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Hey everyone. I'm a long time visitor, but have finally signed up to begin posting. Thank you guys for the wealth of knowledge here. I bought my Yamaha beginner guitar and signed up to Jose Tanaka's site to start my learnings.
A bit of background. I have no previous guitar experience, but do know how to read music and understand the tablature (played piano way back when).
I'm cognizant of the fact that learning flamenco can (and will) be a life long pursuit, but i wanted some recommendations from you guys. My fiancé and I plan to marry in a year and want to play guitar/cajon/dance during the wedding. She'll be the bailador, my friend will play my cajon, and I will attempt to learn a song on the guitar. My fiancé has some basic experience dancing flamenco, so I know that I will be the limiting factor for this endeavour.
Can you guys recommend a "song" that I can attempt to learn for this momentous occasion? Obviously i dont expect to play an advanced level song, but I also dont want to play mary had a little lamb. While my fiancé and I love flamenco, it is an acquired taste for some. So any songs that are "approachable" to the masses would be preferable.
I hope i provided enough info to illicit some recommendations.
ps. does anyone know any good teachers in the Miami area? Guitar/Cajon/Dance?
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
I am a beginner myself but hmmm what your asking seems a bit tricky, if you wanna start playing flamenco i think the best bet is to start by Ingraining the rhythm into your subconscious mind.
In order for that to happen , your fingers need to adapt to the fretboard and to the strings, in the case of Flamenco their is double the adaptation for your arsenal is 8 fingers a Thumb, opposed to picking style techniques which are kind of like 1 finger.
That being said with zero experience on any guitar , IMO you will not be able to straight up just learn Flamenco, it will messy and painful to your fingers so i suggest you get start off by getting familiar with a guitar of any kind really, by practicing some basic chords and eventually some scales.
Later comes the part of putting them together but you cant play the Rhythm or as its known in Flamenco 'Compas' without learning the parts that it is made up of.
Don't take my word for it though, one of the more experience guys around here might have another answer for you.
Posts: 29
Joined: Jul. 23 2012
From: San Diego in route to Yokosuka, Japan
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
I came from the piano world about a year and a half ago. I had no guitar experince before I started flamenco. I am just now starting to feel "comfortable" playing flamenco meaning I can play a basic Solea incompas with a few decent falsetas. Would I say it is enough for to accompany a dancer, most likely not. I still make some compas mistakes that would through off a dancer.
In the begining there were many, many, months of irritated roomates. It takes a long time to get your fingers to naturally land on the right frets without much thought. I am glad I made the plunge though. It is much much easier to play when people don't instantly tell you that you should quit guitar.
If I was you, I would learn no matter what. Practice, practice, practice and maybe it will work out for your wedding, maybe it wont, either way you have a new ablity and creativity outlet in your life.
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
Welcome to the visible side of the foro. Since you are the limiting factor, maybe it would be possible to select a song you both (might) feel comfortable with, with here adapting to your lines most of the time. Isn't there any piece you can already play... you might be able to add some additional dance variations (mainly chords and stokes or even a typical dance melody) in between the melodies of that existing song, making it sound more like a collaboration rather then a solo with added dance (which to a certain extent might work as well). If she can arrange a second dancer you might learn yourself a set of Sevillanas. Maybe she has recordings of her lessons (with a guitar player) that could give you some inspiration (you could include the simpler parts and skip/simplify or replace the more difficult ones).
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
Thank you all for your responses. I know this is not going to be an easy task, but i'm willing to put the work in. While i dont have any real guitar experience, I at least have some minimal flamenco experience learning compases on the Cajon when living in spain. So i 'get' the groove somewhat. But I'll let you know if my motivation begins to waiver as I progress hehehe
Please bare with me as I work my way through this.
The Tango posted by Lenador seems to be attainable... hmmm... I think i'll need to focus on just one song and learn technique while learning this song etc.. Will something like this lend itself to a decent amount of agressive footwork for a bailadora?
What rhythm would you say would fit my request best? Does not have to be guitar "solo" heavy, but fit well with a dancer to accompany. Bulerias, Fandangos, Tangos? Gahhhh so many options. I dont think Sevillanas fit too well.
I hope I make some sense at least!
Thank you all for your continued help and patience.
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
I think I would recommend Fandangos without any changes if that's possible. That way you would just be doing E, A minor, G, F, E. Pretty basic chords and pretty basic rhythm. Once you feel semi comfortable, try the bridge. Solea, for me is still difficult. Good luck!
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
Why not get your teacher (should you find one) to play at the wedding, with you, lest a shambles ensues and your guests become cringeing captives?
Everybody here has offered good advice. Erik (bless him) was spot on about Sevillanas. It's fantastic for such a celebration. Tourists (and I have been one) go nuts for it. Everyone 'gets it' instantly and you can play it with one finger if baking the wedding cake or sewing the dresses eats into the time required to learn rythm guitar.
You could morph into a Bolero if the grannies can't keep up.
But seriously, consider hiring a pro. Offer a fee, a feed, and a shot at some drunk wedding pussy and your guests will have wonderful memories, and you still get to play but it also brings people out of the bar instead of sending them into it.
Youtube beckons.
Congrats on the scheme though, it is a beautiful idea. I am honestly not trying to offend. You really could send everyone home smiling with a single tweak.
Your teacher will be able to guage almost instantly what you will be capable of in a year. (Should you ever start the process by playing the guitar. Chords can be learned in minutes from a website.)
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
Consider Paco Pena's farruca called "en las cuevas". It's an intermediate piece but with 1 hr per day you should be able to play that in a year or so. It has a variety of techniques including Picado, tremolo, and rasqueados, among others. Plus, it is in 4/4 time and has a real flamenco sound to the casual listener.
Posts: 2007
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to ddoonie)
Go with the tango-no compas issues, the audience will feel the groove, and your intended can do marking and footwork to the limits of her abilities. You can just play compas, or throw in whatever falsetas you can learn by then. Learn to play for her breaks, and your good to go. Even if all she does is mark and look good, and you play solid compas, you'll be alright. Women dancing tango well can be sensuous as hell.
Farucca is usually a man's dance, but if she knows it, its got a lot of built in crowd pleasing with it's footwork and breaks. I wouldn't try to learn a solo and have her adapt steps to it-that's not the way it works. it's about her looking beautiful and you supporting her.
quote:
ORIGINAL: ddoonie
Thank you all for your responses. I know this is not going to be an easy task, but i'm willing to put the work in. While i dont have any real guitar experience, I at least have some minimal flamenco experience learning compases on the Cajon when living in spain. So i 'get' the groove somewhat. But I'll let you know if my motivation begins to waiver as I progress hehehe
Please bare with me as I work my way through this.
The Tango posted by Lenador seems to be attainable... hmmm... I think i'll need to focus on just one song and learn technique while learning this song etc.. Will something like this lend itself to a decent amount of agressive footwork for a bailadora?
What rhythm would you say would fit my request best? Does not have to be guitar "solo" heavy, but fit well with a dancer to accompany. Bulerias, Fandangos, Tangos? Gahhhh so many options. I dont think Sevillanas fit too well.
I hope I make some sense at least!
Thank you all for your continued help and patience.
RE: New to Flamenco but Motivated (in reply to rombsix)
I'm thinking a tango will work out so far. It has the feel i'm thinking of... Any recommendations for tabs/youtube vids to start attempting to emulate? The one rombsix posted seems feasible, but i'd need tabs of some sort to even have half a chance hehe
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