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Hello, I have just started to teach myself Flamenco (with the book by Gerhard Graf-Martinez). I'm having a little trouble with the rasgueos and the pulgar methods but I don't think it's any trouble thats out of the ordinary.
I have background in the piano for quite a while (classical in the first decade but ragtime in the last 7 to 8 years) and I play bass guitar. Recently I taught myself steel string guitar, but I've always loved the Flamenco sound, so I picked up a Flamenco guitar and now I'm using this book to teach myself (or attempt).
my best suggestion is to read back in the forum, you'll find lots of great advice and you'll find out that learning to play flamenco requires a full man, it sucks you in and won't let go...have lots of patience and first learn what compás is and respect it... have fun playing!
Hi Silver Shark - hey, does that mean you are over 40, gray haired and on the hunt for the ladies?
Well, to echo Jimi, you will need lots of patience. Celebrate the small successes.
There are a number of difficulties you will have to overcome, learning a clean rasgueo which will probably take years (5 or more...), alzapua that will take a long time also, picado, right hand / left hand synchronization, getting up to a good tempo, learning rhythms beyond 4/4 time, etc. The piano and guitar work should help. A lot of these you can practice in the middle of the night or anytime without a guitar - rasgueos against the bedding or your jeans - or my favourite a wine glass (my wife just loves that- NOT!), practice picado triplets against your leg, etc! Get creative!
The beauty is that you can start with easier technique and build upon it. Ron gave some good examples in the lazy fashion, the only problem is that they are still quite hard! But they sound lovely.
Basically you are starting a life long journey so don't worry about the destination. Try and use as many resources as you can and good luck!
Shark, I've been playing guitar for 30+ years and I agree that flamenco is a humbling genre that will kick the butt of any accomplished guitarist who was formerly quite satisfied with his/her skills.
That said, I would not be scared by the "5 years for rasgueo" comment. I have managed to progress a lot in about 8 months. One thing about flamenco is that there are a lot of special techniques that you need just to play basic music in that style.
Forget your pick (obviously!). Now you will do basic strumming with one finger (i). Now you will play melody lines with picado (i-m) or thumb (p). Alzapua-alzaschmua until you get those basic things down enough to play fluently through simple pieces. Compas is so key to flamenco, yet that represents another dimension of understanding that should be parallel to your basic technique work.
Absolutely do rasgueos all the time - on your desk, dinner table, anywhere. I could not fathom getting it down and now I can play continuous rolls reasonably well. Do eami, eamii, ami, and amii. Pay close attention to being even in your rhythm, as this will pay off in the long run.
I find Juan Martin's Vol. 1 book to be excellent. Try to mix up your material as well.
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