[Glamenco]

Originally Posted by Chiste de Gales

His books need more clarity. I've done fine with them after having a teacher
correct my misunderstandings.

The worst one- most people learn JM's first Sevillanas the wrong way.

What is very helpful is to get a Solo Compas CD (or find online-PM me)
and practice to it. You'll hear various tracks of the same palo, but
each track will have one fewer instrument than the previous
track. You may want to skip the ones with singers and dancers and
listen to the tracks with guitar and palmas so you can hear how
they go together. After you get familiar with that, use the tracks
that have only palmas so you can provide the guitar playing.

Thanks for your advice! I've made a video of me playing his three sevillanas though. Could you tell me if I've learned it the right way? Three Sevillanas

Originally Posted by Payul

WOW! Great man!

I can hear your compas is ok in your head, you have the right feel.
If you tap with it you hear some " floating" in the compas.
That goes away with practice. ( maybe it is allready better without the pressure of the camera)
Well, well done, a joy to listen to!

Are you a very long guy? I see you bent a bit to the left and put your elbow high.

Thank you! I'm something around 1,85 meter, so I think you could call that long

Originally Posted by Frontera

The alzapua came off nicely and is usually the hard part of learning this bulerias. All in all you did a great job. You can now focus on dynamics and accents that will give it more dimension. Here is a 12 year old girl that plays Bulerias from the JM books. YouTube - Nirish Plays "Bulerias"

Yeah, the alzapua was indeeed though in the beginning, thank you. Btw, that girl plays well!

Originally Posted by Chiste de Gales

Great start! I recommend some REALLY slow metronome practice. Focus on the right hand rasgueados. Imagine a snare drum going POP-POP-POP-POP. Imitate that with your fingers.

Thank you! So you think I should improve my rasgueados? Interesting, most people tell me my rasgueado's are OK, but thanks for the advice!

[Chiste de Gales]

Sounds pretty good, but I'll try to tell you what Id imagine my teacher would say.

Slow down and work on playing steady.
The strong beat in Sevillanas is on 1, and you are frequently playing a pretty hard 2.
On the a-minor one, learn the bass-melody with your thumb. That's more flamenco. Also- you are adding a beat before the melody parts. Those melodies start on beat 3, and you are putting a rest on 3 and then starting them on 1.

Heres an online palmas metronome for Sevillanas that I like:
Ravenna Flamenco | Compás: Sevillanas 120

Yes- its slow. You need to go slow while you are re-learning.
Also- Sevillanas are played in sets of 4 (I have no idea why JM didnt put 4 in the book)

I learned a C-Major one by Paco Peña that I play as the third one with the JM stuff.

Its the first of 2 on this video:
YouTube - Sal Bonavita plays 2 Sevillanas

This player, Sal Bonavita, has a ton of resources online that are good to learn. Also- on this video he really emphasizes the strong beat 1.
I didn't really grasp Sevillanas until I saw this video.

Good luck!

[veet]

Best thing is to work with a living, breathing teacher. Where do you live? Go to Spain if you can, even for just a couple of weeks. Either way, find someone whose chops you really like and work with him. A real teacher's feedback can shortcut lots of errors and bad habits that otherwise will never get caught.

JM has been a start for lots of folks because of good marketing, and he speaks English. But for me, he's just not very flamenco. The soniquete, the feel, the groove is lacking, compared to Tomatito, Moraito, Gerardo, Paco Cepero, the Jero brothers, and hundreds of 15-year old guitarists in Spain.

For recorded/print learning resources, I like the Encuentro series. I have Moraito, Merengue de Cordoba, Gerardo Nunez, Tomatito.

[veet]

All in all, pretty nice. Your compas messes up at the 30 second mark. You speed up as you go, and the alzapua section has the wrong groove, should have much more of a contra feel. Remember - PRACTICE SLOOOOOW.

[Chiste de Gales]

I recorded sevillanas along with a palmas track for you to listen to.

Download here:
Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire


I mixed the palmas loud so you can play along if you want.
Yes- I know I have some sloppy parts. I recorded this without
warming up and did one take per track. I recorded 2 identical
guitar tracks and mixed hard to each side, because Im kind of
obsessive about that kind of stereo sound.

The a-minor I add a little arpeggio strum that you'll notice. Also-
the E-major, I add an additional e note in the bass. Im sure you'll
notice where I've done this. The reasoning was so have a better
arrangement of notes for the sake of keeping in compas.

[Glamenco]

Originally Posted by veet

All in all, pretty nice. Your compas messes up at the 30 second mark. You speed up as you go, and the alzapua section has the wrong groove, should have much more of a contra feel. Remember - PRACTICE SLOOOOOW.

You mean the bulerias right? I see.. Thanks for the pointer!

Originally Posted by Chiste de Gales

Sounds pretty good, but I'll try to tell you what Id imagine my teacher would say...

[snip]

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! Very useful.

Originally Posted by Chiste de Gales

I recorded sevillanas along with a palmas track for you to listen to.

Download here:
Free File Hosting Made Simple - MediaFire


I mixed the palmas loud so you can play along if you want.
Yes- I know I have some sloppy parts. I recorded this without
warming up and did one take per track. I recorded 2 identical
guitar tracks and mixed hard to each side, because Im kind of
obsessive about that kind of stereo sound.

The a-minor I add a little arpeggio strum that you'll notice. Also-
the E-major, I add an additional e note in the bass. Im sure you'll
notice where I've done this. The reasoning was so have a better
arrangement of notes for the sake of keeping in compas.

Wow thanks alot for that track! I'm very happy you took the time to record that. Could you tell me where you got the tab for Paco Pena's sevillana?

[Chiste de Gales]

Originally Posted by Glamenco

Could you tell me where you got the tab for Paco Pena's sevillana?

I just picked it out by ear (and watching) from the Sal Bonavita video

[Payul]

Hi Christe de Gales,

You havea remarkable avator - headstock, can you tell me wich builder it is from?

Very nice Sevillanas BTW!

Payul

[Chiste de Gales]

Thanks!

The guitar is made by Christopher Carrington, who lives in the Dallas area.
He mostly makes classical guitars, but I think he tries to keep a blanca in
stock and will make another after selling it.

[Mark]

I've been working through Juan Martin's methods. I'm still only looking at the first soleares because I've been struggling to find time to practice but its finally starting to come along.

I've attached a copy of me playing it. Its very rough around the edges and in horrible compass but if anyone is interested its there

Could anyone recommend some simple soleares pieces to listen to, I'm struggling to find the feel and most of the ones I find on the net go over my head.

Chiste de Gales the piece you posted was great, you should definitely post some more recordings.

Regards,
Mark.