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!!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Challenge, Rules, Entries, and Judging!!!
**John Walsh Solea Falseta Challenge, Sponsored by D’Addario**
Only post in this thread to enter competition!!
Challenge:
Mr. John Walsh has been kind enough to supply us with sheet music/tabs and video of a falseta por solea that he has composed. Our challenge is to “reproduce” this falseta as close as we can to the way John presents it in his video below. This is a more of a technical challenge than we’ve had lately since we are not asking for any composition from you. The point is to use Johns video as the goal and get as close to that as you reasonably can.
FAQ
Q “John is playing so fast, there’s no way I can enter because I can’t play that fast.” A You can play this at any speed you want. In fact better slow and clean than fast and sloppy. Of course if someone can nail this at speed and clean that would be the ideal.
Q “Can I improvise anything or is it exact note for note?” A We are trying to replicate the video. That being said, it should still be flamenco. I believe some of the little rasgueados in between phrases are somewhat open to interpretation. Especially if you’re playing this at a much different speed. I think (and he can correct me) that even John would play this a hair different at 90bpm than he would at 130bpm. Take whatever liberties you think you need to accomplish the “intent” of the falseta but be careful, it’s a jury of your peers so someone may think you’ve gone too far with your artistic interpretation.
Q "Can I use backing tracks or effects?" A Backing tracks in your head phones sure! None in the recording. A little reverb is fine but try to keep your recordings pretty clean.
Nicknames:
Nicknames will be female Spanish first name and any tv or movie character last name. IE Esmeralda Garfield.
Judging:
Judging will be done on a 1-10 scale on two criteria; Technique and Aire.
Technique is the quality of the notes produced, are they full, intentional and confident or are they muffled, buzzing or just off (or missing). Since we can’t see your fingers we’re judging off quality of sound produced by the fingers. Although a TAB is provided, feel free to change a few notes/rhythms here and there. This is about execution.
Aire is compas and the like. Number one is it IN compas, number two does it groove right. Does it feel like solea. Does it have the proper feel for the speed that you’ve chosen to play it. This is about your own expression.
Judging will last for 4 days until June 23rd
John Walsh will be the last to judge and his points will be worth double!
Example:
Contestant: Esmeralda Garfield Technique:5 Aire:5 Comments: Anything you want to add to help the player get better.
Time Frame and How to Enter:
1. Enter a post into this page, anything at all before the end of May. 2. After all submissions are in, erase your post (by editing) and place your judging. 3. After John has voted, erase your self voting and de-mask yourself.
Deadline to enter the competition is the end of May.
Submissions between July 3rd to end of day July 6th to a webpage that will be provided by the 17th and will only work until the deadline. If you want to send it on the 20th, the link won't be working anymore!
The format shall be "Nickname".mp3 at no less than 192Kbps. All Iam going to do before opening the link for streaming/downloading is run all the files through a batch tag eraser to avoid having people's real names on the file itself (it happens). If there are names I won't see them, the process is automatic.
Prizes:
D’Addario has been kind enough to donate the following prizes to our winners!!
1st place - 5 sets of strings plus some Planet Waves Accessories 2nd place - 3 sets and a headstock tuner 3rd place - 1 set and a headstock tuner
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
Eusebia Jetson Technique - 6 Aire - 7 Slow and deliberate, good aire and solid compas at chosen speed, nice ligado added at 33s, a reasonable attempt to adapt the ending to the chosen speed although could have been stronger. Technique marked down just because it's easy to be clean at that speed, but you're aire points are up as a result. My favourite of the slower entries, apart from the ending which lacked balls and let down an otherwise very solid performance.
Immaculada Picard Technique - 8 Aire - 8 An impressive opening. Aire was better on the first half, but suffered slightly at the immense speed in part 2, impressively clean notes throughout despite the speed. Bravo, the most impressive entry by far!
Inmaculada Shagwell Technique - 6 Aire - 6.5 Slow and soulful, too bad you didn't add some rasguado or something to finish, you left the piece open with no conclusion, 1/2 a point lost there.
Maria McFly Technique - 5 Aire - 5 A bit too slow and sleepy to be rousing, although played cleanly with good dynamics. Breathing noises at 56 and sniff at 1:26 don't help the aire. The rasguado at the end was week, at this speed you could have chosen something other than triplets to end with.
