Ron.M -> RE: "Thumb Only" Technique (Apr. 27 2006 20:41:41)
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Ricardo, Yeah..it was mainly tongue in cheek as you guessed. But, there is a more serious aspect... This is a site which pulls in a lot of folk who have heard Flamenco guitar for the first time, or who have made the first steps. I've read a few "helpful" posts which have gone along the lines of.. "Yeah..the big rolling Sabicas style rasgueados aren't done anymore. Today the new players play with a lighter touch...maybe a bit of m,i,i,i or a,i,i,i.. etc " To me this is a drastic generalisation. I don't know when it started (I'm sure you'll know better on this), but I was a big fan of Vincente in the early 90's. I loved his minimalistic/direct, very poetic kind of style and the use of these light "tinkling" rasgueados in the middle of phrases. Since then, (since everybody loved it too, obviously) guitarristas have adopted that into their style....but Vincente is still the master of this way of playing IMO. The guy is a guitar genius! (He can still play pretty powerful rasgueado...but that seems to be ignored somehow.) OK...back to reality. My main concern would be that newcomers see the old style Sabicas/Early Paco stuff as being "over" now. This is the "new" way of doing it. So folk maybe strive to get that gentle tinkling tone instead of just trying to learn "generic" stuff, which would me more appropriate for that stage IMO. It's great as a "device", but not something to base your general rasgueado technique on IMO. On the uploads question..yeah I've heard it on this site. Ricardo, I don't have a "crack" at folk doing their best, given the information they've got. Do you really think that's where I'm at? Would "modern" maybe cover folk say like Tomatito? He is getting on a bit now...must be in his '40s maybe? Sure..he can tinkle a bit and be very intimate and make the guitar weep too. But on his Camaron accompaniment he can also play rasgueado like he's practically gonna bust the strings! So what I'm saying, especially to the newcomer, is that it is not true that everything is "al aire" now with moody tinkling tones. I saw your teacher Gerardo in Dundee last year as you know. Sure he played incredibly delicate and intricate and breathtakingly virtuoso stuff which just wowed me out. BUT..he intersperced the concert with a couple of "down home" Bulerias, with Carmen Cortes dancing, in which he was ripping the guitar up like the best of them! The guy was really slammin' the guitar! Even the (mainly) Classical audience were jaw dropped and tapping their feet!! So don't let's say that the "al aire" light style is the "modern" way of playing, lest we misinform folk out there. My own advice to beginners would be... Listen a lot and don't follow any particular guitarist's style. (I'll probably get death threats now when folk have managed to "decode" the "hidden" meanings behind this post. [:D]) cheers Ron
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