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Post by vikingblues on Jun 18, 2017 19:24:40 GMT
This may be a litany of success or failure! To try and keep me motivated I thought I'd regularly report on how this project pans out. Or bombs! It's something like 35 years since I tried this genre with any attempt at learning how to play it properly. That was with no video of course, just a book and cassette audio. Occasional forays into the genre since have just been me messing around and playing at it. I have ordered the Juan Martin book on flamenco solos - "Play Solo Flamenco Guitar Vol 1". 42 solos graded 0 to 6 from beginner to advanced - Alison pointed this one out and it looks like the best bet for good pieces to play at the simpler end of the scale. I already have one of Juan Martin's teaching books, a 1978 edition purchased way back when new, but it is now lacking the accompanying audio cassette. It is possible to get a replacement CD from Juan Martin's site, and I will do that - this will give me some instructional material to work on too by the same person. It's likely to be several days before the book and replacement CD arrive. In the meanwhile I have started watching instructional flamenco videos on JamPlay by Mario de Silva. So far these have been working through the various types of raseguado and I am still struggling to get the hang of the most simple form. Depressingly all these lessons, including the most difficult, are only rated as level 2 out of 5 by JamPlay. There are lessons on arpeggios, golpes and ligados following these and I'll combine bits of both types of lesson so I don't get too scunnered by the raseguado lessons. Mark
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Post by delb0y on Jun 20, 2017 16:41:48 GMT
Oh I shall look forward to this :-)
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Post by vikingblues on Jun 21, 2017 19:31:53 GMT
The Juan Martin book arrived much quicker than I expected. After a couple of days I am at least reasonably confident I can make something of the first three pieces. The remaining 39 pieces you ask? We'll need to see. I will not be able to use what appears to be Juan Martin's favourite raseguado technique in more complex pieces involving all 4 fingers of the right hand (pinkie through to index) in a sequence of rapid downstrokes. BUT he, and also Mario de Silva, quite often seem to be saying how things aren't written in stone as to exactly how technique is applied, so I think I maybe have a valid get out clause. I have to avoid the pinkie anyway. Some things seem to be coming together quicker than others. Regarding raseguados ..... A simple 2 finger triplet raseguados with downstroke middle finger, downstroke index finger, upstroke index finger, immediately followed by the pattern starting again is taking a while to bed in. I can manage two or three rolls in a row and then it derails! Sixteenth note (4 to the beat) with downstroke ring finger, downstroke middle finger, downstroke index finger, upstroke index finger, immediately followed by the pattern starting again is much more tricky to keep going - feels like spinning plates. The five strike raseguado bringing in the little finger is not on for health reasons! The 6 stroke raseguado is just the triplet idea doubled up with double speed. Just he says!!! Funnily the style of Raseguado which involves the thumb as well isn't as tricky as I thought it would be. At least not in it's simplest form. A combination of downstrokes with the middle and ring fingers together at the same time and the thumb either doing downstrokes or upstrokes. I seem to be developing a sort of rolling wrist effect to make this work comfortably. It does feel a bit odd playing chords with the thumb only, and to get the right sort of sound the angle and position of the hand is quite different to what I usually use. Mark
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007
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Post by 007 on Jun 22, 2017 16:26:45 GMT
Sounds very complex Mark This might help
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Post by creamburmese on Jun 23, 2017 22:34:39 GMT
Good luck with this Mark! I'm sure as Alison will tell you - to develop an authentic 'even" rasgueado takes work - starting with building up your extensor muscles, which are rarely used in regular guitar playing. My G teacher has me just doing simple up down strums on each finger, followed by alternating finger strums (at increasing speed and regular tempo) as a means to work the extensors - but I have noticed that where I couldn't even begin to approach a rasgueado pattern due to my fingers not being capable - after several months these kind of actions are now doable at a slow tempo at any rate. Keep us posted! Julie
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missclarktree
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Post by missclarktree on Jun 24, 2017 17:31:00 GMT
As I'm sure you'll have seen on Youtube that there are lots of alternative rasgueados that don't use the e-a-m-i (and multiples thereof) favoured by Juan Martin. Some people seem to think it's a bit "old-school", and say they can get a snappier effect with the thumb and two or three fingers.
I spent three months trying to do the four and five-fingered ones, and was totally unable to do it. I gave up at that point, but a few months later I tried again and found I could, although not very well. Mine still leave a lot to be desired - it's a continuous struggle.
About the last one that you mentioned - I'm amazed that you found it less tricky (not jealous at all!). I spent a year practising it every day without fail, and still couldn't do it. Now I can just about manage it, but again, not very well. Shorter nails seem to help. At least they reduce the inhibiting fear of breaking nails.
It can be so disheartening when you find yourself doing these techniques in the style of a limp lettuce leaf when you intended them to be fierce. Half the battle is psychological - carrying on regardless and hoping they will get better.
Glad the book has come so quickly, and looking forward to your next instalment.
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Post by vikingblues on Jun 27, 2017 13:10:05 GMT
Thanks Julie - I have a feeling that raseguados are a huge task to get to an acceptable level. I have noticed a bit of improvement so far, but whether I will be able to be determined enough to persevere with them (while avoiding damage to fingers) up to a good standard remains to be seen. As it's just for my own enjoyment I might just be able to turn down my critical impulses enough to live with sub standard. The Mario de Silva lessons on JamPlay have highlighted there is a range of types of raseguado Alison. Examples from him including: Two finger; Three fingers with the index doing an upstroke following the downward one for sixteenth notes; Three fingers repeated on triplets. And others. All have a degree (or some many degrees) of trickiness and trying to maintain any of them for long is impossible. The one that includes the little finger is impossible for even one go! Of course I can always use my own unique "Marca-raseguado", where my fingers resemble a drunk spiders legs as it slides around on a polished floor. I'm also struggling to get the hang of the flamenco style tremelo. I'm used to the more standard p a m i, p a m i pattern I've encountered in classical guitar - which is reasonably OK though far from the seamless flow of a John Williams. But p i a m i, p i a m i as a pattern is doing my head in. It doesn't help to that it's a beat divided into 5 instead of 4! 98% of what I play is 4 time. "Limp lettuce leaf" describes most of my playing so far on this project pretty well! I'm continuing to just work on the first three pieces in the book and at least the lettuce is just starting to get slightly crispy on occasion. I need to wait a couple of weeks for my CD to go with my Juan Martin Guitar Method book - the staff of "Flamenco-Vision" are away in Spain for a Juan Martin event at the moment. Mark
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