharp. While not being able to repeat material is not good, there turned out to be other benefits to performing in public….if gives that “all or nothing” feeling to over come where you have to let the mistakes go. Week to week I would focus on those mistakes. I had that gig for a couple year before the pandemic and I never needed to prepare solo concerts.
Playing for dance shows can be cerebral and does require some focus. I have had to do that a couple times since the pandemic because only playing rumba did make my flamenco rep deteriorate.
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