My take on the famous Diego del Gastor Am falseta followed by my perversion on his best known falseta in A maj, then the rest is whatever came to mind to finish off this butchering of these well known melodies. My little finger just doesn't have the strength to pull off nice powerful ligatos even at the very low height of my strings. My hands never build any strength, just get more painful with practice. Posted just for fun, but feel free to comment even if you think it stinks.
Bulerias melodies.mp3

i cant get over the sound of your guitars! i really like this falsetta. nice playing overall and strong golpes!

When we were kids we used to sing a silly song: “Y si no se le quitan bailando” and I think it originated in the North in the Basque country and it was used with changed words during the Civil War and sometimes kids used it with rude words usually against the nuns who were teachers at convent schools and not very popular.
Here is a you tube link to some people singing it in a bar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iOe24xsaeI

It seems to be very similar to that falseta you play.
Do you think it sound similar.

Saludos


Tomas

Tomas, The first two falsetas are taken from Diego del Gastor and have my simple spin on them. The third falseta is my own. The falseta that most Moron style players use to follow the 2nd falseta I played is very difficult for me because of the quick ligatos that must be played with the little finger pulling off to the 2nd finger. I have been practicing it and also a better finishing falseta that is Diego verbatim. I had hoped to record them today, because yesterday I played them nicely but wasn't recording, so I put it off until today and my hands are stiff today and my playing sounds bad. I won't have a chance to record again until fall as I have to much going on family wise this summer.

I can hear some similarities and can imagine the “Y si no se le quitan bailando” could be adapted into a Bulerias. I understand bulerias means to mock, a joke, or a deceit, so this might be fun to work on. Who knows ... this song might have been Diego's inspiration for inventing this falseta. Diego was known to have played his flamenco version of the Marseilles in defiance of the Franco regimen, so I would not put it past Diego to have put hidden meaning in this falseta somehow mocking authority.

That sounds wonderful; I can't image how difficult it must have been to learn it. I am a beginner and Diego del Gastor is my favorite guitarist. Can you recommend a source of simplified falsetas that I can use while learning? It makes it so much easier when I love the tune I'm playing.

Thanks,

Mary

Mary, Yes liking the melody is the key to learning in my opinion. Compas must come natural and is best learned by listening. Learning some basic Solea falsetas and chord progressions is the best way to start. I do not know of a source for simple Diego falsetas. I figure them out by watching videos and lots of listening and always come up with something a bit different. The Juan Martin El Arte books are a good place to start to learn flamenco. Finding a good teacher is also recommended but hard to do in most areas and expensive if you do. I sent you a private message about who and what materials to avoid in your study of Diego del Gastor. Welcome to the forum.