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  #1  
Old 05-07-2012, 04:04 PM
Gostwriter Gostwriter is offline
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Default After Flamenco is there Anything Else?

Have you ever found that after learning or starting to learn to play Flamenco nothing else seems quite as challenging or entertaining? Maybe the same can be said for Jazz players?

I mean there is so much new material to cover that the old 1-4-5 - folk, country, rock - just seems to bore me - not that I am an expert at the other stuff just that the challenge becomes so monumental that nothing else seems to be worth the time. Any thoughts?
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Old 05-07-2012, 04:12 PM
Red_Label Red_Label is offline
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I've been there with classical and flamenco over the years. And the joy out of playing and listening to other music forms waned. But after a few weeks or months (or years in a few cases), I always came back around to other music forms again. I get bored with ANYTHING if that's all I do, every day.

Years ago I quit playing classical/flamenco and just played electric for the past 15 years. But I've come back and been heavily into my own "flamenco-jazz" stuff and listening to Nuevo Flamenco players (Oscar Lopez, Strunz & Farah, Pavlo) since the first of the year. I sold a lot of my electric gear. But a few weeks ago I picked-up a Marshall DSL50 head for cheap and sat it on my lonely Marshall 1960B 4X12 cab, then cranked it up and remembered why I still like rock. I like to FEEL that power of a roaring stack behind me. Whether I'm shredding it up for leads, or just banging-out some simple 5 chords on an ACDC tune. So I may still be playing nylon and steel string acoustics all week long, but on the weekend I mix things up and re-acquaint myself with the kind of music that made me love music in the first place.
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Old 05-07-2012, 04:33 PM
dyingsea dyingsea is offline
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I kind of hear where you're coming from. I've been enjoying flamenco and jazz nylon stylings much more than anything lately. As much as I love classical guitar, it does get a bit rigid and somewhat lackluster at times.
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Old 05-07-2012, 07:08 PM
BuleriaChk BuleriaChk is offline
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Uh, Greek Bouzouki, Indian Sitar, Japanese Koto.......
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Old 05-07-2012, 10:09 PM
mattdaddy mattdaddy is offline
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I find flamenco very challenging to play and learn correctly. This site has a wealth of information. I have been to the www.flamencochuck.com site and am up to lesson 3 now. I have looked at his videos and although at first glance they seem easy to play, I know that its going to be hard for me to learn to play these pieces as easily as he makes them seem to play. This is what I like about flamenco, nevermind the fact that when you play it everyone is awestruck. I am working overseas now in Saudi Arabia and after I learn some more I will travel to the southern part of Spain, Moron de la Frontera, to seek out some flamenco palyers and a few Juergas to improve my skills.
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Old 05-07-2012, 10:41 PM
BuleriaChk BuleriaChk is offline
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Hi, Matt,

There are a lot of falsetas in the Falseta Collections, if you haven't seen them yet..
(videos for Bulerias, audio for the Alegrias, Solea, and Siguiriyas). At the time I was just beginning to experiment with three-finger picado (ami), but hadn't developed it (I had been working for ten years prior, and had just lost my job at the time), so I used pmi which NOBODY uses in traditional flamenco, but I was losing my apartment, and had to get stuff out as fast as I could before the roof fell in. Excuses, excuses, I know.......:-)

(Edit: for the collections, the pmi only applies to the Bulerias video - I was trying to do video for all of them, but the roof fell in... the rest were recorded with ami - and I gotta get off my *** and get an update on rh technique out.... :-)

My technique is now radically different (I now use ami, mi, cami, iami (for redobles, etc....), so keep an open mind about rh technique; I eventually want to get an article out (maybe with corrections to the fingering of the falsetas), but I'm 72 now, and am kind of slowing down. Nevertheless, there is enough to get started (BTW, Diego del Gastor used traditional two finger picado (mi), combined with ligado for those falsetas)...

(Remember, though, traditional Flamenco is powered by thumb/index techniques and rasgueo - and compas, compas, compas!!!)

Best Regard, and thanks for the response,

Chuck

Quote:
Originally Posted by mattdaddy View Post
I find flamenco very challenging to play and learn correctly. This site has a wealth of information. I have been to the www.flamencochuck.com site and am up to lesson 3 now. I have looked at his videos and although at first glance they seem easy to play, I know that its going to be hard for me to learn to play these pieces as easily as he makes them seem to play. This is what I like about flamenco, nevermind the fact that when you play it everyone is awestruck. I am working overseas now in Saudi Arabia and after I learn some more I will travel to the southern part of Spain, Moron de la Frontera, to seek out some flamenco palyers and a few Juergas to improve my skills.

