I have now written out, in tab and stave the scales based on A. Go to the “scales the notes” to find the pdf.
Here you can find information about the techniques of flamenco guitar and how to develop them.
At last! The chords page has some tablature for downloading. It is a simple, though long, series of six note chords that I often use to assist my right hand study and training.
“One of the maxims of effective practice is to break everything down to the smallest possible movement. Isolated problems
The technique page has been fully revised and is now waiting for photos and videos to be taken and inserted. It is has fuller explanations and a linked index for easy navigation throughout the rather long page.
Next on the list of things to do is a revision of the individual technique pages. The old ones will remain in place until the new ones are written. In the meantime, happy reading,
Miguel
Here is the final installment of our soleá. There are four rasgueado exercises that form the basic soleá rasgueados. More details about these are given in the newly updated rasgueado page.You can download the pdf here: 
At the top of the page I have shown some simple chords that are most often used for this toque. After there are four very simple exercises that form a part of my daily practice. They are numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4. Read the rest of this entry »
Rasgueado 1 [0:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Rasgueado 2 [0:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Rasgueado 3 [0:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Rasgueado 4 [0:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Soleá basic example [1:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThis tangos introduces thumb and index work and the thumb to play simple compás as well as the abánico technique.
Practise dead slowly, as always because speed will come alone. The focus here is to stay in compás and keep everything even and clean.
The fingering for the abánico can be found with the other rasgueado exercises here. The abánco is shown in numbers “e” and “f” on that page.
Guitar only [0:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Palmas only [1:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Guitar and palmas [0:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadHere is the first lesson. The “palo” is called “tangos” and there is no relationship with the Argentinian song and dance form.
In this lesson we will look at basic rasgueados and some thumb techniques. You can find some exercises and advice for rasgueados here and for thumb work here.
Tangos guitar and palmas [1:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Percussion [1:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadHere is a tangos that features a Solo Compas backing track. I have been practising picado recently and here are the results. Of course, still lots of work to do with respect to technique, but the practice is paying off, slowly but surely! Read the rest of this entry »
After an afternoon’s fun making videos of the various techniques listed and described in the technique page, we realised that our old digital camera is not quite up to making videos. The sound is really quite poor and the resolution of the video does not really provide enough detail. Rather than waste the footage, we decided to include some of it in a post. So, until we get a better camera, this is what we have to live with. Maybe I should put a Paypal donation button on the site - ha ha!
Alzapúa upstroke exercise: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Full alzapúa: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Bulería de Jerez: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Soleá de Morao: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Tangos alzapúa: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Bulería de Morón: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Alegría - cierre: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThe technique contents
- - Tirando & apoyando
- Picado & scales
- - String walking
- - Speed bursts
- - Staccato practice
- - Chromatic scales
- Arpeggios
- - Block planting
- - Sequential planting
- Rasgueado
- The flamenco thumb
- - Alzapúza
- Trémolo
The technique page in nearly finished. Well, finished in the sense that it is useable: the explanations are clear and that the downloads work. Currently the contents read as you can see in the box to the right.
The aim of this page is to show the basic flamenco guitar techniques and provide exercises that I am currently focussing on. Deliberately, the exercises are not particularly musical in order to isolate the technique in question. I will be adding more exercises that are much more flamenco in later posts. Read the rest of this entry »
Some visitors have asked for material related to tremolo and practicing trémolo. This technique gives many guitar players problems, but it need not present problems if the right approach is taken to study. Before we begin, some basic terminology.
Here is an example of a soleá por arriba. Once again, the recording is very short, the intention is to only to show the basic arpeggios - and to get my execution of them more even and clear.
Soleá por arriba refers to a soleá played using the chords of mi and fa mayor (in addition to la, sol and do). There is a cejilla on the fourth fret.
Download the soleá tablature [pdf] to download.
Here are the downloads [pdf]:
Arpeggios one p-i-m-a or p-a-m-i combinations
Arpeggios two p-i-m-a-m-i or p-a-m-i-m-a combinations
These right hand studies are intended to help develop finger independence. Many guitarists, myself included, have problems with naughty fingers that fly away from the strings when a string is played. The aim of these exercises is to promote the most efficient movement possible: as one string is struck, the next finger is preparing to strike. You can read more on this in the “gym page” - Especially see planting.
Arpeggios are very common in flamenco and without some dominion of this technique you will be extremely limited in what you can play. Even guitarists who dedicate themselves to accompaniment and never play solos use this technique. So, lets get going and work up a sweat.
Use any chords that you like for these daily workouts, though at the beginning it is best to use something very simple.
Here is a short recording of the basic compás and falsetas. I have recorded the guitar playing solo, the guitar with percussion and both together. Getting the arpeggios clean and strong requires some work, and there is still some for me to do.
Soleá is often referred to as the mother of flamenco. This is because so many flamenco rhythms are based upon this basic structure. If you can get the hang of this rhythm, you will find that the rhythms of the slower soleá and faster bulerías are more easily dominated. Use the cajón recording for practice.
The percussion instrument is called a cajón and originates in Latin America. This means box in Spanish. More than a box, a cajón has a series of strings in its interior which vibrate against the resonating tone board. It is very a popular instrument in modern flamenco and good cajón players are very much in demand.
Soleá por medio - solo guitar.
Download - Soleá por medio - guitar alone 1.5mb
Soleá por medio - with percussion.
Download - Soleá por medio - guitar with cajón 1.5mb
Soleá por medio - cajón alone.
Download - Soleá por medio - cajón alone 1mb
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