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Introduction and a question
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TGerman
Posts: 138
Joined: Nov. 27 2005
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 Introduction and a question
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Hi Everyone,
I've been lurking around for a little while now and as I am a newbie to flamenco I didn't feel that I could contribute or that I have enough knowledge to ask questions, until now! First I'll give a little history; I am an elite cyclist (ya know, like 'Lance' but not even in the same world) who has had a knee problem for a while, this problem led me to Spain (Valencia) for 4 months to seek treatment for it, while there I could not ride my bike but I discovered flamenco and fell in love with it. I had to come home due to a family illness in June with the intention of going back in October. During this time I decided to try and find a flamenco guitar teacher, which I did and I have been studying for ~4 months (the first few months were learning to read music and learning some technique, I have now learned a Sevillanas, a Farruca and I am working on a Petenera now). Back in september I was out riding my bike and I was hit by a truck, since then I've had knee surgery and at the end of this month I have to get shoulder surgery (Grade III left separated AC joint), this will require my left arm to be immobilized for 6 weeks with no movement at all. Now for my question, my teacher says that I am doing really well and picking it up fast and it's a shame that I have to stop now, I want to keep progressing but what, if anything, can I do to limit my loss? Are there any kinds of exercises that I can do with the right hand on open strings? I know I can practice rasqueados, tremolo and picado but I am sure that this will get tiresome real fast doing it on open strings and I feel that I will need some structure.
If I can figure out how to record maybe I will try and upload something to get everyones critique, remember I am an extreme newbie.
Thanks everyboby,
Todd
To ToddK - sorry about the username, I registered without first looking to see if there was already another Todd, I will change my username if I can figure out how
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Jan. 10 2006 11:53:09
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TGerman
Posts: 138
Joined: Nov. 27 2005
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RE: Introduction and a question (in reply to Jon Boyes)
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Thank you everyone for your replies, they are all excellent ideas!
Jon:
quote:
You could work with Solo compas CDs (of the palos you haven't studied yet).
Ignorant question (sorry), but what are these exactly and where do you get them? Are they just the palmas tracks recorded so you can hear the compas? I try to hear/feel the rythym in these palos but I am finding it difficult, though I do feel A rythym, probably not the right one.
Ricardo:
I figured that I would put a capo on to add some tension to the strings and practice exactly what you said. I just have to find some more exercises such as alzapua, golpe et al.
Miguel:
I can race my bicycle for 200k (~124 miles) but I CANNOT run 10 feet without falling over!
Learning the rythym, is it just a matter of listening to a lot of music and then program the drum machine with what you hear?
flyeogh:
I have been increasing my CD collection slowly but I find that I really like the more traditional sounding stuff better as opposed to the newer fusion/jazzy flamenco, don't get me wrong when I listen to VA, Nunez, PdL I am completely blown away and there is quite a bit that I do like from them but so far I have to say that I really like Paco Pena, Mario Escudero, Moraito, I also like Roman el Granaino
If there are anymore ideas, don't hesitate to send 'em on over
Un saludo,
Todd (now known as TGerman)
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Date Jan. 10 2006 16:54:20
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Miguel de Maria
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
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RE: Introduction and a question (in reply to TGerman)
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Todd,
it's an exercise or process of understanding what makes various rhythms tick. This is so important and I'm actually only finally starting to do it!
Say you want to make an alegrias track. Well on these drum machines, you can choose how many beats in a cycle...put 12. then you go about putting various percussion instruments on those beats or around them. Say you know that alegrias has accents on 12 3 7 8 10, so it would make sense to put a strong beat, say a snare drum, on these accents. Then it sounds a little sparse, so say you put a lighter instrument, say high hat (kish kish) on eighth notes, all the way through. I may be speaking Greek to you, but if you get in there and do it, the pieces will fall together for you (feel free to ask for guidance here along the way), and it will give you a confidence in rhythm you would have a hard time getting just playing guitar.
Another exercise is to "reverse engineer" some of the rhythms the machine came with. Mine has an 8 beat cycle, so I just wrote down eight beats on some paper and listened and wrote down where the things happened. For example listen for the kick drum (boom boom). I noticed it hits eight times. (boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom). I noticed that there is a tamborine hit right after the 8...Anyways I found this useful and you learn a lot about percussion and how rhythm works.
It's nice to start with the drum machine because there are a finite amount of instruments, the patterns are short and repeat, and you can have the feedback of making your own pattern and seeing how they match up.
Plus, it's nice to have a drum machine because they are great practice tools. Good luck!
(by the way, you can check out "Sal's Flamenco Soapbox" for a lot of basic information on flamenco rhythms).
_____________________________
Connect with me on Facebook, all the cool kids are doing it.
https://www.facebook.com/migueldemariaZ
Arizona Wedding Music Guitar
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Date Jan. 10 2006 18:05:19
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Jon Boyes
Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
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RE: Introduction and a question (in reply to TGerman)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: TGerman
quote:
You could work with Solo compas CDs (of the palos you haven't studied yet).
Ignorant question (sorry), but what are these exactly and where do you get them? Are they just the palmas tracks recorded so you can hear the compas?
Yes - you buy one CD of, say, Alegrias, and you get tracks with just the guitar, tracks with just palmas, tracks with just the singer, that kind of thing. They are good because apart from hearing things separately, the guitar is usually basic rhythm compas - not lots of fancy falsetas.
As for where to buy them, it depends where in the world you are (Edit your profiles everybody, to say where you are from  ) but in Europe this is the one stop shop for your flamenco needs:
http://www.flamenco-world.com/
_____________________________
Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset
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Date Jan. 11 2006 8:16:43
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JBASHORUN
Posts: 1839
Joined: Jan. 23 2005
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RE: Introduction and a question (in reply to TGerman)
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quote:
Hey James,
I just purchased "Todos los Compases" and I have to say that I am completely and utterly lost! I don't know how to find the rythym in the music. For example; I know that alegrias is
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
but I cannot hear it the music at all, I don't hear any accented beats and I don't know when/where it begins. This goes for all the different palos.
Hey Todd,
I have to admit that I'm getting pretty good at memorizing some parts of that compas CD. But I guess its also a kind of "blind" memorization. That compas CD might be good for laying out the rhythms (as far as I know), but the accompanying (printed) material could be a lot better. It could do with sheet EXPLAINING the rhythms and accents. To be honest, I'm not sure what the best way to learn compas is. Familiarising yourself with the rhythms aurally seems like a good start, but perhaps doing so without THINKING about what you're doing might confuse you even further. If thats the case, it would probably be wise to have a visual explanation or technical breakdown of compas too. Ron (RonM) once recommended the "Understanding Flamenco" book and CD to me as a good tool for explaining the basics. But he also went on to say that compas was best learned by learning to actually PLAY in compas. I think there is no "magic solution" to learning compas, and it may be a matter of combining aural and theoretical elements... training your ear to recognise compas, perhaps assisted by the visual information needed to recognise the patterns within the sounds. But as Ron says, if you can learn to PLAY a piece of music in compas, without having to confuse yourself with the technical details, perhaps this is a simpler method. I'm afraid my knowledge of Flamenco and learning techniques is so limited that I cannot offer much clearer advice. Perhaps some other members can help here. Good luck!
James
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Date Feb. 12 2006 17:42:34
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ok u dont know ignore this one. 
