|
Flamenco is the music of the gypsies of southern Spain. Mostly what we Americans hear is the guitar playing of highly accomplished professionals. I'm fond of saying that Flamenco guitarists think that they are being paid by the note.
In fact, Flamenco guitar, like any other folk music, has a lot of wonderful, simple material that anyone can learn. After all, there are lots of people in Spain starting to learn to play guitar with flamenco.
I have been teaching Flamenco guitar playing since the early '60s, and have had literally hundreds of students over the years. I've developed a kind of tablature, thanks to the computer and CorelDraw, that is easily learned by everyone. It's a kind of traditional pictorial notation, originally developed in the rennaisance for the lute, that uses fret numbers on lines instead of notes. It's very intuitive.
As a break from guitar building, some of my students take a Flamenco guitar lesson as part of their day's tuition.
|