What flamenco is NOT
Flamenco "style" guitar teachers
What amazes me is that the CD sleeves often mention that the
artist studied with some flamenco master or other. If this was
true, these masters didn't pass on much about playing clean
rasgueados or the basics of Buleria or Soleá. I don't consider
myself a flamenco master, but I did have some good teachers who
worked with dancers and singers. I also listened carefully to
the real masters and studied close ups on videos. I can tell
you I nearly gave up several times because it took over twelve
months of constant practice before I could produce half decent
rasgueados. No one guitar teacher has all the answers and
neither do I, but I am satisfied that I did my homework. From
my personal teaching experience, I have had students come to me
who say they had taken flamenco guitar lessons, but on hearing
them play I could find no evidence of that. After a few tactful
questions, the truth is revealed. In one typical case, it
turned out that the teacher was a classical guitar teacher who
dabbled in self taught South American slapping rhythms. After
nine months of taking lessons from this teacher, this student
had no idea what Sevillanas or Soleá was or how to play alzapur
or standard triplet or five stroke rasgueados. Furthermore, he
had never heard of Niño Ricardo or Ramon Monyoya. Was he
learning flamenco? You tell me.
Flamenco guitar players (and dancers) can always tell if a
recording artist has ever met a genuine flamenco teacher like
he says, or is just bullshitting, even if they only play rumbas
and romantic tunes. You can hear it in the clarity of the notes
and rhythm strokes, and also in the silences and cuts. These
silences and cuts are the most revealing.
The question arises that maybe some "new age flamenco" artists
simply choose not to play rasgueados and rely almost entirely
on single note melodies. Gosh! some of these players even
prefer using a flatpick to using their fingers. Hey! That's
fine by me. Why not? Unfortunately, the perception amongst some
flat picking, rock n' roll flamenco wannabe's is that the
faster the run, the more "flamingo" it sounds
- to them. And they want to play like that real bad because
that's how the girls like it; fast and furious. Oh, to be a Van
Halen style guitar hero using just the fingers. How cool is
that? Hmmmm? (He scratches his head and takes
another sip of strong coffee) Defining flamenco
in terms of picado skills alone might sound reasonable to some,
but the way I see it, if you have taken the trouble to learn
flamenco guitar techniques, especially from a "master", why
would you not exploit those techniques in your professional
recording career. That really puzzles me. I would like to send
out a personal call to any of the artists listed in the chart
below. Could you please email me and explain this?
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