Taking A Look At Some Flamenco Guitarists

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The flamenco guitarists listed in this post are guitar players who grew up learning the rhythms of flamenco and who took to guitar playing from childhood. All guitarists have their critics amongst flamenco afficianados, so we should think about who is looked up to by other guitarists.

Ramon Montoya is at the pinnacle of flamenco guitarists whose work induced world-wide acclaim thanks to the recording industry. He was the first flamenco guitarist to copy the classical guitarists who were being noticed at the turn of the century, by bringing to life pleasant-sounding falsetas, or “themes” that fitted into the character of the flamenco forms of song and dance while at the same time giving non-gypsy audiences familiar-sounding music. He was the first flamenco guitarist to detach himself from the troupe of singers and dancers to play solo concerts.

The most loved flamenco guitarist ever, Nino Ricardo started his professional career in the nineteen-twenties. His formidable guitar technique and emotional approach to the guitar made him the leading light of flamenco guitarists even the arrival of the new wave of guitar players in the nineteen-seventies.

The ascendantt figure in flamenco guitar playing in the middle twentieth century was Sabicas. Sabicas made his first appearance as a professional guitarist while still a young person, and became renowned after journeying to New York and making records. He was one of the early pioneers of multi-track recording and dazzled concert audiences with his technical brilliance.

By the early nineteen-seventies, nearly all flamenco guitar records featured guitarists either duplicating the music of Ramon Montoya, Nino Ricardo And Sabicas, or who were inspired by them. Paco De Lucia updated flamenco guitar playing completely. The legacy of the early masters could still be found in his recordings, but Paco also injected ingredients from jazz into his solo flamenco guitar records.

The nineteen-seventies also noted the music of two other youthful flamenco guitar virtuosos – Manolo Sanlucar and Serranito. Serranito’s technique led him to record music that was possibly a little too complicated for the tastes of a number of flamenco guitar afficianados and Paco De Lucia’s style, one way or another, attracted more acclaim than Manolo Sanlucar.

This video shows what a technical monster Serranito is: