Hi from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

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wfeisele

Posts: 2
Joined: Jan. 3 2013
From: Santa Fe, NM, USA

Hi from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Hello,

I first want to thank you all for the forum and your valuable contributions. I have been a long time lurker on the forum but have never posted anything to date. My interest in Flamenco started back in the mid 1980’s when I was taking classical guitar lessons and visiting my teacher playing out in one of the local hangouts here in Santa Fe. He played Flamenco guitar as well on a Ramirez and an Esteso in the style of Sabicas. But what really caught my attention was the small Flamenco troupe that would appear on other nights. The guitarist was Carlos Lomas and his Gypsy wife, Gioia, was the lead dancer and singer. I didn’t know much about Flamenco at that time but was fascinated by the various arts of Flamenco, the cante’, baile, and toque, and my ignorance didn’t stop Carlos from quizzing me and my buddy on the various compas’ being played. Since that time I have made some attempts to learn Flamenco guitar techniques but never put aside my other musical interests to seriously pursue Flamenco guitar in its purest form. At almost 66 years old I have come to realize that the study of Flamenco guitar is a lifelong pursuit. So, I have come to the conclusion that it would be best for me to learn the basic techniques and rhythmic forms in order to play written pieces at an appropriate level but not attempt to learn the art of improvisation. I have come to the same conclusion for my jazz guitar pursuits and now play chord melody arrangements instead of trying to learn improvisation. I think a lot of this comes from my classical guitar background reading sheet music instead of being spontaneous and being comfortable with improvisation. Your comments on my thoughts regarding my approach to Flamenco guitar at this point in my life are quite welcome!

Best wishes,

Bill

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 10 2021 0:19:35

Piwin

Posts: 3562
Joined: Feb. 9 2016

RE: Hi from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (in reply to wfeisele)

Welcome to the foro!

Re: written pieces vs. improvisation, maybe it would be easier to ask whether you want to focus on playing solo guitar or whether you want to accompany singers/dancers. Neither have the kind of improvisation you have in jazz, but accompanying does have a call & response component, where you have to be able to hear what the singer/dancer is doing and adapt accordingly. I was listening to an interview of Mathias Berchadsky the other day, and the way he put was that, when it comes to improvising, the playing field in jazz is the size of a football field, the playing field in flamenco is the size of a stamp. In any case, both solo guitar and accompaniment require knowing the basic techniques and rhythmic forms so you can't go wrong if you spent time learning that.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 10 2021 0:56:58

wfeisele

Posts: 2
Joined: Jan. 3 2013
From: Santa Fe, NM, USA

RE: Hi from Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (in reply to wfeisele)

Thank you, Piwin! Glad to be here!

As far as written pieces vs. Improvisation, I really don't see myself accompanying singers/dancers although that should be the desired goal. At this point in my life, I think I will focus on playing solo guitar. So, learning the basic techniques and rhythmic forms will be my goals with that purpose in mind. I really appreciate you relaying Mathias Berchadsky's analogy of improvising within the jazz world versus the flamenco world. It gives me a perspective that I really didn't have and is comforting to know.

Thanks again!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 10 2021 2:58:55