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Hi guys. I'd just like to ask your opinion on something. Basically I have been playing flamenco guitar for almost a year now. I don't feel like I'm making much progress. I just don't think I'll ever have the time to practice enough to be any good - half an hour day does not a female Paco make!!
I have seen a few flamenco shows recently and I am starting to think about whether I should switch my efforts to dancing. Now before anyone says it I do not think dancing is an easy option (although it cannot be more difficult than flamenco guitar surely!?!), but I just think I would make more progress.. I can imagine being able to dance an alegrias far quicker than I'll ever be able to play one convincingly.
It's not just a whim - I love dancing and I actually think I could be quite good at it given the understanding I've built up of flamenco as a whole, compared to someone who is coming to the class cold say.
I don't want to give up the guitar - I love it. But it's also an expensive and frustrating hobby. At least with the dance I would be able to explore more aspects of this music and culture that I have grown to love. But then I risk becoming a jack of all trades.. master of none..
So, should I keep going with the guitar, and plough 100% of my time into it. Will dancing somehow make it more difficult - or easier?
I know there are no easy answers to these questions..
start doing both and let your heart take you to the one that calls. you can dance and do guitar as a side or do guitar and dance as a side and one will surely answer you questions.
I have been dancing flamenco for about 3-4years now and playing guitar for 2 (allthough i'm taking a break from the dancing at the moment). I didn't take the dance very seriously but it sure has helped me alot. Your sence of rythm improves quite a bit. And you also get to know other people interested in flamenco. Playing the guitar can sometimes be quite lonely unless you are an extremely outgoing type.
Try the dancing! Go for it! It doesn't mean you have to give up guitar playing. I sure enjoyed it
Give the dancing a try, if you like dancing anyway. It will only improve your understanding of Flamenco as a whole. Then after a couple of months you can make the decision about which one you prefer, and concentrate on just the one. Actually, why not try singing cante too... I've never heard of a cantaor that plays their own accompaniment on the guitar at the same time, but there's a first time for everything! And if you could manage dancing, the guitar and cante all at the same time, then that would really be worth seeing!
But seriously, which ever you decide on- if you want to be really great, you'll need to put in more than half an hour per day.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I will definitely give the dancing a whirl (or stamp!) and see where it takes me.
James you are right I know I definitely need to practice more, but as Niklas says, it can get quite lonely. I feel like I am just coasting along without any real targets or aims - I have noticed since my course finished I don't practice half as much. I suppose I feel that with dancing at least I will have a routine to learn and it will be more 'fun'!
Also I only really tend to practice when I'm alone, as I feel I am being antisocial if others are present in the house - it can't be nice for them to hear these tortured twangy noises vaguely resembling music!
You are coming to my guitar course to learn how to accompany flamenco dance. You don’t have to pay double to try the dancing as well. María José will be delighted to help you.
I think you are doing the good thing: to be interested in the whole of flamenco and not just one aspect. You know back in Spain we all tend to do a little of all three and specialise in what we feel best with.
I give you an example: Did you by any chance go to see the Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía directed by Cristina Hoyos in the Festival of Flamenco at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London? It was in February I think. Well one of the singers is my friend Vicente Gelo. I was with him at a party a month before that concert and he accompanied another singer with guitar por Bulerías. Vicente knows four chords but with such soniquete. Two little things that he did and he did more than many guitarists with so many hands.
For my course you do not need to have fantastic hands/ technique. You need to really like flamenco and you already do. So play flamenco guitar, dance flamenco and be happy!
Thanks Tomás for your encouraging words No I did not see that show, but I understand what you are saying - that feeling and understanding are as important as technique. I recall also that in some of the concerts I have seen the guitarist will do a bit of palmas, and even a bit of cante and so on, and often the singer will do a little dance at the end.. so I guess there is no harm in mixing things up! Saludos Romanza
ORIGINAL: Romanza But then I risk becoming a jack of all trades.. master of none..
So, should I keep going with the guitar, and plough 100% of my time into it. Will dancing somehow make it more difficult - or easier?
Yeah, tough one this, I know exactly what you mean. Difficult to work out what you want sometimes - flamenco guitar is very infectious but so demanding to even get off first base. I wish I had discovered it earlier in my life when I had a lot more free time.
You stand to lose nothing from trying dancing though, so give it a whirl. Its good fun - I took lessons a few years ago and the only reason I gave up was that the lessons were at a very awkward time.
All comes down to priorities really, what do YOU want to do with your spare time, will you be forever frustrated if you cannot devote enough time to make satisfying progress?
I am also a beginner, so I understand fully where you are coming from. But dont give up the guitar....I have a guitar teacher now that told me in the begining "you cant play flamenco until you can play the different techniques. The rest is just adding notes to what you can already play" Since hearing that I started to practice 90% technique and only 10% falsettas. Now slowly but surely everything is getting easier and I feel comfortable and confident playing VERY basic falsetas; basic but rewarding. It does get easier...I imagine that everybody goes thru what your feeling, especially in the fist year. And besides, whats sexier than a girl playing flamenco guitar?? (have i just started a feminist movement?)
ORIGINAL: fevictor And besides, whats sexier than a girl playing flamenco guitar?? (have i just started a feminist movement?)
Well its possible except I think there are less than five woman on this forum so we would not make much of a movement, then again most feminist movements are born out of this sort of patronising sexist attitude so maybe
By the way Romanza ( power to you sister ) most flamencos are all rounders to a certain extent. Everyone on stage is invited to dance at the end of a show, and certainly at a party it is essential. I'm crap and I get dragged up all the time. No-one cares its the taking part. You should see the guitarist Emilio Maya dance and hear him sing
I was writing tongue in cheek, as I thought you were too. I'm with Romanza on this one, nothing sexier then a guy with a guitar. Then again it depends on the man
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