Maria Vadar Technique - 4 Aire - 4 Both aire and technique really suffered quite badly at your chosen speed. The timing lurched, ligados got stuck or muffled, extra notes seemed creep in unintentionally. But you did finish in style.
Sara Connor Technique - 4.5 Aire - 4.5 The biggest problem here is timing. e.g. at 8s, arpegios at 34-39 and again jerky arpegios in the repeated sections of part 2. 23-33 is good. I liked the doubled rasgueado finish.
Yazmin Saruman Total score: 94 That was Dudnote going too fast accompanied by a night chorus of whistling tropical frogs - I'm so used to them I hadn't even noticed they'd sneaked onto the recording.
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
Eusebio jetson It'sa me! Mario!
Immaculada Picard Technique 8 Aire 9 Claim your prize good sir!
Immaculada shagwell Technique 7 Aire 7 Very good, began to get a lil shaky after the big E stop on 10 but over all solid
Maria Mcfly Technique 6 Aire 6 Getting solid, a lil shaky between arpeggio to rasgeo transitions. I think if you got better at that you could play the whole piece faster no problem.
Maria vader Technique 5 Aire 6 I'm afraid I'm punishing your technique because you played this too fast. Beyond what I think you're capable of playing cleanly. I think if you had played this 15bpm slower it woulda been waaay cleaner and I'd have you near the top. Your obviously a good player but need to slow down.
Sara Conner Technique 6 Aire 5 Getting there, quality of notes was pretty good but I also think you played it a little faster than you should have. I lost the aire in some parts especially the end. Slow it down and I bet you've got it pretty down.
Yazmin Saruman Technique 6 Aire 6 Started off strong but as it went on began to loose the feel and towards the very end was a bit messy. By what I headed in the beginning I'm thinking you could have done much better if you would've practiced the last half as much as the first. If you had another couple weeks you'd probably take second place no problem.
This one was tough! Great job everyone!thanks everyone for joining and most of all thank you John for giving us the inspiration and materials to make it possible!
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
I played as Maria McFly
Great Playing everyone, I have to say I was expecting to hear some really bad versions but they were all decent and it was hard to choose. It was a great learning experience to try to get through it. For me Immaculada Picard was the only one who hit the balance between speed and keeping the notes in the right place. I am afraid I am harsh on those that went for speed over precision as its just not so nice to listen too and it was a Solea Challenge so I think its fine to take it easy.
Eusebia Jetson Good stuff, I liked the way you made a few little changes to fit with you style sounded pretty together. T7/A7
Immaculada Picard Wow full steam ahead, great fast playing, just seemed to loose it a bit toward the end but really good. T7/A8
Inmaculada Shagwell Really nice dynamics shame you missed off the final ending A5/ A7
Maria McFly Slow but steady. Ok I know I have criticised people for too fast but you could have pushed it a bit more. T5/A6
Maria Vader A bit to fast and muddled for my taste, I would much rather listen to it cleaner and slower. T4/A4
Sara Connor Good job, a bit more work and this will be really good, it started to get a bit messy and not so fun to listen to towards the end but nice sharp ending T5/A5.
Yazmin Saruman Again another one thats a bit too fast and muddled for my taste, I would much rather listen to it cleaner and slower. T5/A4
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
A few notes on how I thought out my voting:
- I measured the bpm of each track and came up with five speed categories. The higher it is, the higher score you can achieve in Technique. Also made a conscious effort to judge differently according to speed (slower can sound different from the original but faster can hide mistakes).
- Subtle details from the original and added personal embellishments were considered in Aire, regardless of execution.
- No 10's
Eusebia Jetson T:6 A:7 It felt more like "cha cha cha" at the beginning than solea but then it got better. Some mistakes there (misread tab?) and a bit slow, I guess you could've bumped up a few bpm.
Immaculada Picard T:9 A:8 This is the only entry that went for the cloning and was pretty good at it. I didn't give a 9 in Aire because the original is (to me) very calm & collected and this one felt a bit anxious. High score!
Inmaculada Shagwell T:7 A:7 One of my favorites. Could've had more balls, also the bpm feels a little too safe. What happened to the last 12 beats? That will cost you 0,4 points.
