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Whilst playing a gig I was not thinking about how good a guitarist people thought I was the satisfaction came from entertaining people.

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What is more important satisfying your personal tastes as a guitarist wishing to be recognized as having talent .
Or playing for people , giving them what you believe will bring them peace .

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What is more important satisfying your personal tastes as a guitarist wishing to be recognized as having talent .
Or playing for people , giving them what you believe will bring them peace

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"I don’t care if you don’t hit all of the notes. If you don’t move a person’s heart, it’s not music." - Christopher Parkening

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ORIGINAL: Florian

if i play to people who dont know flamenco or some background... i am not going to play them a bulerias

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That happens to be one of the pieces i consider to be "to everybody's taste".

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I thought they showed no further interest because i was "to expensive" after all but as it turned out it was because i was "suspiciously cheap". So they hired a more expensive/promising lat in stead. .

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unfortunately we can not pay you a lot.

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This set up works great. A tablao style setting where everyone is up close and involved. We had room for about 90 people. That's my mum and dad looking on in the foreground of the pic

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and then theres the other ones u do cause u are always broke after the satisfying ones ...

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I try to connect with myself. It's there that the music comes to life for me

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I don't think flamenco was designed to give people peace, so if you are looking to play flamenco and give people peace, you might find yourself at odds. It is inherently tense, and I have always thought that it's because some of the more gypsy song forms like soleá and bulerías often reflect their marginalization

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ORIGINAL: KMMI77

I try to connect with myself. It's there that the music comes to life for me. Only then can i connect with anyone else. There is never a guarantee no matter how much i practice or choice of material.

If i connect then i feel ok to play anything i know. But if i can't find anything, feel down, bad vibes, etc.. I will usually go into reserved mode and play it safe and disappear into the background. The truth always comes out one way or another. So that's what the audience ends up with.

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How very well put. Exactly the same with me.

To get myself inspired i prefer to do the warming up with tempered strings. It helps you to appreciate the sound of a well played guitar with fresh ears later on (in stead of hearing the flaws only). On top it always gives you a "wow that sounds great" experience ones seated in front of the audience. Nothing is worse than having a warming up in perfect conditions and experiencing bad acoustics ones seated. Tempered strings also makes you play more relaxed and rhythmical, improving input balance in the process. It really makes you to play the guitar differently and better (unless you're a natural) so i do it at home as well on a regular base

Once on stage i try to maintain that relaxed and well dosed energy input. It took me some time to prevail it over volume at all times. The only person i know that is able to combine the two is Paco Pena. When he want's a note to stand out over a longer period of time he plays it softer (not harder) since a hard note also dies more quickly. We think in energy levels on top of dynamics, which is quite another thing. So i try not to confront bad conditions....if they lack sound equipment and choose to talk that's there problem, not mine. My only task is to play music that fits the situation and to play it as beautiful, respectful and musical as i can...... not as hard as i can.

I once played a restaurant were nobody payed any attention at all. The acoustics were crap (good hardly hear myself) and everyone was talking. With the exception of one nice couple no one applauded, ....until they played a cd during my break. Everybody stood up, started to dance and gave a judge applause afterwards.....for the f@#$ cd!

That was the work my father did in the 50's. No cd or dj at that time of period but a live band covering every song imaginable, playing 6 hours on a row without a break. His band was the very best, playing the hottest place in town. They were fully booked 362 days a year. They could fill their agenda's years in front if they wanted but you could only book them up to 2 years in front because they had to be able to adapt to price developments. They performed over 20.000 hours on stage in a 10 year period. Every week they added new material and they had enough material to play for a week without repeating a single track (42hours).

When he became a classical guitar teacher at Rotterdam University of Music on top of the normal classical program he made his students a songbook covering loads of popular songs arranged for solo guitar, so they could face the challenge of accepting gigs. Very simple things most of you would not consider to play (yesterday etc.). But you and i lack 20.000 hours experience. What counts is a beautiful sound and a musical interpretation, not the complexity.

My fathers band played those Beatles songs themselves in the 60's. Playing the hottest spot of Amsterdam they once had a unexpected visitor when John Lennon himself walked in, enjoying the Amsterdam night live after performing his one and only Dutch Beatle concert ever. He joined in a couple of songs. The next day tv reporters showed thousands of people trying to meet John earlier that day, and the guy just walked in and had a gig with a talented stranger who happened to be my father.

In the 50's and 60's those hotspots hosted numerous guest artist as well, often accompanied by my fathers band. This included flamenco as well and my father remembers flamenco songs that are (partly) forgotten ever since. Some of them he included in the judge databank he singlehandedly wrote for Paco Pena's Flamenco University course, over a 1000 pages of the best flamenco transcriptions in existence, not available for general public and only partial available for students of Paco Pena.

In the 50's he never met Carmen Amaya, but he did met Manolo Marin, one of the most complete dancers of his time. In that period of time a flamenco guitar solo was restricted to either Granainas or Zambra Mora.

According to my father you must change key after each song (unless you play a totally different kind of music next) So don't play a bulerias, a tientos/tangos and a sevillanas in A directly after each other.

And some last advise from me ....don't think general public hears your music the same way as you do. You have trained ears and a taste that passed a hole evolution. Would you have grasped and appreciated the complex solo you just played with your ears from 10/20 years ago? And does the simple tune that made you start loving and playing flamenco in the first place suddenly lose all value because you prefer the more complex ones now days? Try to remember what inspired you 30 years ago (when you still liked meeting of the spirits and not saw it as 3 guys freaking out with meaningless music).

It can even be of some comfort when you fail to produce the goods. When i entered Paco's Flamenco corse for the very first time i heart him play a duet behind closed doors with somebody equally good as him. As it turned out it happened to be 2 classmates of me. To my 1985 ears all 10 of them were equally good as Paco Pena himself. Over the years we became better and better but the distance between us and Paco became bigger and bigger as well. Not because Paco improved himself as well but simply because we learned to hear and appreciate qualities in his technique and interpretation we fail to spot before. If the 1985 erik could have seen the 1995 erik he would have granted him Paco Pena level as well. Since i failed to spot the difference back then , so will general public right now, especially since my 1985 ears were already way ahead of most of them. It's my experience that most people enjoy what i enjoyed as a youngster. The majority will prefer Paco pena's fabulous Alegrias de Cordoba over Paco de lucia's even more fabulous La Barossa. I try to keep that in mind when i choose material and/or fail to produce the goods.

O, and people tent to judge you on your first impression and your last notes only, so make sure your opening and final piece are audience prove.

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Don't follow their remate with your falseta, put 2 or 3 12 beat compáses of I-V-I in there so you can all lock in together if they screw it up.

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Hang in there, be strong about your pricing and don't give in. If they've got the $$, they will find it. If not, another person with a decent budget will find you.

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without yelling, swearing, and generally "making a scene".

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The public must be trained to pay us fairly, and unfortunately it is our responsibility to educate them.