Group 2

Join us this week for an exhilarating journey into the heart of Flamenco guitar with the Alexander Gil! In this special Two Week Intensive, Alex will dive deep into the captivating world of Flamenco, sharing his insights and techniques that make this style so unique and expressive.

What's On The Agenda?

  • Rasgueados Technique: Unleash the rhythmic power of your strumming with the dynamic Rasgueados technique, a quintessential element in Flamenco music.
  • Alzapúa Technique: Explore the Alzapúa, a thumb-led playing style that adds depth and richness to your Flamenco repertoire.
  • Tangos Compas & Basic Falseta: Feel the beat of Tangos Compas and learn a basic Falseta to bring your Flamenco compositions to life.

Why You Can't Miss This:

  • Expert Guidance: Alex Gil, with his profound experience and passion for Flamenco, will guide you through each technique, ensuring you grasp the essence of these styles.
  • Interactive Learning: Engage in a lively session where you can ask questions, receive personalized tips, and truly connect with the Flamenco spirit.
  • Community Connection: Join fellow guitar enthusiasts in discovering new aspects of guitar playing, sharing experiences, and growing together.

Timeline:

  • Sign-Up : until Sunday, Nov 19th
  • Course Period: Nov 20th - Dec 1st
  • Optional check-In via Zoom: Nov 28, 10am PST

Assignments

  • Practice the three exercises, record yourself, and upload an unlisted video to YouTube or Vimeo.
  • Share the link for Alexander to review.
  • If you have any questions, post them below!

More exercise and rhythms in the 2nd week!

NEW ASSIGNMENTS

LAST VIDEO

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    • Matt Hall
    • Matt_Hall
    • 11 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi guys, this is Matt in London. I started playing guitar when I was 18 working mostly on folk and contriving but life happened and the guitar took a back seat for a long time. I picked it up seriously again in 2019, and switched to classical but quickly feel in love with Flamenco as well. Really looking forward to this course!

    Like 1
    • Matt Hall great to have you here Matt! If you are already playing classical guitar you will for sure have some advantages learning the Flamenco guitar! 

      Like
  • Hi. I'm Rachel, based in London. (If I shout loud enough out of the window, maybe Matt will hear me!) I studied classical guitar as a teenager and have played it on and off ever since. I never managed to get to grips with flamenco techniques, so I was really pleased when this course appeared.

    Like 1
    • Rachel Holmes great to have you in this course Rachel! Looking forward to hearing your results!

      Like 1
    • David
    • David.39
    • 11 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello. I have been playing without nails, so hopefully I can still follow the techniques. It would be interesting to see if, historically, there were any players who could perform without nails. Hopefully mine will be a little longer by the end of the intensive. I'm working on the first three parts and will try to get a decent video posted. Thank you for the great instructional videos! I am enjoying watching your performances online, too, both flamenco and classical!

    Like 1
    • David great to have you here! Don‘t worry about the length of your nails, you should also be able to do exercise nr. 1 and 3 without any nails. Alzapúa might be a little tricky though…maybe you could consider only letting your thumbnail grow a little bit. As far as I have seen, most part of the professional Flamenco guitarists also use short nails. It is much more comfortable for the piccados (fast scales) and also the arpeggios. Whatever you try out, I am looking forward to hearing your results :-)

      Like
  • Hi Alexander,

     

    thanks for the feedback and for the reference to Dr. Compas.   Unfortunately i do not currently own a tablet nor a cell phone. If the app existed on MACOS , i would buy it right away.  Nevertheless,  thanks to Johan Dahlberg , i have installed the Spotify app on my laptop and i have access to the Tu Compas Flamenco loops.   Now, i need to get used to these and understand how to use the loops.

     

    I have tried to work the specifics that you pointed in the response to my first video. The golbe is not easy to do.  Through perseverance i should be able to improve it.  I find the first version of the abanico a little harder to do than the second on but it does not hurt my thumb and the sound is stronger.  I find that the second form does not sound as crisp because of the thumb flesh (unless we need to use the thumb nail also !??)

     

    Another question:  with the rasgueado,  you showed us to rest the thumb on the 6th string.  I was thought to perform 4 strings rasgueado with the thumb resting on the rosette.  I guess both are acceptable.  Could you comment ?  Perhaps an advantage of resting on the 6th string is that we can mute it and if we need to play rasgueado on the first 4 strings (for F Major7 for instance), we could rest on the 4th string and thus mute strings 5 and 6, is this the idea ?

     

    Here my last video: https://youtu.be/gx58fEfHwtg

     

    Thanks

    Like 1
    • Michel Giroux great video, it looks already much better!

       

      as you said, the second version of the abanico is not as crispy as the first. This has to da with the nails. In the first version I use all three times the upper side of the nails that makes it more crispy. I always felt that the second might be easier to learn but you could quickly break your thumb nail (if you are not using the flesh going down) and that is a risk I really never wanted to take.

       

      about the Rasgueados: We have several tipes of Rasgueados, the one of 5,4,3 and even on 2. It depends a lot on the situation which one you can use but in this particular case, we are going to learn the basic Tangos rhythm where we can use the exact same Rasgueado that I showed you beforehand.

