I'm practicing a bit from various books at the moment, but most recently from the Paco Pena book and I have a question or two about how I should be doing the rasgueados.

I noticed in videos of Paco Pena, he seems to do an "un-flicked" style of rasgueado more than anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0x-AefwV4M

I can play either way, but I find that I can't get the clarity he gets. My un-flicked ras. sounds all mushed together, but the flicked one sounds better to me.

I'm just wondering what purists might think about this.

Should I try to play differently if I play a Paco Pena Solea as opposed to say something by Moraito chico?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcAJ73pu2_M

Thanks in advance for your thouhts.

I originally did all my my rasgueoas (one day I'll spell it right- I promise) Serrano style (isami), so if I learned a Sabicas or Pena peice then I would have to change all the rasgeados (closer?), but I was never hung up on playing the peices exactly as written anyways. I have the same problem- flicking the fingers gives me that edge and cut that my unflicked rasgueaos sorely lack. For a while I only flicked, but it is not always effective and I felt that my playing was missing something. So now I'm practicing both. Hopefully someday I'll get it right. Keep in mind also, if you have a classical guitar it will sound different from the flamenco guitars you are listening to. Muddier when chords are played. Yah, that's it- it's the guitar's fault.

I try to build up pressure in the palm of the hand with the fingers for a rasgueado. It's taught that way in the Graf-Martinez book, and when I listen to someone else playing it certainly sounds like that's what they're doing. I presume that's what you mean by flick.


Alan

By flicking I mean from behind the thumb. The thumb gets hooked behind the 6th string and the fingers are flicked from behind the thumb. I have never been much good at flicking from the palm (although I am working on that method as well).

So I guess the answer is "go with what works".

Sounds like we both mean the same thing


Alan

The most important thing is the timing and keeping in compas. There is no best way to do a rasqueado for everyone. The best way is the way you can do it and keep in time and get the continuous sound. If you are trying to duplicate a player's sound exactly, then you best learn what they do and be able to do it in time. You can play their piece doing what you can and as long as the timing of the rasqueado is correct and you stay in compas, then it is correct. You may lack the dynamics the original player had or just have different dynamics which is not an issue unless you are trying to parrot them perfectly. An example is where Serrano uses his .... i s a m i ... I use s am i s am i played faster because my a and m finger work together. I put 6 strokes in the same space as his 5. If I do s a m i it comes out s am I which in the old days was a no no because it was 3 strokes, but now a single 3 stroke rasqueado is acceptable if played in time. In a 3 stoke each stroke would be slower and more deliberate. Some call this flicking. I say practice all the different ways and then use what works for you.

I think the term flick was used to instill in your mind the power of the rasqueado .... like drawing back and curling your index finger into your hand at the base of the thumb to build tension and get leverage so your finger can quickly and powerfully explode out and send a fly sailing across the room.

Here old Sal has a good demo of rasqueados
3 stroke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YUVIRp1yiE&NR=1
4 stroke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk2FXKmd ... re=related
5 stroke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTURSFjl ... re=related
triplet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZslZqQqwo7c
Another triplet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43WrKA6 ... re=related
index
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpXw2q724BI

Thank you for your responses. It's good to know what others think about these things.

Saludos.

I like that, flicked and unflicked, but the modulation of the chords when you need it is pretty helpful to practice as it can make emphasis in the rhythm. Maybe not? Well I do it and it works like a charm. Some things like that just fit, you know? I think that rasgeo with a single chord can sometimes be flat and unyeilding. It's like the machine of rasgeo without the voicing, which is pretty important to me to avoid......ya
gary