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Picado Speed

1/4/2014

3 Comments

 
If you browse youtube and good web forums (foroflamenco for instance) you can find lots of good advice on picado speed. Check out Grisha, Adam Del Monte, Vahagni, and Juanito Pascual, just to name a few guitarists/videos that I enjoyed and found useful. These players basically say that speed doesn't have to be an innate ability, it can be acquired through practice. There is another video posted by Vahagni on his channel 5 years ago and you can clearly see the progress he's made over the years through proper practice.

Along with the players of my generation I grew up watching Paco de Lucia rip through picado passages like a machine gun and always thought he was one of a kind regarding speed - that no one else could play that fast unless they had god-given speedy fingers. The man is certainly special - we all know that - but seeing many contemporary players play pretty fast picado bits, one realizes it may be possible to develop that muscle.

I don't have much more to say about gaining speed on top of what is already available out there, but just want to share a few points based on my own process. I played classical guitar for a long time and more recently started trying out flamenco. Throughout all those years, I was able to tackle relatively complex pieces but wasn't really fast. I remember practising the first movement of Aranjuez and having to slow down a bit to manage those long ascending and descending scales. I got better at playing in general but speed remained elusive. I worked on three-finger picado for a while to make up for the missing speed in my index and middle fingers. 3-f picado does work to a certain degree but it is difficult to have control over your tone that way and improvisation is difficult as you have to preplan every picado sequence in advance.

Eventually, having seen a few tutorials and some encouragement from fellow players, I did come around to giving regular fast picado a try and realized a few things. Primarily, fast-picado is not really the sped up version of slow picado - it seems to have it's own dynamics. In other words, simply practising a scale over and over again makes you play it better but not necessarily faster. Fast picado is almost a special technique in its own right like rasgueado, tremolo, alzapua, etc. and it is mainly based on utilizing the bursts of speed that you already have in your fingers. To achieve a speed burst, it is useful to practise playing the same note on a single string attempting to play 2, 3, 4 and more notes one after the other in a single burst or a twitch. Take a look at the following video to see what I mean: Picado Speed Right Hand Drill. Also, Grisha talks about something similar when he says "Try to see the scale as one big note rather than a series of notes that sound one after the other." You are, in a sense, trying to access that "twitch muscle" (if there is such a thing physically) that will make your fingers burst out a fast i-m alternation like a whiplash. Once you master that with a few notes, you extend the burst into longer scales. Again, take a look at this video inspired by one of Grisha's drills: Picado Exercise -Speed Bursts - 192 bpm.

Also, your hand needs to be relaxed and unconstrained when you do the burst to avoid spending muscular energy on anything but the burst itself. Just find the best right hand position that works for you to achieve that. In that sense it is better to avoid mimicking the hand positions of other fast players as everybody has a different physical structure. I did start out trying the right hand position of Paco to see if it worked for me but it didn't. My right hand would start hurting after 20 minutes of practice. Just compare my Agility Exercise 4 with Agility Exercise 10 to see how I adjusted my hand position to fit my own needs.

And, as always, don't rush the process. Start with short bursts and add notes slowly.

​Also, check out this link

3 Comments

    atrafanaSchool

    Flamenco/classical guitar

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Blog
  • Home
  • Join
  • Total Training
  • Beginners
  • STORE
  • Flamenco Practice Loops Library
  • Skype Lessons
  • Flamenco Guitar Articles
    • The Alien Technique - Tremolo
    • What Guitar is Made for - Arpeggio
    • Do You Really Want to Become a Good Flamenco Player?
    • One Thumb is Worth 4 Fingers
    • What to Practise and for How Long
    • Classical VS Flamenco
    • hammer-on and pull-off
    • The Thumb: Flesh or Nail or Both?
    • Flamenco Knowledge or How to Learn Palos
    • The Metronome
    • ​Are you Talented?
    • Listen to yourself in the 3rd person
    • Learning Flamenco Forms/Palos: Where to Start
    • How to Compose your Own Flamenco Music
    • Do You Need a Flamenco Guitar to Play Flamenco?
    • Deepen Your Flamenco Knowledge or How to Learn Palos 2
    • How much time do you need to become a good player?
    • Picado Speed Studies
    • Fingering: Makes of Breaks a Player! (tabs)
    • I suck - flamenco guitar
    • Flamenco Guitar Nails
    • Is i - a Picado a Viable Alternative to i - m Picado?
    • Why Do People Take Flamenco Guitar Lessons?
    • Playing with the Right Hand
    • atrafanaSchool Studio Set Up or How to Record Yourself
    • atrafanaSchool Studio Set Up - PART 2
    • Same Falseta on a Negra and a Blanca (tabs)
    • Picado Thumb Placement
    • Nails: How to Shape Them
    • Using the Brain in Relieving Tension in the Hands - Routines
    • Reflexive Picado Speed (tabs)
    • What is Technique?
  • Techniques
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques: Picado
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Tremolo
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Alzapua
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Arpeggio
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques : Three - Finger Picado
    • Flamenco Guitar Techniques: Pulgar
  • Repertoire
  • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Punta del Faro (Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Reflejo de Luna (Granaina)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - GitanosTrianeros (Solea)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - El Tempul (Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Barrio La Viña (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Mi Inspiracion (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Punta Umbria (Fandango)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Llanto a Cadiz (Tientos)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Gloria al Nino Ricardo (Solea)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Cepa Andaluza (Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Aires Choqueros (Fandango)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Plaza de San Juan (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Recuerdo a Patino (Alegria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Celosa (Solea por Buleria)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Callejon del Muro (Minera)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Aires de Linares (Taranta)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Generalife Bajo la Luna (Granaina)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Buleria by Paco Pena
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Rumbeando la Milonga by Paco Pena
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Riomar (Fandango)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Granada En Flor
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Doblan Campanas
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Plaza Alta (Solea)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - De Madrugada (Seguiriya)
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - Fuente y Caudal
    • Youtube Flamenco Guitar Lessons - La Tumbona
  • Flamenco Guitar Strings
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