Many guitarists look at expanding their capabilities as a musician by branching out into other styles. As most of us own an acoustic guitar of some description, classical guitar and flamenco guitar are often the first exotic guitar styles that get our curiosity going.
Classical guitars are fitted with nylon strings and have a wider neck than you are used to if you have been playing electric or steel string acoustic guitar. The tuning for classical music is the standard E A D G B E with the occasional piece using the drop D tuning.
Many people confuse classical and flamenco guitar styles but in reality they are vastly different from each other. Flamenco is the music of Spanish gypsies. This music has been popular with American and European audiences since the early twentieth century, so in our minds it is often associated with the concert hall. The flamenco guitar also uses nylon strings but is made from wood that gives it a sharper tone than the classical guitar. Also the flamenco guitar has a tapping plate so the guitarist can incorporate percussive striking on the guitar body into his playing without damaging the guitar.
If you watch classical guitarists like John Williams or Julian Bream you will see that playing classical music on guitar involves plucking and strumming with the fingers of the right hand and shifting the right hand to different positions between the neck and the bridge to achieve variations in tone. The right hand and left hand techniques used by classical guitarists requires a great deal of precision that is best learnt under the guidance of a teacher.
An example of a classical guitar piece for beginners is etude in A minor by Dionisio Aguado and after a year or two practicing you could be attempting the Anonymous Romance or Espanoleta by Gaspar Sanz.
You can find free classical guitar tabs at classtab.org and free classical guitar sheet music at guitarpress.com
By contrast, flamenco guitar is about expression of feeling rather than precision of technique. From the late nineteenth century to the nineteen seventies flamenco guitar was taught by one-on-one lessons between friends and family with little or no reliance on tab or sheet music.
In the late nineteen sixties a new generation of flamenco guitar players emerged. They were led by Serranito, Paco de Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar:
The twenty-first century flamenco guitar player gets his inspiration from jazz, blues, rock, classical, middle eastern music or whatever else he can adapt to his guitar playing. Also technique has become more sophisticated as the new wave of flamenco guitarists explored the possibilities of the guitar fretboard.
There are also YouTube clips featuring guitarists from the pre-nineteen seventies era such as Sabicas, Nino Ricardo and Diego del Gastor.
And here is where you get free flamenco tabs
If you want to go further in studying classical or flamenco guitar, YouTube is a good place to start looking for free lessons. One resource for beginner classical guitarists is the classical guitar category at learnguitar2.com This site is updated by a guitar-lover named Carlos who also has lessons in electric, acoustic and blues guitar.
Related posts:
