Different Approaches To Learning Acoustic Guitar In The Flamenco Style
There’s a spectrum of guitar styles, and if you want to learn how to play acoustic guitar, whether your self-teaching is easy or hard will depend on which of those styles you’re planning to learn. You can go with folk music all the way, and it may be enough to learn guitar chords and some strumming rhythms and be all set. Or you could go in the other direction, almost at the far end of the spectrum, and choose a really complicated musical style like flamenco.
Learning how to play a flamenco guitar will feel different from most other guitars. For example, you’ll notice you get a different type of sound from the instrument. These guitars are made from a kind of wood that doesn’t allow musical notes to sustain for long. This is because the style involves consecutive flurries of notes that would create an unbearable cacophony if they all held. Each guitar string is closer to the fret board than on a standard guitar, which can sometimes create a buzz in the sound. And the staccato taps on the guitar itself are as much a part of the music as the notes played.
Your best bet in trying to teach yourself how to play acoustic guitar in flamenco style will be a combination of books and videos. You can’t learn from books alone, because this musical style is complex enough that you’ll have to see it demonstrated as you go. So if, for example, you’re going through the acoustic guitar lessons of one of Mel Bay Publications’ “Teach Yourself Flamenco” books, you could watch the “How to Play the Flamenco Guitar” videos from expertvillage on YouTube. These are short and not sufficient as lessons in themselves, but can demonstrate the techniques you’re trying to learn from your book.
A website you might want to check out is www.graf-martinez.com. Gerhard Graf-Martinez is a proficient flamenco guitarist who has created a whole course of study combining books, CDs and DVDs. Available in two volumes, these packages contain ninety-one flamenco acoustic lessons in total, starting with posture, working up through the flamenco-specific tremolo, picado and other picking and strumming styles, and ending with the history of flamenco music itself.
Despite the books and online resources, learning how to play acoustic guitar in the flamenco style may prove difficult. Acoustic guitar lessons online or from a book may just not manage to convey the techniques in the same way as an instructor in the same room would be able to. On the other hand, some very talented people have created those resources, and you may find that you really “get it” while watching a video. So go into your study with reasonable expectations, and you may achieve a high degree of success.
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