Playing with the Right Hand
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I used to spend a great deal of time fixing my students' left hands. I don't do that anymore.
Not that the left hand is unimportant. But over the many years of teaching guitar technique I have realized that the left hand tends to correct itself because it is bound by a single constraint: effective freting and applying just the right amount of force.
If your left hand is not doing its job right, then you have one outcome: the note will not sound clean - it will buzz. Please note that I am NOT talking about proper fingering, which is extremely important. Once the proper fingering is in place all that is left for your left hand fingers is to press on the strings with optimal weight. Even the least informed player can achieve this via repeated practice.
I surely give advice and teach techniques regarding how to use the left hand but I don't treat it as a separate chapter in my instruction.
The right hand is a completely different story. Left hand mistakes are easy to spot. On the other hand (no pun intended :-) one can easily settle with an ineffective right had posture and spend years wondering why their playing doesn't flow or the notes they make don't sound like that of Paco Pena's or Paco de Lucia's, or, you name it...
There is so much riding on the right hand: tone, volume, agility, flow, etc. Also, while the left hand has a single technical dimension, the right hand commands several techniques such as picado, free stroke, arpeggio, tremolo, pulgar, alzapua, rasgueado. The ability to use these different techniques together within a single musical sequence is something that needs to be learned and worked at. It doesn't come as a natural outcome of repeated practice.
The Right Hand: Unified Fingerstyle Mastery
This is a training package that took several years to put together. I always though about composing a series of exercises based on the most fundamental right hand technique namely the free stroke. But it took many hours of teaching and observing for it to come to fruition. I already have The Free Stroke Fundamentals as part of the old method, which outlines the basics.
The reason for the wording "fingerstyle" as opposed to flamenco is that the techniques used in this training method applies to all players that use their right hand fingers to play guitar. I have several students who are experts in different genres of music (classical, jazz, south american, etc.) and they all benefit from studying the various techniques developed in the realm of flamenco guitar.
But make no mistake, this is a flamenco package :-) Each exercise is a falseta composed in a flamenco palo.
The whole idea is enabling the player to switch from one technique to another seamlessly. Therefore, each exercise takes two techniques and mergers then into a single musical sequence.
There is an introductory video in the package that instructs the player on how to go about using 5 different techniques within a single right hand posture. Then come the exercises:
1- Arpeggio - Free Stroke
Not that the left hand is unimportant. But over the many years of teaching guitar technique I have realized that the left hand tends to correct itself because it is bound by a single constraint: effective freting and applying just the right amount of force.
If your left hand is not doing its job right, then you have one outcome: the note will not sound clean - it will buzz. Please note that I am NOT talking about proper fingering, which is extremely important. Once the proper fingering is in place all that is left for your left hand fingers is to press on the strings with optimal weight. Even the least informed player can achieve this via repeated practice.
I surely give advice and teach techniques regarding how to use the left hand but I don't treat it as a separate chapter in my instruction.
The right hand is a completely different story. Left hand mistakes are easy to spot. On the other hand (no pun intended :-) one can easily settle with an ineffective right had posture and spend years wondering why their playing doesn't flow or the notes they make don't sound like that of Paco Pena's or Paco de Lucia's, or, you name it...
There is so much riding on the right hand: tone, volume, agility, flow, etc. Also, while the left hand has a single technical dimension, the right hand commands several techniques such as picado, free stroke, arpeggio, tremolo, pulgar, alzapua, rasgueado. The ability to use these different techniques together within a single musical sequence is something that needs to be learned and worked at. It doesn't come as a natural outcome of repeated practice.
The Right Hand: Unified Fingerstyle Mastery
This is a training package that took several years to put together. I always though about composing a series of exercises based on the most fundamental right hand technique namely the free stroke. But it took many hours of teaching and observing for it to come to fruition. I already have The Free Stroke Fundamentals as part of the old method, which outlines the basics.
The reason for the wording "fingerstyle" as opposed to flamenco is that the techniques used in this training method applies to all players that use their right hand fingers to play guitar. I have several students who are experts in different genres of music (classical, jazz, south american, etc.) and they all benefit from studying the various techniques developed in the realm of flamenco guitar.
But make no mistake, this is a flamenco package :-) Each exercise is a falseta composed in a flamenco palo.
The whole idea is enabling the player to switch from one technique to another seamlessly. Therefore, each exercise takes two techniques and mergers then into a single musical sequence.
There is an introductory video in the package that instructs the player on how to go about using 5 different techniques within a single right hand posture. Then come the exercises:
1- Arpeggio - Free Stroke
This is a tanguillo that merges a dense arpeggio chord progression with short melodic free stroke phrases that function as bridges connecting the chords. Going from arpeggio to free stroke melody in rapid succession is extremely important especially when playing intense pieces such as Guajiras de Lucia and Impetu. This exercise also takes good care of your good hand :-) as it involves the whole fretboard.
2 - Arpeggio - Picado
2 - Arpeggio - Picado
Arpeggio uses free stroke with your fingers basically skipping on the strings while picado requires a more forceful attack that involves digging into the string. How do you combine the two without derailing your right hand? You need to make a concerted effort to stay in the same posture, and you need to practise that! This is important when playing something like Paco's Percusion Flamenca.
This skill is also important in separating melody from accompaniment. The exercise I offer here is a zapateado that involves several instances of that. Needles to say, you have to follow exactly the fingering indicated on the enclosed tabs.
3 - Arpeggio - Tremolo
This skill is also important in separating melody from accompaniment. The exercise I offer here is a zapateado that involves several instances of that. Needles to say, you have to follow exactly the fingering indicated on the enclosed tabs.
3 - Arpeggio - Tremolo
This is an interesting exercise composed in the style of farruca. It is rare that you will be required to play arpeggio and tremolo within the same sequence. So why need to train for it? Well, I personally find it important to develop such resilience as tremolo locks your fingers into such a uniform and repetitive action that it gets somewhat hard to come out of it. Sometimes I find it hard to adapt back to, say, arpeggio after playing a long tremolo sequence. Also, it is a good challenge to work your fingers horizontally and vertically over the strings in rapid succession. Watch the exercise and you'll see what I mean.
4 - Standard Pulgar - Free Stroke
4 - Standard Pulgar - Free Stroke
This is a very classical sounding solea falseta that uses the thumb and fingers at the same level of activity. A huge percentage of flamenco playing is done this way, so you don't really need an example. Especially the second part of the falseta is very important to get right with a good balance.
5 - Standard Pulgar - Picado
5 - Standard Pulgar - Picado
This farruca falseta is based on a technique I discovered recently namely the double rest stroke squeeze-action, which was the subject of the previous email I sent you. I used two pieces that I played some time ago as inspiration: La Cumparsita (arr. Cacho Tirao) and Manolo Sanlucar's Farruca.
I do each one of these exercises as my warmup routine everyday before I start teaching or recording. I start very slowly and incrementally build up the speed.
I do each one of these exercises as my warmup routine everyday before I start teaching or recording. I start very slowly and incrementally build up the speed.
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