Richard Jernigan -> RE: Flamenco positions for short guys? (Feb. 2 2022 6:36:05)
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When I started to learn flamenco in the early 1960s they told me you had to hold the guitar like the Paco Peña photos above, and your guitar had to have pegs, not machines. I eventually learned the position. The guitar is not held by muscle tension. It is held entirely by the weight of the right upper arm, with the arm, shoulder etc. completely relaxed. It took a while to learn. The straight part of the side of the lower bout is parallel to the floor, so the arm has no tendency to slide to the left or right. I'm 6'4" so there's too much room between my right thigh and shoulder. I have to put a footstool at the lowest setting under my right foot. I turned 84 the day before Christmas and I can still do it for a while, but the arm and shoulder tend to tense up, which wrecks right hand dexterity. I have a couple of blancas and one negra. The negra is too heavy and has the wrong weight distribution for me to hold it for any length of time in the "Paco Peña" position. I got tired of the pegs on the Ramirez long ago and took it to Gryphon Instruments in Palo Alto, California to have machines put on it. Frank Ford came out of the back room to refuse to do it in person. He said it would "interfere with the character of the instrument." I told him that Jose Ramirez III had offered to have his shop do it, but I never had the guitar in Spain long enough to get it done. I'm pretty sure Ford thought I was lying. Kenny Hill's shop up in the mountains did a good job. I don't like the guitar supports that attach with suction cups, because for me they come loose and they damage french polish. I use a Murata support which is adjustable in height and clamps firmly to the instrument. You can clamp it tightly without harming the guitar. I set it up so I can keep both feet flat on the floor. I played classical in the standard classical position for many years with a left footstool. A couple of months ago I tried the Murata for classical. To my surprise I found that the classical position was causing tension in the lower back. No pain, just tension. When I was a teenage trumpet player an operatic baritone in his late twenties I knew emphasized the importance of eliminating unnecessary tension. "You have to learn to relax everything," he said, "your ears, your toes, your fingers, your hair..." RNJ
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