I agree, siguiriyas is extremely beautiful. Maybe it is more intimidating to try to convey a deeper, darker feeling so many do not try it in performances. As far as counting/ not counting goes, I learned the count just so I knew how it works, but after that I just felt it. As a dancer, walking to the beat helps a ton, and when you've done it enough, you don't have to think about it anymore, as acefrog8 says. For me the 7-8-9-10-11-12 is the easiest part of the compas to feel. Another thing that some dancers do is change the words- counting: and ONE and TWO and THREE and a four and a five, so they don't revert back to ordinary twelvecount on accident.

Aestetic question.....

As we know, we can play for instance a buleria falseta in 3's, sometimes on 2's it is done in more palos too.
Not so long ago I made a tremolo falseta for siguiriyas it 3's , is it aestetic to do such a thing in siguitiyas too?
Or is the Siguitiyas more strict when it comes to compas?

With 3's I mean 3/4 rithm.

Payul.

Payul wrote:Aestetic question.....

As we know, we can play for instance a buleria falseta in 3's, sometimes on 2's it is done in more palos too.
Not so long ago I made a tremolo falseta for siguiriyas it 3's , is it aestetic to do such a thing in siguitiyas too?
Or is the Siguitiyas more strict when it comes to compas?

With 3's I mean 3/4 rithm.

Payul.

Hola Payul
Well in these days it seems that we can do anything we want.
My own opinion is that the essence of a palo is not decided only by the mathematics of it.
The compás is important but the feeling of it is also.
I have heard people play a compás palos that to me do not sound as if they are indeed that palo. But for me someone can lose the compás in a moment and still be making the aires of that palo perfectly.
Un saludo
Tomás

Thanks Tomás,

That makes a lot of sense....

Payul wrote:Thanks Tomás,

That makes a lot of sense....

Don Payul
Prego..those of you who know me know I mean no disrespect by asking this here but I am just noticing here that you play the music of il padrino..bene...now one day you may ask me a favour but for now let me say if you know how to fix that song for the guitar paisan, and you can show me how to do the thing, I am always going to remember our friendship.
Don Tomás

Don Tomás,

Just started with the melodeon since last october...., but since you made me an offer I cannot refuse, i will give it a try to put el padrino on guitar...

A fellow guitarist who had lived in Andalusia and played flamenco for 13 years used to tell me you shouldn't play siguriyas until you were ready to bleed. It's my favorite palo and I sometimes have difficulty figuring out exactly how someone is playing the rhythm, or how to play from sheet music where there's no recording. My solution is to mark my music like this: | 1 + 2 + 3 + + 4 + + 5 + |.That way I can see the rhythm really clearly. I play new material very slowly, counting out loud One and Two and Three and a Four and a Five and.... after it gets comfortable, I speed it up and eventually I know it well enough to dispense with counting.

Tom_from_CT wrote:A fellow guitarist who had lived in Andalusia and played flamenco for 13 years used to tell me you shouldn't play siguiriyas until you were ready to bleed.

Tom,
Your fellow guitarist makes a very good point. There are few traditional siguiriyas solos, and I believe the reason is its melodic "simplicity" and lack of harmonic progression. Therefore, the expression has to come from rhythmic dynamics, such as compression, acceleration, and the effective use of silence, which is very difficult of course and requires lot's of stamina and aire. I also agree with Tomas that, unless you accompany a dancer, the mathematics of compas is not the most important aspect and can even be a handicap. Below is an example by the late great Moraito who played seguiriyas with tremendos aire, and it is very instructive how he treats the compas.
Saludos
Roland

Roland:

Thank you for finding this Moraíto example, it has so much sentiment.
Tomás

Hola Roland... thanks for sharing the Moraito Seguiriyas. Most expressive player I can remember... Wow! Opens some new doors in my thinking about the possibilities of solo guitar work.
Saludos! Tom