Maria McFly T:5 A:6 This was the slowest one at almost half the speed but it's nice anyway. Sounds clean but even at this speed I think it could have more dirt to it.
Maria Vader T:6 A:5 I though this was the "messiest" one. It sounds like you just stepped over some parts to get to the ones that you could play better and I can't get much Aire from this either. In my opinion you should've stepped down 20 or 30 bpm and give all the parts equal attention.
Sara Connor Total: 86
Yazmin Saruman T:7 A:7 Sounds good but I think you've played it 10bpm too fast. It would've certainly scored higher otherwise.
I hope no one gets offended, this is just a challenge and the biggest prize is going through the challenge so... we're all losers!
Posts: 1890
Joined: Dec. 2 2006
From: Budapest, now in Southampton
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
First of all congratulations to all! I've entered most of the challenges here and I know how much it can improve my playing, it inspires me to push myself to my limits. This time I didn't have as much time to prepare as I would've liked to and again I felt the pain of trying to record - it's very difficult to replicate what you can really do when the red button is pushed.
Regarding judging, in all cases I appreciate someone being realistic about their abilities - if you play slower, but in compás and with a fairly good technique, it scores you more than trying to rush it. Let's not forget, that we're trying to create music that is pleasant to our ears, and if it's cleaner and has a steady tempo, it will sound better for the listener as well.
The falseta itself is deceptively difficult. It doesn't leave a lot of room for interpretation and playing with the dynamics like a slower soleá would. There are tricks in the compás that weren't very easy to play at first, and there are technical challenges for both hands. For most of us the second part of the falseta was more difficult, lots of things happening at once, and especially the final bit of the falseta was tough. Big kudos to everyone who entered!
Eusebia Jetson 7 + 7 = 14
The compás is good throughout. Too bad you're a little bit out of tune. You find most of the notes and they're clean enough. But it sounds to me that you're applying too much force on the strings, which in fact decreases accuracy and it's also pretty bad for dynamics. Nonetheless, I enjoyed your entry.
Immaculada Picard - me
Inmaculada Shagwell 8 + 7 = 15
Nice clean playing here maybe a bit too much reverb ;) There are two unfortunate minor blips in the compás in the second part but it's obvious you've been practicing this one. I would've been curious how you finish it, it's too bad you left off the final part, which is of course fairly difficult, especially moving the left hand up to position quickly and precisely. Now let's clean this up, there's lots of potential here.
Maria McFly 6 + 7 = 13
I like the fact that you chose a tempo which you can handle. This made sure that the playing is clean enough. Despite your obvious attention to detail, you've still managed to make a couple mistakes in the compás. You however maintained the level throughout, the second part didn't sound less rehearsed like in most recordings. I enjoyed this one, keep up the good work.
Maria Vader 4 + 4 = 8
Unfortunately being out of tune is a big turn off in this one. Also you're playing it much faster than you should've. The ligados sound fine, but where it gets busier it would've been beneficial to choose a slower speed to record at. This way there are just too many fluffed notes and confusion in the compás. The key to playing good at higher speeds is making sure you can play the same stuff clearly with a steady rhythm at a (much) slower tempo.
Sara Connor 6 + 6 = 12
The first part sounded much more convincing than the second part of the falseta. It's better in technique and compás, the second part was more difficult for you (and I suspect for most of us). Apart from the occasional fluffed note, I found the first part to be very pleasant playing, then it fell apart. The difficult thing there is that there is so much to do for the mind and the hands, position changes, playing arpeggios with a bass note, hammer ons, pull offs...Difficult stuff :)
Yazmin Saruman 5 + 7 = 12
The compás is a bit shaky as well as the technique. But you do seem to understand the compás, which can be tricky in this falseta. Now what you need is some slower practice to a metronome, if you had recorded like that it would've been smoother. What's the hissing in the background? At first I thought they were birds singing out of compás...or a lonely puppy...:)
Posts: 898
Joined: Dec. 6 2012
From: Lisboa, Portugal
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
I was Inmaculada Shagwell.
Eusebia Jetson T:6 A:7 Good one. You are playing a bit rough and I guess that hurts your sound a bit. Besides that it was good, you didn't have any major problems and kept it all very balanced. It needs more work so keep up the good job, I guess you are on the right path.
