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NormanKliman -> RE: Learning basic Bulerias in a Peña in Huelva (Feb. 16 2008 20:12:51)
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quote:
Is it really that simple? Just strum within the basic beat you hear?
Yeah, just keep things in threes (two groups of three): 12 and 2 and 4, 6 and 8 and 10. That's the rhythmic context that you want to feel. Lots of falsetas start on 1, end on 10, end on 6, start on 9.5, etc., and in each of those situations, there's a different relationship between the beginning/end of the falseta and the rhythmic context. That sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. For example, falsetas that start on 1 come in after the very first foot tap (beat 12), falsetas that end on 10 are going to be followed by the first foot tap, falsetas ending on 6 are going to be followed by 2 foot taps, etc.
After you've got a good strong sense of compás, work out a few ways to go from A to B flat in the first three foot taps (notice how the B flat falls between the second and third foot tap), then work out a number of ways to resolve (end up in A again) in the last three foot taps. Mix and match those beginnings and endings, and you'll be on the road to glory!
Another thing that you'll want to work out are the rasgueados heard in the last three foot taps, almost always on an A or A7 chord. For years, the only one I did in bulerías was q-m-p, q-m-p, q-m-p, q over 7-8-9-10, because it's always been easy for me and I couldn't figure out the others. I'd always played (e)-a-m-i rasgueados in soleá, siguiriya and other styles, but not in bulerías. So one day, thanks to the explanation of a good friend and some other things that I'd seen, everything clicked into place. I'll try to describe this below.
Before we start, remember that tapping your foot on the even-numbered beats means that there's one foot tap for every two beats, so when you're figuring these things out, start slow and tap your foot on every beat. When you've got the rasgueado pattern working, go back and commit it to memory at normal speed and with one foot tap for every two beats. These kinds of patterns (over beats 7-10) start between the fourth and fifth foot tap: 12-2-4-6-(start rasgueado here)-8-10.
Play (e)-a-m-i-i three times on an A chord, with or without the little finger (e), over beats 7-10, one "cycle" per beat. If you play equal cycles of a-m-i-i, that'd be sixteenth notes (four strokes per beat), and e-a-m-i-i would be quintuplets (five strokes per beat), and you can hit beat 10 with another index downstroke.
a-m-i-i, a-m-i-i, a-m-i-i, i
There's a variation on this idea that sounds a lot more flamenco but is a lot less obvious, and it's what had me puzzled for so many years. For example, if you play a-m-i-i in triplets (a-m-i, i-a-m, i-i-a), you're left with a middle-finger downstroke for beat 10, which is awkward. The way to make it work is to play some cycles in triplets and others in sixteenths in order to get another finger to fall on beat 10. There are a few ways to do this, because you can play the faster cycle(s) on any of the three beats--whatever works for you--but it sounds a little better to "crowd" the ending rather than the beginning. For example:
a-m-i, i-a-m, i-i-a-m, i.
If you prefer to hit beat 10 with an index upstroke, play two of the cycles faster:
a-m-i, i-a-m-i, i-a-m-i, i.
The same idea applies to e-a-m-i-i (with the little finger), but you'd be playing combinations of sixteenths and quintuplets instead of triplets and sixteenths.
There are all kinds of crazy combinations, and you don't have to use the same fingering, either. For example:
i-a-m, i-i-a-m, i-i-a-m-i, i.
Just look at that: a triplet, sixteenths AND a quintuplet. Cool, huh? [:)]
There are many other possibilities, like the q-a-i rasgueado, or playing three complete cycles of e-a-m-i-i starting on beat 6, like Diego del Gastor. The best thing to do is to find something that works for you (=easy), analyze it if you can (and don't worry about it if you can't), and then look for other ways to get the job done.
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