Issue 16 - October 21st, 2012

I would like to invite you to be part of this Weekly Magazine by raising questions and giving me suggestions through e-mail so this magazine can become a good material for all flamenco lovers, researchers and musicians. Enjoy it!

A.- Comments, Questions and Answers:

QUESTION: Before I was more of a visual learner, and I find out that it was kind of a disadvantage somehow because I couldn’t learn stuff by ear without difficulty, and I felt very limited that way. Since I started with your study program I discovered that I was just lazy to count and play and, therefore, that was keeping me stuck, sure it was a habit blocking my progress. Actually now I prefer to hear and count over relying on reading the tabs or writing down which beat falls where.

My question is: What is better for a person learning flamenco guitar, to learn visually by reading (writing down the beats etc) or to learn by ear and forget about writing down stuff and reading?

B.- Videos of the Week:

1) Secondary Dominants Applied to Soleá por Bulería (4 videos)

C.- Video Recommendation of the Week:

1) Paco de Lucía's Concert in Bulgaria (1988).

A.- Comments, Questions and Answers:

QUESTION: Before I was more of a visual learner, and I find out that it was kind of a disadvantage somehow because I couldn’t learn stuff by ear without difficulty, and I felt very limited that way. Since I started with your study program I discovered that I was just lazy to count and play and, therefore, that was keeping me stuck, sure it was a habit blocking my progress. Actually now I prefer to hear and count over relying on reading the tabs or writing down which beat falls where.

My question is: What is better for a person learning flamenco guitar, to learn visually by reading (writing down the beats etc) or to learn by ear and forget about writing down stuff and reading?

ANSWER:

Definitively the best idea is to do the effort to learn relaying on hearing.

I have seen many times the opposite to happen because –just as you mentioned- at the beginning it seems “awkward” to learn something counting if you are not used to do it that way.

The approach of giving predominance to reading and writing instead of counting and hearing is characteristic of classical guitar practitioners. Our approach is that YOU learn the thing yourself right away, the tabs are just a “back-up” and nothing else.

This is -in fact- one out of many differences between classical and flamenco guitar. In flamenco you need to do your best to be able to internalize the compás by counting and playing simultaneously be it a falseta, a melody or any particular rhythmic pattern.

Here are examples of all three:

Falseta: http://youtu.be/OW60YIiYLSY

Melody: http://youtu.be/92-puVSVu9E

Rhythm: http://www.rdiaz.org/rdvideo786.html

As you could see in the above mentioned videos, we move towards learning things grasping the nuances by ear. In my experience this method has proved to be the best by far.

Same thing applies to the fret board, the mere fact that your attention is on the visual aspect drags you to the past as opposed to be 100% in present time when you are performing.

Here you can watch a couple of videos on this regard:

1)http://www.cfgstudio.com/cfgs-grant4.html

2)http://youtu.be/Tu0EPiXPWLY

Whatever I advise is on your behalf. This is consistent with my philosophy of work which I personally explained on the following video:

http://youtu.be/a5g1Jw76oUs

Go on enjoying your guitar practice!

B.- Videos of the Week:

1) Secondary Dominants Applied to Soleá por Bulería (4 videos)

1) Secondary Dominants Applied to Soleá por Bulería

C.- Video Recommendation of the Week:

1) Paco de Lucía's Concert in Bulgaria (1988)

Observe the relationship that Paco has with all his band members but specially Carlos Benavent (bass player). Flamenco is a very dynamic music and it's all about hearing and acting according to what the other people is playing.

1) Paco de1) Paco de Lucía's Concert in Bulgaria (1988)

ISSUE 13