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Spring is in the air....the sap is rising etc. which means wedding season is on us again. I have a dozen or so weddings to play for in may/june and as usual there are the unusual requests.
So the usual wedding repertoire is spanish romanza, Mendlesons wedding march, Cavatina, Pachelbels canon in D, Bachs air on the G string etc.
I'm just figuring out a solo guitar version of Ave maria this weekend IF ANYONE HAS A TAB OF THIS ALREADY PLEASE PLEASE PM ME
As for the unusual requests for flamenco guitar this month, I am busy working out
Albatross -fleetwood mac Beethovens ode to joy (flamenco version).....I've requested a drug test!! Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez All you need is love - the beatles Bridge over troubled water - simon and garfunkel The theme to phantom of the opera
So far no one wants La Bamba yet so cant complain too much. Anyone else with wedding repertoire requests this year?
Hi Ron...Well most of these requests are by American, English or Irish couples getting married in Granada or on the coast eg. www.awolgranada.com It costs a lot less to get married here and the weather is pretty much guaranteed to be good at this time of year and they nearly all want Spanish guitar. These are good examples of the sorts of things you have to tackle every year on top of learning flamenco.
Leo - thanks a lot. That second tab is exactly what I had in mind. I think I can improve it but that is a great help.
This is good info to know! A jazz guitarist friend of mine is getting married on a mountaintop out here in Western Massachusetts and wants me to play a few songs ... but he didn't say exactly what he wanted =]
My vast repertoire consists of all of 8 songs, about half of them from Paco Pena's student repertoire book. I suppose the Rumba and Guajira de Lucia would be the most appropriate. Any suggestions for a good Alegria of roughly the same difficulty level as Guajira de Lucia (and more complex than the one in the Paco Pena book, certainly)?
LOL that was spooky - if you go to the weddings page, there's a comment about the wedding of "Ben and Ailsa", and a thank you letter from "Ailsa". It wasn't me honest!!
I see you can get married in La Chumbera, though!
When Dave and I got married we were heavily into Brazilian samba so spent our wedding surrounded by gyrating, scantily-clad sambistas!
Guitarists who play for weddings here would pretty much have to compete with other forms of entertainment like bands and discos, but those going to Spain to tie the knot are going to be thinking in terms of a quieter, more intimate affair with a few friends and family...and of course music from the Spanish guitar!!
Some old favourites and romantic numbers plus a bit of Flamenco would be just perfect.
So you've got pretty much a select clientele without having to sell the idea as a guitarist might have to do here!
Its a busy month. I have done all the compositions so far at the beginning of the thread. Bridge over troubled water was quite hard to transcribe from the original piano part. Most strange request so far has been a flamenco version of Waltzing Matilda for an Australian wedding last week.
I need to come up with a solo guitar version of Bamboleo by the gypsy kings. I know its easy to hammer out the chords in rumba. Has anyone here played this as a guitar solo ie. chords and melody simultaneously. (no singing)
If you have please contact me urgently with a soundbite or a tab as this will save me another transcription. Many thanks P
It depends really on the situation and what is requested. Some things really dont "translate" for want of a better word into flamenco. Other times its just fun to try to get pieces that you know quite wll to fit compas. At christmas time I often play carols in compas of buleria just as an exercise toget them to fit. If you can take a tune you know well and hear it in different compas it makes it easier to learn more difficult material (IMO)
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