Aloha from Maui guitarist

[MauiFlamenco]

Hi my name is Abe, listed as MauiFlamenco. I started listening to and learning Flamenco guitar almost 5 years ago. It all started with learning Solea, Alegrias, Tarantas, a little Rumba, Ive learned Morente from Vicente Amigo, and now Bulerias. Flamenco has been one of the most challenging but exciting passions of my entire life. I sort of refuse to listen to any other type of music for the sole discipline of getting bulerias and Flamenco compas into my head. I don't have resources or teachers here on island, but I own many DVDs and books, access to the internet with flamenco-teacher.com and mostly learned my techniques from the Oscar Herrero DVD series. Ive since graduated to improve my technique for both hands and string to nail angles and such. I have a new negra guitar under construction right now by Lester Devoe, and I'm practicing my heart out right now to make sure that I am somewhat worthy to play such a great instrument. My favorites are Vicente Amigo, Moraito, Nino Josele, El Viejin, Tomatito, Paco De Lucia, Daniel Casarez, G Nunez to name a few. I some day hope to play guitar for a lounge somewhere for fun and light entertainment. For now, I only have the guts to play at the airport, or in a hotel lounge while Im on vacation and where people can come and go as they please. Studying recuerdos al alhambra with Flamenco Tremolo, as well as learning the ritmo of Bulerias 3,7,8,10,12, so that I can someday take a progressive trip to Spain and enjoy Flamenco. I currently play on a Manuel Lopez Bellido Blanca, 1976 and its a cannon for sound enthusiasts with golpes that could pierce the soul for listeners. I want to learn how to use GarageBand from my Mac computer to record and convert to an MP3 to sample my hard work in studying and practice.
Aloha from Maui and glad to be a part of this community.
Abe

[Payul]

Hi Abe,

Again a warm welcome here!
You seem to have things on the rails!
Bellido is a nice guitar, I have one from his brother, Jose Lopez Bellido, they are real "Granada stile"
And a Lester devoe is comming up.....
So, with a bit of luck and hard work, this is going to be your "lounge" guitar!

Payul

[deteresa]

Hey Abe,
It's great to hear about your commitment to Flamenco. I too was never able to "dabble" in Flamenco, I think it's something that consumes you and changes your life forever. So far I haven't been able to afford as good of an instrument as you though Would love to hear some of your playing if you can get set up to record!

[57paf]

Hi Abe:
I'm from Honolulu and I have been taking flamenco lessons from my teacher in Waimanalo. Its hard to find flamenco players in Hawaii.
Just curious, did you ever get your DeVoe yet?

[MauiFlamenco]

I did get my DeVoe, its incredible. I cannot believe how amazing it sounds, and it only gets better with time. Although, this crazy humidity lately dampens the crisp sound, so I have to close the doors lately and bring on the AC for a while.
Do you ever visit Maui?

[57paf]

Howzit Abe!
Glad to here about your DeVoe.
Turns out I just bought a used one too. I couldn't really judge how good it was until I could re-string it and let the strings set in. Very, very dynamic & response. I was a little surprised by how much bass I could get, so I gotta be careful to balance the treble.
Gosh, I wish I could get to travel to Maui, but I haven't done so for quite awhile.
Anyway, I was curious--are you simply picking everything up by ear? How did you self-teach yourself the techniques?

[MauiFlamenco]

Aloha,
I study harder as a non-ear player, because as much as I wish I was a natural player, I am not. However I want to play as one, so I have to study very hard to sound good and learned early on that practice can change anybody in a tought learning curve. My method of learning is compounded by the following learning books+DVDs, Gerardo Nunez, Oscar Herrero, Tomatito, Chicuelo, Moraito, Habichuela, Rafael Riqueni, Juan Martin, Juan Serrano, along with every Flamenco scale book, Vicente music book, and 3 methods of learning online which are, New Learning Vision.com and Flamenco-lessons.com, and Flamenco-teacher.com.
I have learned a great deal from each of these online methods and still studying new learning vision and flamenco-lessons.com currently. I also studied basic theory with a flute musician so that I could better understand music, and how it all works, and used a 1 year work book published by( Musicians Institute Music theory). I have a friend that stayed with me last year, who is a maestro, and professional dean of guitar music at a college in California, who taught me how to use my fingernails properly, as well, how to practice to sound professional, for both the left hand and right hand. His expertise has basically taught me how to keep my fingers down on the fingerboard instead of sticking straight out during difficult chords, and maintaining a good arch in them to obey the rule of economy of movement. I have a friend that lives here on island that is a total music professional and a freak of nature regarding Flamenco, and he has helped me better understand the improvisational skills and compas and percussive strengths. He is awesome, but he is very hard to track down, as he is usually playing somewhere as a gig and is very busy all the time, so my lesson with him are hard to come by (about 2 per year).
Thats about it, once I decided to play about 6 years ago, I have devoted almost all my time to it. I don't mind studying and practicing, but lately I have been overtaken by alot of Bulerias, and I cant help but play bulerias, loud, and its actually starting to take a shape to catch the "aire".
How about you?

[57paf]

Howzit Abe:
Wow! You have been really resourceful. I've wanted to learn flamenco for years, but I was too lazy to get started until I was able to find a teacher. You have used every resource possible, from books, DVDs, on-line and musicians that you know. You've motivated me to try even harder.
My teacher has been alternating me between classical to get some technical basics to flamenco. After about 2 months of classical, I'll be re-starting flamenco again. Coincentadentally again, I was trying to refresh myself with the Bulerias in the Juan Martin Arte de Flamenco v.2. I love that energetic buzz of bulerias too. I like grana'inas too. When I someday develop my own internal voice, I want to be able to be able to play a seguiriya.

[MauiFlamenco]

<<<<My teacher has been alternating me between classical to get some technical basics to flamenco. After about 2 months of classical, I'll be re-starting flamenco again. Coincentadentally again, I was trying to refresh myself with the Bulerias in the Juan Martin Arte de Flamenco v.2. I love that energetic buzz of bulerias too. I like grana'inas too. >>>>>>


Just curious, if you're learning classical techniques, are they more for playing classical music, or are you learning them so that you can play Flamenco better?
Juan Martin sounds awesome, I learned a few from his book, but it didn't seem to help me capture the sound I was after for Bulerias, until I checked out Moraito. What kind of music do you have of Flamenco or Palos? Do you have any favorites influences or artists? Nino Josele just came out with a new CD, and I bet its amazing.

[57paf]

Hi Abe:
My teacher wanted me to better learn some of the things you talked about previously, like hand position. I developed this bad habit of having the fingers on my right hand "lie down," so she thought that some classical might help me develop better technique.
I've gone through the 1st 2 Juan Martin Arte de Flamenco books. I haven't gone through his 2 more recent books w/DVDs or the Gerhard Graf Martinez v.1 book yet.
You mentioned Moraito, plus a whole bunch of other instructional sources that I'm not familiar with (although I understand that the Nunez DVD is good for the advanced student). I'm sort of transitioning from beginner to intermediate. Are there any sources you would recommend and do you have any links or ISBN bar code numbers that you could forward?
Mahalo!
Robin