Rasguedo Technique

[Antares]

Although of course we mostly all play acoustic guitar I've always been envious of the rasguedo technique used by great players like Paco de Lucia or Gerardo Nunez

http://tinyurl.com/p5j6mgj

I'm sure once/if I learn it I can incorporate it into some of my songs and you can do the same.I love the machine gun quality of the fingers when playing flamenco giving a unique fast strumming like sound when played on say a Ramirez.

If you try to duplicate it just using the usual strumming movement eg rotating the wrist at great speed as opposed to pinging out each finger it's not the same and the technique evidently has to be mastered slowly as
shown here

http://tinyurl.com/nyodhhh

I will let you know how I get on!

The other technique which is beautiful but not unique to flamenco is the tremelo

http://tinyurl.com/nvnwcf8

which most guitarists can't play well. Again I think it's worth learning because it develops even playing at great speed of the fingers.
Learning classical first creates a great foundation for fingerpicking (eg apppegios) but the alternate bass in say ragtime defeats most classical players in the beginning and I overcame that by learning slowly Skip to my Lou in C !

[LoMa]

Learning to play rasgueado isn't that difficult with this exercise that you can do anywhere without your guitar - I learned about it from Juan Martin's El Arte flamenco method book years ago.

Get your hand in a loose fist, with your thumb outside.
Rest your thumb lightly on your thigh so that your fist is hovering a bit above your thigh.
Then try to brush your fingers, starting with your pinkie, one at a time in succession against your thigh. It's kind of a more controlled flicking motion with each individual finger you're trying to get. You don't want to hit your thigh hard with your fingers - you're aiming for more of a brushing motion.

Doing this exercise for a minute or two a day will strengthen your fingers' extensor muscles, which we don't normally use. It will also increase your finger independence. Don't worry too much if you move more than one finger at first, just keep trying to move just one at a time in succession, and it will come. Once you do, it will be quite easy to do on the guitar!

[wcap]

This rasqueado technique is cool stuff (and a playing style I'd like to work on some day).

Regarding tremolo....
I wanted to play Recuerdos de la Alhambra for many years. I finally got the music for this (tablature actually) and started fooling around with it, and it seemed impossible! But I would attempt it off and on, every once and awhile for about a year, and one evening the tremolo technique actually started to work for me. Then I spent a while memorizing the piece, and once memorized, I worked on it for about a year, playing it through several times virtually every day. Finally I was able to play it quite well (I'm guessing after playing it close to 1000 times - no exaggeration here). But I have not been able to get the speed up as fast as most of the recordings one hears. I take about 5 minutes to play this piece. I actually think I like it better slower like this (and there are several nice recordings where it is played slower like this), but it sort of drives me nuts that I seem to have hit a wall on speed (and this is particularly frustrating given that I played 5 string banjo for several decades!).

Regarding this.....

Originally Posted by Antares

Although of course we mostly all play acoustic guitar....

.....classical and flamenco guitars are acoustic guitars too!

I am always puzzled by why/how the term acoustic guitar has come to mean steel string acoustic guitar for many. (And mandolins, banjos, violins and trumpets, etc, etc, are all acoustic instruments too!)

[Paikon]

Originally Posted by wcap

.....classical and flamenco guitars are acoustic guitars too!

I am always puzzled by why/how the term acoustic guitar has come to mean steel string acoustic guitar for many. (And mandolins, banjos, violins and trumpets, etc, etc, are all acoustic instruments too!)

When you go to buy strings on line you see acoustic, classical ,flamenco strings so you know what to buy

[Antares]

Thanks everyone for the helpful postings especially on how to learn these techniques.

Forget shredding and tappping this Rasguedo and tremelo is more than enough for me.

Someone once said that Bream's tremelo is better than Williams but they're both good enough my book.Alhambra is the one to learn !

Blues has a tremendous emotional effect on the listener and I find flamenco affects me differently and in a live envronment can be very intense. I think it is very underated outside Spain and check out the Moorish even Oriental sounds in this great piece using the thumb in a way steel pickers wouldn't
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWR7dRzeD4

You are correct of course nylon guitars are acoustic but generally are described as being either classical or flamenco.I guess most guitarists assume acoustic means steel but none players need the term explained !

[Paikon]

There is a lesson from Pepe Romeros student William Kanengiser about this technique.
I believe that its on his "Effortless guitar" video which you can find on YOUTUBE
its on ten parts but the whole video is worth watching!

[Antares]

Originally Posted by Paikon

There is a lesson from Pepe Romeros student William Kanengiser about this technique.
I believe that its on his "Effortless guitar" video which you can find on YOUTUBE
its on ten parts but the whole video is worth watching!

Thanks for that very helpful tip.I'm determined to learn since just watching and hearing it is fantastic.The fast picking in the Siguiriya piece above is for me special.