Soleá por medio

HI Richard,

Firstly, thanks for your comment.

Yes by all means, I can provide the tab – but I am not able to transcribe everything accurately – it will have to be a rough idea. Also, the tab will not provide you with the “aire”. That is something that you will have to do yourself.

The best way to do this is to listen and listen and listen to the palo in question. And attack the problem from as many different angles as possible:

1. Accompany a recording of “cante” with your own palmas. Concentrate not on any syncopation, but on simply keeping an even steady beat going. Feel what is happening in the recording, and, over time, you will notice that you are accentuating the correct beats automatically. Take it form there.
2. Play along with dampened strings, using only your right hand. Start with the simplest rasgueados.
3. If you understand any Spanish, listen to the words, and hear how the singer plays with the compas and syllables.
4. If you don’t understand Spanish: listen intently to the words and try to sing them. Later, try accompanying yourself! Yes I know that this sound difficult, but it is a great way to get a feel of the compas and how people play around with it.

These ways will help you “get inside” the palo – which is what I think you should be aiming for – like the rest of us!

One last word…

Many guitarists outside of Andalucia develop an obsession with learning falsetas. In my humble opinion (IMHO – i believe) this is putting the cart before the horse. First develop a feel, after learn the notes. Get the basic compas using the basic two chords – La & Sibemol (A & B flat). Play to the compas – every day for ten minutes using only these two chords. Find as many ways as you can to go between the two without any break in your compas. Each note that you manage to insert is the start of the development of your own falsetas.

And as everyone says – be patient.

Miguel

Don’t hesitate, and thank you once again for the comments. Now where was my guitar?

Welcome back, Richard. A soleá por medio and a bulería are different even though el polo, la caña, las cantiñas y las bulerías all come under the generic heading of soleá.

The most immediate difference that you should notice is speed and aire: soleá is generally slower than the bulería. The next most obvious difference is that the soleá closes on the tenth beat with a characteristic “cierre”, which the bulería does not use.

The soleá will follow soleá melodies, whilst the bulería is much more flexible. What is perhaps confusing you is the chords used. Por medio refers to playing using a and b flat major. Both soleá and bulería can be played like this, and but both can be played in other tonalities as well – especially bulería.

Historically, the bulería is thought to derive from the soleá towards the end of the nineteenth century being developed by singers such as El Gloria y El Loco Mateo eventually developing its own identity. I was developed from the endings of the soleá which are, as you may have heard, often accelerated into bulería – especially in the dance. This is known as “rematar”.

Today there are numerous forms and variations, both melodica and in terms of compas – and is usually accompanied by syncopated hand clapping and percussion.

Two good sources of information regarding this question are:

http://users.aol.com/BuleriaChk/private/compas/compasa5.html

and

Oscar Herrero’s “Pasos Flamencos”. It I remember rightly, volume four gives a very thorough analysis of solea.

The best advice I can give you is to not complicate your life too much. Learn to play soleá. Learn it por arriba (e major) and learn it por medio (a major). Get your compás going and take it from there. Keep listening – especially to cante. When you have those two going you can play them fast or slow, as you like. But think about cante, because that is the beginning and the end of all flamenco.

Don’t worry even about playing the guitar per se, just getting the aire going, until you feel comfortable. That is what you have to do (IMHO) to make your playing feel authentic. I have met many, many guitarists who cannot play the guitar, but play flamenco wonderfully, utterly wonderfully, and that is the aim.

If you want to play guitar as well ( and that is my aim) then you will have to work on the flamenco and on the guitar. In that sense I am very lucky because I have “wasted” my life on that wonderful art that is flamenco.

The field is open and there is no competition, that is what I learned from Paco de Lucia in the few minutes that I spent with him.

Enjoy it