Glossary

1. abánico

"Abánico" means fan. It is a rasgueado techniqe in which a continuous rolling sound is made of any chord using variations of two or three fingers of the right hand.

2. apoyando

Meaning "resting" this refers to the way the right hand can play a note. Or rather, what the right hand does after playing a note. After striking the string the thumb or finger comes to rest on the next, lower string before returning to its place, ready to play. See also "tirando".

3. arpeggio

A chord whose notes are played in rapid succession rather than simultaneously. There are really two ways of thinking about arpeggios with the guitar. One is harmonic arpeggios which is a scale played as notes of a chord. the second way of thinking about arpeggios, which is more common to flamenco, is a right hand technique in which a chord is fingered with the left hand and the notes are played in rapid succession with the right. Search for arpeggios to find examples in mp3 and tablature [pdf].

4. bulería al golpe

Bulería al golpe is a fast and exciting flamenco form. Its compas is in cycles of 12 beats. It is generally considered to be an old form of flamenco these days.

5. cajón

A cajón is a percussive instrument in the shape of a box on which the player sits. It originated in Latin America, specifically Peru.

6. cante

¨Cante¨ means ¨The Song¨. In flamenco terms, this is not just any old song, but refers to what is known as ¨Cante Jondo¨: Deep Song.

7. cejilla

A cejilla is the Spanish term for a capo. In contrast to the classical guitar, the flamenco guitarist most frequently accompanies singing. As different singers sing at different pitches, a cejilla makes quick work of transposing to a higher, or lower tonality. With respect to using a cejilla whilst not accompanying a singer, the use of a cejilla gives a brighter, less resonant and hence more authentic (whatever authentic means) sound.

8. cierre

A "cierre" is a musical cadence. That is, a closure to a musical phrase. In flamenco there are common cierres to forms that use compás at the end of every (usually) compás and cierres in free forms such as fandangos where the guitarrist assists the singer to end his or her verse with a closing reaguado.

9. compás

Compás refers to the rhythm of the flamenco form. Each traditional form has its own particular compás which gives the form in question its unique personality.

10. crossing over

This crossing over (cruzada) when used in the context of compas refers to a time when a guitarist either mistakenly or deliberately cuts one compas in half (i.e. plays six and not twelve beats) and does not rectify the imbalance with another half compas.

11. falseta

Falsetas are short (or relatively long) passages that the guitarist plays in order to inspire a singer when the singer is not singing.

12. golpe

A percussive effect played with the ring (a) and/or the middle finger (m) of the right hand on the sound board of the guitar.

13. golpeador

A thin covering of plastic that protects the sound board of the guitar from the player's "golpes". See "golpes" - sorry ;(.

14. jaleo

"Jaleo" means a loud noise from rowdy people. In flamenco, it refers to the shouts of encouragement that listeners give to performers. The most common one, of course, is "olé".

15. palmas

Palmas is the rhythmic hand clapping that often accompanies flamenco.

16. palmas

Palmas is the rhythmic hand clapping that often accompanies flamenco.

17. picado

Picado is a guitar technique in which notes are played in a linear fashion, most often with the first and index fingers and less commonly the index and ring finger. Scales are most commonly played using this technique.

18. planting

This refers to how a guitarist prepares for the next stroke of a string. The idea is that immediately after playing a note, the next finger to play is ready and prepared to play. In this way, through economy of movement, speed and accuracy can be devloped. See "the gym" page and search "gym" posts for more information.

19. pulgar

"Pulgar" means thumb. Not much else to say about the word, but that does not undermine the importance of the "pulgar" in flamenco.

20. quejio

From "quejar" - to complain. Quejio refers to a the quality of voice in flamenco song.

21. rasgueados

This is the word used to describe flamenco strumming.

22. soleá

The word "soleá" is thought to derive from "soledad" a song form performed in the sixteenth century. This term refers to a state of loneliness or solitude. The Solea is one of the major branches of the genealogical tree of flamenco. It is a majestic and solemn flamenco form.

23. tirando

The opposite of "apoyando". "Tirando" means pulling and refers to the right hand fingers that do not rest against the adjacent string after playing.

24. toques

"Toque" is a Spanish word that means touch. Used in the flamenco field it refers to the various flamenco forms as played on the guitar. Examples of "toques" include solea, siguiriya, bulería, granaína, fandangos and so on. All flamenco forms are song forms or song and dance forms, with one or two exceptions: the rondeña, and the zambra or zambra mora. Even these have some song forms attached to them, though are rarely sung. This highlights the role of the guitar in flamenco - it is an accompanying instrument rather than a solo performer, in spite of the centre stage role that the guitar plays in the hands of (very few) really extraordinary accomplished performers. Indeed, most of these performers, such as Paco de Lucía include some cante in their commercial recordings. Furthermore, all of these accomplised guitar soloists are proficient accompanyists.