Immaculada Picard T:9 A:8 Nice, very nice :) I know you wanted to respect the original tempo but if you played it a little bit slower it would have been perfect. That second half is a nightmare to play at that speed and you struggled a bit. I wasn't expecting to hear an entry as good as yours, well done!
Inmaculada Shagwell T:6 A:7 You played it safe which was the smart thing to do. Your sound was nice and clean but it lacked strength and that second half needs work above all else. You also need to tighten the whole thing, you were a bit off sometimes.
Maria McFly T:5 A:7 I like your entry, you also played it safe and it sounded good overall. This falseta is a bit advanced for your technique but you were smart enough to take it easy and make good use of your strengths, it was clean and had a nice vibe. Good job.
Maria Vader T:5 A:4 Only you and Picard tried to play it at the original tempo but unlike him you couldn't keep up with it. I'm sorry man but I can't give you more points than this, it wasn't clean at all and a bit of a mess on many parts. Some bits here and there were great but overall it didn't sound good. I bet this could have been one of the top entries if you played it slower, at a tempo you are comfortable with.
Sara Connor T:5 A:6 I think you also should have played it just a little bit slower, especially because of that second half. Some parts were a bit rushed but there were some good bits too, keep working.
Yazmin Saruman T:6 A:6 What the hell is that noise on the background? I guess if you played it a little bit slower it would have been much better, it's a bit shaky here and there but it had power and is good overall.
Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Leñador)
Ok guys... some great playing here..interesting to hear what different bits each person
struggled with ... I put down my first thoughts here and had a few re-listens ...advice is really always the
best thing you get out of a challenge. Although some may not agree I know everyone really has already benefited by
getting to the recording stage ... and so the points are as follows
================ Eusebia Jetson.
Technique 7 Aire 5
Nice percussive sound .and sound very methodically worked through rasguerdos could be sharper little bit funky somehow, thought it was going to 4/4 in the first bar or two .
================ Immaculada Picard.
Technique 8 Aire 8
Nice and fluid great playing .. and tempo is what it should be .. no real duff notes ,, expensive guitar sound ...everything happening here could be a winner here ..experience shines through
===============
Inmaculada Shagwell
Technique 6 Aire 7
Bit of a struggle at times , im sure you learned more than most by getting to this point in the challenge ... keep the good work.... rasguerdos always need work great , not too fast for you , and not too slow .. I think that you have already realized what you need to practice to take the next step .
==============
Maria McFly
Technique 5 Aire 4
Timing a bit wobbly ..But how can i complain? you have worked through something that is possibly a bit above you level and done it so well .. try to make it more yours and fluid, very methodically and carefully done , i like that .. cos in time you be whizzing through it ..
==============
Maria Vader
I think that was me ...?
============== Sara Connor
Technique 6 Aire 5
Try not to cut corners and jump in too soon .. there's always plenty of time in soleares..it did settle down a lot better later on ..rasguerdos are good ..arpeggio practice is for you ..nice guitar sound , try to relax more .tension kinda gets recorded
============
Yazmin Saruman
Technique 5 Aire 4
Too many libertys with the time .. a flamenco metronome .. on your shopping list .. I would consider consolidating ... Advice for you ...make everything correct, and you will be left with only one fault .. it will be too slow,,,which is something that can easily be corrected ..
In case we don't get all the people to vote, John is voting on Tuesday 14th (no voting allowed after John's). After that you'll have 24 hours to execute the last stage of this challenge. Failing to do so will exclude you from the final results.
Judging:
Judging will be done on a 1-10 scale on two criteria; Technique and Aire.
Technique is the quality of the notes produced, are they full, intentional and confident or are they muffled, buzzing or just off (or missing). Since we can’t see your fingers we’re judging off quality of sound produced by the fingers. Although a TAB is provided, feel free to change a few notes/rhythms here and there. This is about execution.
Aire is compas and the like. Number one is it IN compas, number two does it groove right. Does it feel like solea. Does it have the proper feel for the speed that you’ve chosen to play it. This is about your own expression.
Example:
Contestant: Esmeralda Garfield Technique:5 Aire:5 Comments: Anything you want to add to help the player get better/to explain your judging.
