Introduction to Flamenco Guitar: Rhythms and Styles

Welcome to Introduction to Flamenco Guitar: Rhythms and Styles!

Flamenco guitar is a folk art from southern Spain that traditionally goes hand-in-hand with flamenco dance and singing. This self-paced online course will lead you on a tour through four different flamenco "palos", or musical styles. We’ll explore the 12-count rhythmic cycle ("compás") of Soleá, expand upon on the famous Malagueña melody, learn the approachable 4-beat rhythm of Farruca, and sample the Cuban-inspired flamenco Guajira.

For each palo, you'll learn basic chord shapes, a few ways to play compás, and some short musical segments ("falsetas"). At the end of each section, you'll learn how to arrange your short segments into a solo for that particular palo. You'll strengthen your left hand technique, become familiar with flamenco rhythms, and get to know flamenco's unique and exciting right hand techniques, such as rasgueos, arpeggios and thumb rest stroke.

Recommended Experience: This course is aimed at any guitarist with at least one year of playing experience (any style) who is curious about flamenco guitar.

Required Materials: Nylon string guitar (standard tuning).

Course Materials Included: Each chapter features brief overview of the palo, two sheets of music written in tablature, and five video tutorials. The first four videos show you how to play the music written on the tab (two videos per sheet). The fifth video shows you how to arrange the material into a solo. No reading of music notation is required. If you're new to tab, an overview is included the chapter "Useful Info".

How to Learn Flamenco Guitar: Students are advised to learn primarily by watching the videos, and by using the tabs provided as a guideline and reminder of where your fingers need to go. Flamenco is typically taught by rote (ie, a teacher demonstrates and explains, and the student copies). The more you listen and watch, the more things make sense. The tabs are not intended to stand alone without the aid of the video.