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Share your most recent insight on something you realized you needed to change to improve your musicianship, or your practice sessions.
Maybe we can learn by listening to others' "light bulb" moments.
I know for me, I realize I need to --> step back and stop jumping between spending so much time learning the "text" to pieces, and instead commit more time to learning and rehearsing 1 complete piece to performance level
What I think might be interesting about this question is sometimes we know what we should be doing, and are simply not doing it, but other times we don't realize what we should be doing differently. Maybe reading each others' self reflections can be helpful in taking a step forward.
Posts: 15418
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Share your most recent insight o... (in reply to joevidetto)
I have not changed much in the way of flamenco guitar tech or musicianship in many years now. I can a relate a funny story that vindicated my musical concept that I have had for years this last November. I have (and we all have to do this if we are not Manolo Sanlucar), catered my music accompaniment for dance shows, around various set choreographies. Too many times to count they want some music and whenever I provide my own music compositions, they need to be cut or lengthened to fit the thing, and it always bothered me. Not to sound like Mozart but “it is perfect the way it is!”, so 9 out of 10 times I invent brand new material that “works” mathematically. Inevitably, I consider the new improvised work “garbage” from a musical stand point….except on rare occasions I actually keep or use this material. I know some guys who pride themselves on this whole procedure and their creative energy and heart goes into this exact thing that I consider throw-away junk filer program music myself. So I have this separation in my mind of dance show music, vs what my real falseta creations are about. So long story short, this last November there were all these dancers that needed “tremolo” and pretty thematic things, that they did not have choreography for, yet, so I had to give them my actual material I never utilize. I ended up playing a bunch of stuff from my CD and my solo rep that I would never do normally. It was hilarious to me how after the show all these people that have seen these shows for a decade now came to me like “that was the BEST music for a dance show I have ever seen” etc. Not to toot my horn, because honestly I don’t have much material left after that, but the funny part is everybody thought this show so well put together that it must have been such a huge effort on my part etc. The irony was it was the easiest show of my entire career! I just played my normal schtick.
So the take away is to not work to hard, do what is natural and effortless, and in the end it projects as the more impressive thing.
But to the question, actually, it is electric guitar fast picking issue. Coming from Gilbert school of fast alternate picking, I was always going for clean picking right hand, but this is an illusion. When I starting “swiping” or hitting two strings at once, very dirty or sloppy right hand attack, and using my left hand to clean up the sound by muting adjacent strings….holy smoke did the entire affair become easy and fun all of a sudden. The Paganini motto perpetuo thing is my go to fun warm up now every time, now that I pick “dirty”.
Posts: 1967
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: Share your most recent insight o... (in reply to joevidetto)
I've been playing many years so I'm not sure how much my technique can improve but I still work on it. What I needed to do to increase my understanding of flamenco was to concentrate on really learning cante. Not actual singing but listening. Learning which note calls for which chord, and which inversions are traditional and sound the best. Although I have played for local dancers and singers, it didn't prepare me to understand the way professional singers need to be accompanied.
For me, that requires listening for as many times as it takes to hear it. Trying to replicate what pros do on specific recordings. I've been on this train for a couple of years and it has increased my knowledge and enjoyment of flamenco.
Also, learning standard adornments that are played between sung lines, and feeling the rhythm of the cante in libre forms.
I'm getting great instruction and motivation from Tino. It's the first time I've had ongoing access to a pro who works in Spain.
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So I have this separation in my mind of dance show music, vs what my real falseta creations are about. So long story short, this last November there were all these dancers that needed “tremolo” and pretty thematic things, that they did not have choreography for, yet, so I had to give them my actual material I never utilize. I ended up playing a bunch of stuff from my CD and my solo rep that I would never do normally. It was hilarious to me how after the show all these people that have seen these shows for a decade now came to me like “that was the BEST music for a dance show I have ever seen” etc. Not to toot my horn, because honestly I don’t have much material left after that, but the funny part is everybody thought this show so well put together that it must have been such a huge effort on my part etc. The irony was it was the easiest show of my entire career! 
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