Flamenco guitar techniques
of the 'Maestros actual'

Hand and finger positions of the top flamenco guitar players. Paco de Lucía´s Picado. Tomatito´s
Picado and Rasgueado. Pepe Habichuela´s, Manolo Sanlúcar´s and Vicente Amigo´s Picado.

The Picado in my method

To play the Picado in the way I describe in my book “Flamenco Guitar Method“, is admittedly slightly exaggerated, but it does have a didactical background. Many guitarists interested in flamenco guitar, come from the classical guitar, or the finger style guitar. The Apoyando (rest stroke) is rarely used in fingerstyle guitar. In classical guitar the alternate picking of i and m is often performed with the fingers extended. To get free of this approach, we must demand the impossible to achieve the possible.

Of course, it’s not possible to repeat the stroke without movement of the main joint. The secret of Picado however, is to keep this movement as small as possible.

We can make a comparison with walking: moving the legs without bending the knee joint results in a rigid motion, as though on stilts, and causes stumbling. Walking without rotation movement in the hip joint prevents forward motion.

In relation to my Picado style: I first took note of Paco's Picado when I was around 30 years old. Changing a technique that has taken 10-15 years of intensive classical guitar stroke training is not easy. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite mastered the change, but I’m obliged to teach my students the correct way.

Gerhard Graf-Martinez

Thanks to Kieron Wise for translating.