flamenco guitar techniques: alzapua

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Flamenco Guitar Techniques - Alzapua
Alzapua is a technique unique to flamenco. I personally liken it to the way oud players use the plectrum. Typically a single unit of alzapua sequence is made up of 3 components: Pulgar plays a bass note - Pulgar swings down to strike the lower two strings - Pulgar swings up to strike the same two strings ending up at the initial string where the action started. A very basic alzapua sequence is as follows:
Again, I recommend practising alzapua with the metronome. The main aspect of alzapua to be remembered is that the action/force that drives the thumb comes from the wrist. Players do move their thumbs from the main joint to fine tune the action, yes, but the force is driven by the circular movement of the wrist. With enough exercise you can forget about the thumb and use your wrist's natural tendency to turn left and right to play crisp alzapua sequences. Once you find your wrist's natural range of motion and fine tune the twitch muscle that governs that movement, alzapua is not a very difficult technique and it sounds pretty flashy…

Alzapua can be enriched by adding legatos to the main bass note making it a 4-note sequence. Here is an example:
Alzapua is a very effective tool to play percussive sequences especially when coupled with golpes.  Here is such a passage by Manolo Sanlucar:
Alzapua will eat away at your thumb nail. It is common among flamenco players to coat their thumb nails with super glue. There are also nail kits with small silk stickers you can put on your nail as reinforcement before applying the super glue.

Here is the youtube playlist of atrafanaSchool on alzapua:
Alzapua Exercises

Also, check out the alzapua training package from the atrafanaStore.
Alzapua Training Package
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Blog
  • Home
  • Join atrafanaSchool
  • Total Training
  • Beginners
  • STORE
  • e-learning
  • Skype Lessons
  • 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
  • Flamenco Guitar Strings
  • Teaching
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Blog