What do you think?
Rate this book
Flamenco Guitar: Basic Techniques
This book, written in both English and Spanish is the most authoritative method available on flamenco guitar technique. Juan Serrano is one of the world's premier flamenco concert soloist and is a seasoned teacher and performer in this vibrant, colorful musical genre. The text describes the history and development of flamenco music; teaches basic music theory; presents developmental studies on flamenco guitar techniques such as rasgueado and tremolo; and offers 14 exciting flamenco guitar solos. Written in notation and tablature.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1996
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 22, 2018
Although it says so nowhere, this is not aimed at the absolute beginner; the student is assumed to be able to tune the instrument, play the basic chords and scales, etc.
After an introduction, some potted music theory, and exercises for rasgueado, scales, tremolo and thumb, the book contains sevillanas, farrucas, soleares, alegrías (2), fandangos de Huelva, rumbas (2), bulerías and malagueñas. Each piece is in staff notation and cifra (tablature) with time-values, prefaced by remarks about its provenance, structure and compás (rhythmic constraints). The text is in good English, and Spanish. (Since I grumbled about this duplication elsewhere, I suppose I ought to grumble here, but I can’t feel the price is excessive.)
The book is well written, clearly printed and exhaustively fingered, a very painstaking work indeed. I did find three trivial typos in the staff notation, easily cross-checked against the cifra: page 65, system 2, bar 2; page 119, system 7, bar 4; page 140, system 5, bar 4.
This, then, is a very good book. In particular, it is one I would recommend to any classical guitarist with a year or more’s experience, who knows nothing about flamenco forms but would like to find out. The reason is simple: there is little student material that conveys the true flamenco aire; and the pieces in this book (apart from a rather Mickey Mouse “flamenco” version of Romance de Amor) achieve that, while remaining as simple as they can be and still retain that quality. They are suitable for near-beginners; but if you can play them crisply and rhythmically at even moderate speed (particularly the bulería), you will amaze your friends with no trouble at all.
After an introduction, some potted music theory, and exercises for rasgueado, scales, tremolo and thumb, the book contains sevillanas, farrucas, soleares, alegrías (2), fandangos de Huelva, rumbas (2), bulerías and malagueñas. Each piece is in staff notation and cifra (tablature) with time-values, prefaced by remarks about its provenance, structure and compás (rhythmic constraints). The text is in good English, and Spanish. (Since I grumbled about this duplication elsewhere, I suppose I ought to grumble here, but I can’t feel the price is excessive.)
The book is well written, clearly printed and exhaustively fingered, a very painstaking work indeed. I did find three trivial typos in the staff notation, easily cross-checked against the cifra: page 65, system 2, bar 2; page 119, system 7, bar 4; page 140, system 5, bar 4.
This, then, is a very good book. In particular, it is one I would recommend to any classical guitarist with a year or more’s experience, who knows nothing about flamenco forms but would like to find out. The reason is simple: there is little student material that conveys the true flamenco aire; and the pieces in this book (apart from a rather Mickey Mouse “flamenco” version of Romance de Amor) achieve that, while remaining as simple as they can be and still retain that quality. They are suitable for near-beginners; but if you can play them crisply and rhythmically at even moderate speed (particularly the bulería), you will amaze your friends with no trouble at all.
September 21, 2012
The capstone songs in this book are "Tempestad" (a rumba) and an unnamed bulería (a palo/genre of flamenco). The rumba took me almost a year to master, the buleria I am still working on. The book is short on instruction, which is okay, because one can't really pick up this style of play without live instruction. CD comes with the book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews