Sam been very busy of late and not around so thanks for your email.

I can't comment on technicalities, I'll leave that to Tomas and the others who are much better equipped, but I will say:

I enjoyed them all. The Solea and Faruca are similar to what I try when I grab time to play. But your beginning to get that natural sound of Andalucia.

The music is really good. I can imagine us in that Spanish bar, dos canas, plato de gambas y chorizo, y nuestras guitarras. The sun setting but the heat still in the air. Vecinos drinking jerez and complaining that times were better heaven knows when but the olive crop is better this year, and Betis should be winning La Liga, and ...........OK we would probably scare off the locals but we would have a good time. And if your music conveys such thoughts then you must be doing it right.

You've come on leaps and bounds since a few years back. And if the tremolo is there, even half hour a day, those fingers must be beginning to move. Are you rubbing them with olive oil .

Keep up the good work Sam. Today I will find an hour or so - thanks to you. Nigel

Hola:

I was going to write too about these matters but I am glad you have and now I can respond.

Technique: well I would like to comment that certainly I value a good technique and in deed a virtuoso technique can if we know what to do with it be a very useful skill to help us to express the music.
However there are other considerations also and I think that Nigel has expressed these so well that I need not to repeat them.
Farruca tremolo: here is just an alternative, not better or worse just another idea.

A tremolo for farruca as indeed the compás of farruca can sound very even that I will try to express thus:

1-2-3-4 etc

Thus above it follows the same. But we may also consider.

1-2-3-4 etc

If my computer skills are correct the above should suggest something of an emphasis on the 1st stroke of the compás, the 2nd and 4th strokes not too strong and the 3rd as the one with the biggest emphasis and even maybe feeling just a little longer.

It is just an idea. Anyway it sounds great already.

Saludos cordiales


Tomás

Thank you Nigel and Tomas. Sounding authentic old school gypsy flamenco is my goal and having it evaluated and found acceptable by others is an honor.

Nigel, Thanks for the image my playing evoked. Looking forward to hearing you play on the Anders when you get the chance to record. I would bet you have improved a lot more than I have. I hope you get the opportunity to meet Tomas.

Tomas, Thanks for the advice and I agree that even tremolo can be improved with accenting. Next time my fingers can play tremolo, I will work on getting some feeling to it. I think you might agree with me that sometimes we play hard technical falsetas or rhythms and while we get them very accurate musically, we over look getting some feeling and then our playing is futile.

If you haven't watched the 10 part video series about the personal flamenco journey, do so. Well worth the time. Lots of good flamenco and discussion.
moron-f23/personal-journey-10-parts-with-juan-del-gastor-t89.html

how do you play your tremolos? i remember you saying you play s,a,m,i.

at_leo_87 wrote:how do you play your tremolos? i remember you saying you play s,a,m,i.

The sami is the traditional rasqueado that I use. The tremolo is also the traditional piami. The problem I have is most days my a and m fingers move together, so it makes a smooth flamenco tremolo impossible. I can overcome this problem somewhat on the rasqueado by using s am i s am i that is 6 strokes, but I play it in the time of the 4 strokes to get a smoother sounding rasqueado than 3 strokes, but it is usually is lacking in dynamics compared to a good solid 4 stroke. I haven't found anyway to alter the tremolo to overcome this. I have tried pmimi and pimim, but it doesn't sound the same and the pmami I could never get smooth. The only variation of the tremolo I try to use at times when my hands are not stiff or cramping is piamiiami. Juan Serrano used this some. He makes it sound beautiful and easy ... not so for me.