Last edited by BuleriaChk; 05-08-2012 at 09:25 AM.
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Old 05-08-2012, 07:24 AM
mattdaddy mattdaddy is offline
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Chuck,

Thanks for info, I had looked at those videos previously. guess I need to look at them again. I agree there's a lot of instructional information on your site and I appreciate you making this available to the public, namely me. I am working on your falsetas and making slow progress.

thanks,
Matt
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  #8  
Old 05-08-2012, 07:55 AM
Gostwriter Gostwriter is offline
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It is very difficult to master the style I suppose, but to me (and maybe the same for you) half the fun is in learning something new or different. Most of the masters grew up in Spain or in an area where flamenco was a huge part of life. My grandmother taught me some songs as a child but she was not exactly a guitar instructor (although her family made guitars and mandolins and other instruments in Italy around the turn of the century.) So while I did not grow up on flamenco, I was at least introduced to it at an early age. Just as others have said they bored with certain guitars, one can become locked into a style such as folk, country or classic rock and eventually it all seems to get old. So far Flamenco has not gotten old to me and I expect I will get old before the music does.
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Old 05-08-2012, 08:01 AM
Gostwriter Gostwriter is offline
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I forgot; there is another good flamenco website you should check out:

https://www.lasonanta.eu/en/
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Old 05-08-2012, 08:39 AM
Tahitijack Tahitijack is offline
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When you are ready for another challenge...Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar. There are 100's of tunings. I have stayed with Taro Patch tuning and now have a handful of songs I can play reasonably well. It will ba a life long process.
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Old 05-08-2012, 06:39 PM
RastaRobbie RastaRobbie is offline
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I am studying flamenco as well but am primarily an electric player.Which as you all know is murder on the nails so I am forced into a hybrid style.
But it's ok because what keeps my fire going is a fusion of styles.I'll never be a true flamenco player but I like rumba flamenco for it's ability to fuse styles.
I'll let flamenco teach me new and exciting things but will never turn my back on my roots.The biggest room in the world is the room to learn.
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Old 05-10-2012, 08:43 PM
Pedro Navaja Pedro Navaja is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gostwriter View Post
Have you ever found that after learning or starting to learn to play Flamenco nothing else seems quite as challenging or entertaining? Maybe the same can be said for Jazz players?

I mean there is so much new material to cover that the old 1-4-5 - folk, country, rock - just seems to bore me - not that I am an expert at the other stuff just that the challenge becomes so monumental that nothing else seems to be worth the time. Any thoughts?
You've become a Flamenco snob. Welcome!

Now when you look at guys who play with picks you will simply go like this
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Old 05-10-2012, 08:56 PM
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It is a challenge to learn the techniques and it has some impressive fireworks. What it offers musically however only appeals to me to a very limited degree and even that for a very short time span.
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Old 05-10-2012, 09:39 PM
BuleriaChk BuleriaChk is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pedro Navaja View Post
You've become a Flamenco snob. Welcome!

Now when you look at guys who play with picks you will simply go like this
When you see guys with picks playing what they call Flamenco, you feel even worse .....:-)

The concepts that makes true Flamenco aren't so much the techniques by themselves, but their integration into the compas rhythm structures (as oposed to "noodling"). Fusion tends to be duple meter if it has any metric phrasing at all, where the flamenco Gitano palos (Bulerias, Solea, Siguiriyas, Alegrias, Fandangos, etc) are in complex structures of 3/4 and 6/8 meter (triple meter), divided into "Question/Answer" phrasing, and underlying the dance and song....

Ok, that's enough... I GOTTA get out of this thread.....:-)

Last edited by BuleriaChk; 05-10-2012 at 10:15 PM.
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  #15  
Old 05-11-2012, 10:04 AM
Pedro Navaja Pedro Navaja is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BuleriaChk View Post
When you see guys with picks playing what they call Flamenco, you feel even worse .....:-)
It actually infuriates me. Guys like Benise

Man I got all excited when I first saw your username. I was hoping you were a buleria chick

Have you tried the Doctor Compas app? It's like having your own percussion for cajon and palmas. Way cool!
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