Issue 4 - July 15th, 2012

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

1.- Comments, Questions and Answers: "I want to ask you about fingers nail shape and length for both hands. I happen to find quite contradictory opinions about that, what do you recommend?"

2.- Videos of the Week: "Rhythmic Examples por Alegrías" - Interactive and Non*-Interactive videos

3.- Video Recommendation of the Week: "Bill Evans - The Creative Process and Self-Teaching"

1.- Comments, Questions and Answers: "I want to ask you about fingers nail shape and length for both hands. I happen to find quite contradictory opinions about that, what do you recommend?"

Question:

I want to ask you about fingers nail shape and length for both hands. I happen to find quite contradictory opinions about that, what do you recommend?

Answer:

In Sabicas times  (before Paco de Lucia) right hand nails were rather pretty long, Paco de Lucia changed that to short ones, this improve touch control, speed and accuracy in performance.

Our sound on the guitar depends also to a great extent on the nail shape and how we sand them. Here are very useful tips in 4 videos for you:

This is the nail hardener that I use and is good for me you can try
http://65.108.6.137/strengthener.html?cat=255

Proper Length for Right Hand

Proper Length for Left  Hand

How to Use Nail Hardener for Flamenco

How to Sand Finger Nails

This lesson is the continuation of the lesson that was published in the Issue 1. Please go to Issue 1 for further reference.

As a flamenco guitar player I have always accepted the open mind Paco de Lucía has to embeb elements and concepts from other musical styles into flamenco. This had a great impact and I think this is the only way flamenco can evolve as a style and not only as a folkloric manifestation of andalusian people.

In this section you will find recommendations of videos that I consider very useful for your development as a flamenco guitar aficionado or professional player. Most of the times you will notice that my recommendations won't be flamenco related but, if you learn from them and apply what you learned in your flamenco performance, you will make a noticeable progress. Just as I experienced myself.

The recommendation of this week is extracted from the movie "The Universal Mind of Bill Evans - Creative Process and Self-Teaching". (You can find the complete interview in YouTube)

In this part, Bill Evans talks about how to deal with obstacles, and how to build one's vocabulary step-by-step. Enjoy it!