Preface

Flamenco guitar method Volume 1

This guitar method is for everyone who is interested in the Flamenco guitar and its techniques. The logically structured method may serve as a guideline for everyone who has not found the right teacher or teaching materials yet, for everyone who plays Flamenco guitar, but still has questions about right hand techniques, and for everyone who teaches Flamenco guitar. At the same time, it is a reference book on questions about Flamenco in general. The two volumes contain all aspects I consider important to Flamenco guitar playing: instrumentology, the history of Flamenco, a description of the different styles and their complicated rhythms, and a comprehensive glossary. Notation and tablature are not explained in this book because I assume that everyone knows these facts, as well as the basic techniques of the classical guitar. The tablature includes note values because I think that even tablature readers use them to orient themselves, even if it's not done consciously.

My many sojourns to Andalusia and my work in Madrid, as well as my friendship and acquaintance with greater and lesser »Maestros«, have influenced my knowledge and experience collected in this method - not forgetting my first inspiration by my long-standing friend and guitarist, Manolo Lohnes, who has contributed considerably to the development of Flamenco in Germany. During 15 years of teaching, I have repeatedly been challenged to think about and analyse what my fingers and, above all, the fingers of the great »Maestros« were doing, and how I could pass on my »experience« and the things I had learned. As everyone else who teaches Flamenco, whether guitar or dance, I was »made« a teacher by my students. Moreover, I learned a lot from countless performances which took place without rehearsals; in these cases, I was introduced to the dancers and singers in the dressing-room only shortly before the performance. As a man and musician, working together and being on the road, especially with »Gitanos«, has given me, being a »foreign flamenco«, a lot. Thanks to all this and to working with my partner and »bailaora graciosa«, Lela de Fuenteprado, Flamenco has become what it is for me now: »la vida.«

Flamenco is not only guitar music. Although Flamenco gained world-wide popularity because of the guitar or guitarists such as Carlos Montoya and Manitas del Plata in the 1960s and Paco de Lucía in the recent past, its cornerstones still consist of singing, dancing, the guitar, and the »jaleos.«

Flamenco is a very emotional, yet rigid form of art and an attitude about life. Flamenco means spontaneity and improvisation in music and in life: to live »now« not to give oneself up, despite desperate straits, to overcome mental and physical distress without aggression, by using music and dance as an outlet, to accept one´s fate, to make the best of every situation, however little that may be - and to do all this with an enormous zest for life and a strong will to live.

This might be the reason why Flamenco is one of the most elemental forms of music making and dancing which exists strongly from »listening to oneself.«

However, this method can at best serve only as the grammar and vocabulary of the Flamenco »language.« You should learn the subtleties and wealth of this »language« where it is spoken. Since this is not always possible, you should at least have a good look at Flamenco music, i.e. listen to records, go to concerts and try to come into contact with Flamenco artists, especially Flamenco dancing schools which can be found in every major city now.

As there have been virtually no pedagogically trained Flamenco teachers to this day, the music has always only been passed on orally. Only recently have people begun to transcribe it. Moreover, Flamenco was never composed, either. If there are arrangements, they leave much room for improvisation, i.e. free access to the countless »drawers« of a large »chest of drawers.« But someone did create the contents of the »drawer,« the »falseta,« some time and did learn and practise the form of the »chest of drawers,« i.e. the genre with its fixed rhythms and rules.

This guitar method is structured according to these principles. There are no complex compositions. I deliberately refrained from combining the exercises, rhythms and variations, but rather adapted them to the technical requirements and levels. My aim is to motivate the student to learn those individual parts, or »drawers,« by heart in order to combine them freely, but without exchanging the »drawers« for those of a different »chest of drawers,« or to apply the form of a different »chest of drawers.«

It is essential to follow the explanations of the techniques and the pictures which go with them very carefully, to achieve the typical sound of the Flamenco stroke, which is the main point in this book. If the practice pieces on the CD sound better than your own playing, it is not because of my guitar or the recording technique, but solely because of the stroke and the tone production. Listen to the examples on the CD as often as possible to get a feeling for phrasing, articulation and tone production.

I hope you enjoy this book and I wish you every success with the Flamenco guitar.

Gerhard Graf-Martinez

posture