These are guidelines. Be fair and consistent throughout your ratings.
Try not to give/take points for the same reason in both categories. Keep the distinction between them (eg. a 10 on technique might be a 5 on Aire.. it's not necessarily 10/10 even if you're very excited about what you just heard ....and a 4 on technique can be a 9 on Aire!).
Let me know (not here) if you have other suggestions.
RE: !!!John Walsh Solea Falseta Chal... (in reply to Sr. Martins)
Here you go everyone. First off I just want to say thank you so much everyone for taking the time to set up this challenge and for going to the effort of learning this little falseta. It has been a privilege to see. Secondly, I am the type of person that feels deeply uncomfortable 'judging' other people's playing. I reserve my criticism for myself usually. That being said, I am bound to give my opinion as set out in the rules so here they are.
Eusebia Jetson Technique - 6 Aire - 7 Very Solid playing overall but was a bit lacking in dynamics for my liking. You obviously took your time to learn it thoroughly which I appreciate. You can get more dynamic effect by being softer with a couple of parts. Great though!
Immaculada Picard Technique - 9 Aire - 9 Excellent job! My favourite of all the entries. The 2nd half was not quite as good as the 1st but still great overall!
Inmaculada Shagwell Technique - 7 Aire - 7 The 1st half of this is really superb whoever you are. The compas is a wee bit shaky in the 2nd half in one or two spots but despite this I think this is a really excellent entry. You are a musical player!
Maria McFly Technique - 6 Aire - 6 Well played with nice dynamics overall though I think you could have pushed the tempo a wee bit. I am glad to see you choose a tempo you are comfortable with but it is just a bit too slow for the style. A few compas problems but overall a solid job!
Maria Vadar Technique - 4 Aire - 5 Whereas I appreciate you going full throttle in a way with this entry, I think you should have recorded many BPM's slower. It is difficult to distinguish many passages and the musical intention is lost overall. Don't be afraid to play slower, you won't necessarily lose any feel. Despite the speed, my main concern is the tuning on this one. Sorry amigo, I don't like doing the 'judging' thing but I believe you should give your best shot when recording and the tuning is off-putting at times. Some parts are so close that i thin if it was recorded slower and with more attention to detail it would be really excellent
Sara Connor Technique - 5 Aire - 6 Nice job overall. I think you can handle the tempo well. Some work on your arpeggios, trying to get them more even will do you a lot of good. A metronome will fix this. Your rasqueo parts are cool! You have a nice attack and sound. Just take your time to work on internal timing and you will be flying!
Yazmin Saruman Technique - 6 Aire - 7 Some parts are very good in this. This timing of your ligados needs some work. When you play ligados, it should not affect the timing of the notes. It should be the same as if they were all picked, if that makes any sense. I think you have a good sense of compas but the technique gets in your way in a few places and puts it out a bit. Overall very good though!
RE: **RESULTS** !!!John Walsh Solea ... (in reply to Leñador)
Congrats everyone with special kudos to Richard. Again thank you all so much for taking the time to engage with my music. I am going to send a present to all the entrants. Send me your email addresses and a full transcription of one of my tunes shall be with you forthwith. Any chance any of you want to do a video of your entry? I'd love to see it. I'm off soon to Algeciras to play at the PDL guitar festival. There is Jose Maria Bandera, Manuel Valencia, Jose Manuel Leon, Potito, Pepe de Lucia, Remedios Amaya, Montse Cortes and a tonne more. AGGHHHHH!! I won't be on email once I leave on Friday so if you want it, send me on your addresses soon Regards, John
RE: **RESULTS** !!!John Walsh Solea ... (in reply to JohnWalshGuitar)
Ok, here's half of my contribution. I don't know the second half and I almost finished last (like a gentleman) so I don't feel the responsibility to post a nice full take, specially with this video quality (or lack of it).
RE: **RESULTS** !!!John Walsh Solea ... (in reply to El Kiko)
Yes I'm aware that i can watch the vids when I get back. I meant if you want a pdf like i offered, then to let me know before I go otherwise you will be waiting a while. Thanks for the vid Sr Martins! Good job!
Printable Version
....and a 4 on technique can be a 9 on Aire!). 
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