       

      make sure to go all the way up with your hand when doing the Abanico (it should feel like a rotation of your wrist to the left) and then staying with your index finger up while your ringfinger is going down.

       

      keep up the good work! Looking forward to hearing your results.

      Like
  • Hello Alexander Gil , here are the first three flamenco exercises. Thank you for teaching this lessons. 

    Like 1
    • Raul Guzman Vidal great to have you here! I have a few tipps that might help you a bit

       

      Try to position your hand with more distance between the wrist and the top of the guitar. You will have a more frontal attack with your Thumb on the string for the Alzapúa. I talk about this in video Nr.5
       

      when doing the Abanico try to keep your fingers outside of the palm of your hand. Compared to exercise Nr.1 we are doing most of the work with our wrist and not with every single finger. Thats why we don‘t want to build up unnecessary tension on our hand and instead keeping our fingers a little curved.

       

      Please let me know if this helped a little bit!

      Like
    • Alexander Gil Excellent, thank you for the recommendations. I will practice again taking all of that into consideration. 

      Like 1
    • David
    • David.39
    • 11 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello Alexander Gill. I will provide 3 links to the first 3 exercises as I practiced them so far:

    1. https://youtu.be/AaMu3FwLy_Q
    2. https://youtu.be/oTf0O-kdKlQ
    3. https://youtu.be/E9a05OdcR5M
    Like 1
    • David great job! Your rasgueados in exercise 1 are already sounding great.

       

      try to get a more frontal attack with your thumb while doing the Alzapúa. I explain it in video nr. 5 and I think it might help you to feel more comfortable doing the Alzapúa.

       

      Also make sure that while your ringfinger is going down in the Abanico (ex.3) you let your middlefinger go down aswell or at least stretch a little bit. We don‘t want the hand to be too closed since this will generate too much tension in our hand. The only finger that has to stay up is the indexfinger before it goes down in the third movement of the triplets.

       

      keep up the good work, really liked your Rasgueados! :-)

      Like 1
      • David
      • David.39
      • 11 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Alexander Gil Thank you very much for the help.

      Like 1
      • David
      • David.39
      • 11 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Alexander Gil Would the following notation of Exercise 4 be a starting point to a written version of the exercise? (I used diamond noteheads for nail side of fingers, slur for the hammer-on, and dynamics to connote the character you describe in the video... difficult to notate, but wanted to see if I have a conceptual understanding...). Do you make the last A chord staccato or let it ring depending on context? I've now included also Exercise 5.

      Like
    • David great work and thank you very much for sharing!! I know that writing down Flamenco is a very though task considering all the accents and different techniques for the right hand! I think you found a amazing way to write it and shouldn‘t change much. Maybe you could add some accents on the important notes instead of writing classical dynamics (piano, forte etc.) I would do different variations of articulation regarding the last „A“ chord, it depends a lot on wheter you are finishing a Falseta (mini-solo) or just playing the Compás (basic-rhythm)

       

      please keep up the good work! 

      Like
  • Hello Alexander, I am excited to learn the Flamenco techniques. I have been practicing the 3 exercises diligently. I find it hard to do the third exercise fast. I will post my videos of my practicing soon. Have a nice new week! 

    Like 1
    • Khiem Nguyen great to have you here! Don‘t worry about building up the speed, it takes some time that‘s normal. The most important thing is that you feel your wrist loose when doing the rotation upwards and downwards. This will automatically increase your speed after a while and prevent you from damaging your hand or get unnecessary tensions.

      looking forward to seeing your results! 

      Like 1
    • martinTeam
    • LIVE
    • martin.3
    • 11 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Dear friends, please find login details for today's Zoom Check-In with Alex at 10am PST!

    Martin lädt Sie zu einem geplanten Zoom-Meeting ein.

    Thema: TWI Zoom Check-In
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    • martinTeam
    • LIVE
    • martin.3
    • 11 mths ago
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    New Assignments posted! 🔥

    Like 2
  • Please find my execution of exercise no. 1 and 2. :)

    Like 1
    • Khiem Nguyen thanks for your video! 
       

      I have a few tips for you:

       

      Ex.1, let the thumb rest on the sixth string. This will give you hand more stability and make your fingers work harder (without any additional help from your hand)

       

      ex.2, try to get a more frontal attack, this way you will have much more power and a sound that is more crispy!

       

      I hope this helps! 

      Like 1
    • Alexander Gil Hi Alexander, thank you very much for reviewing my practices and giving me those wonderful tips. I will try again. :)

      Like
  • Hi I am Peter. I would like to ask you if you can suggest any entry level Flamenco pieces that 

    would help, in learning this style. 

    Peter

    [email protected]

    Like 1
    • peter hancock thanks for your question. There is a great book by Juan Martin with easy pieces (I think there are around 42). Have a look at this one or the Paco Peña „Toques Flamencos“ (but they are more difficult than the ones from J.Martin)

       

      I hope this helps! 

      Like
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