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Spanish Guitar
Godfather
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So i've been thinking about picking up the guitar. Nothing fancy, just some casual playing here and there.
Now one style of guitar that really appeals to me is the style that the Spanish play in; it's just very casual to listen to, relaxes the nerves and sounds generally fun to play. Problem is, I really have no idea where to start. I'm sure getting basic guitar lessons won't be a problem (I do live in Texas after all), but are there places that teach an actual style? This obviously isn't going to happen for a while, but it'd be helpful to know where to go from here once I have the basics down.
You know, this can pretty much be a general guitar thread. If I could get answers to basic questions, like the difficulty of playing/learning guitar, some fun beginner pieces to play, the works. My plate is already full with my senior year, two college classes i'm taking on tuesdays and thursdays, and working at a wedding reception/event business on the weekends, so scheduling might be a problem here.
I'm really starting to get into art, but since I spend most of my time either drawing or thinking about drawing, it'd be nice to be able to pull out the guitar and just start playing a casual style. Although I can only think of two artist who play what i'm going for here, the only one that I can remember is Govi. Whether he's popular here or not is of no concern to me, but it would help if you could hear a sample of his tracks to make sure that i'm not barking up the wrong tree.
That's pretty much it.
Now one style of guitar that really appeals to me is the style that the Spanish play in; it's just very casual to listen to, relaxes the nerves and sounds generally fun to play. Problem is, I really have no idea where to start. I'm sure getting basic guitar lessons won't be a problem (I do live in Texas after all), but are there places that teach an actual style? This obviously isn't going to happen for a while, but it'd be helpful to know where to go from here once I have the basics down.
You know, this can pretty much be a general guitar thread. If I could get answers to basic questions, like the difficulty of playing/learning guitar, some fun beginner pieces to play, the works. My plate is already full with my senior year, two college classes i'm taking on tuesdays and thursdays, and working at a wedding reception/event business on the weekends, so scheduling might be a problem here.
I'm really starting to get into art, but since I spend most of my time either drawing or thinking about drawing, it'd be nice to be able to pull out the guitar and just start playing a casual style. Although I can only think of two artist who play what i'm going for here, the only one that I can remember is Govi. Whether he's popular here or not is of no concern to me, but it would help if you could hear a sample of his tracks to make sure that i'm not barking up the wrong tree.
That's pretty much it.
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EDIT: Good luck, definitely, and as the above poster stated, flamenco is similar to classical, but very different, you'll get more of what you want with that.
Still, I really think that I should take advantage of spanish guitar, seeing as how I have a number of traits going my way. For example, I have long, slim-built fingers, perfect for piano playing or guitar, I have a tendancy to play by ear (but can read music as well), and if it's interesting enough I tend to go a little overboard with practicing.
Decisions decisions. Any way to play this style without the long nails, or is that pretty much the staple here?
Except in this case, it is what you should do. For this style, almost all of the material out there uses musical notation as opposed to tablature (that I've seen, anyway). If you don't learn to read music, you'll probably seriously hamstring yourself when it comes to getting material you want to play. Plus, musical notation has information in it that tabs don't, like rhythm, which will be important for you.
Also, it's not like it will take you any extra time to learn to read music if you're just picking up guitar.
Get a nylon-string classical guitar. Takamine makes them for reasonably cheaply, Ovation makes more expensive ones.
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Sheet music I have no problem with; although there's quite a bit of difference between guitar sheet music and, oh, saxaphone for example, it shouldn't be a big enough challenge to really get worried about. Also, i'm going to strongly look for a teacher rather than purchase a book; I can grasp a subject at a much more accelerated rate when I have hands on teaching rather than reading what to do from a book.
Those nylon-string classical guitars previously mentions, specificially the Takamine; what's the average price on one of these things, and would this be a solid beginner's guitar to work with?
I got mine for $225 (I'm fairly certain my guitar teacher ripped me off, though. I had to get new machine heads for it in <2 years). Sam Ash seems to have some nylon strings for about $150 or so (Though they are not Taks). That seems more in line with a beginner guitar to me.
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If you can develop the skills, you'll be ready to start actually playing flamenco guitar. I never went through with it, because I was 16 and discovered Led Zeppelin. I'm regretting it now.
Composers to look for music from- Francesco Tarrega, Isaac Albeniz, Joaquin Rodrigo
Also a decent beginner's guitar can go for around 130 USD, which is what I got my first one for. It lasted a good while and helped considerably in my skill, even for a crappy guitar.
I wish you the best of luck, my friend, now get out there and practice.
Another thing regarding the nails bit: I still have that habit of biting them off like so many others that I know of, so needless to say i'm gonna need to kick the habit. Isn't there some nail polish stuff that trains you to stop doing this, and if so where can I get some?
Edit: After reading my posts a second time through, it sounds like i'm making an assload of excuses for myself as to why I can't just dive right in yet. Bleh, i'm terrible at wording these questions
Hope that clears things up.
As the nails go, I was a biter too. But once I picked up classical guitar the habit on my right hand just stopped. It's hard to explain but all you can do is simply stop. Yes there are ways to assist doing so, but it all comes down to just stopping.
I still bite the crap out of my left hand fingernails, mostly for compensation, but you can find nail polish at any Walgreens or drugstore or... basically anywhere.
And I'd agree with that final statement, if you take the time to prepare to learn it will make things much easier. There is no reason to instantly jump into it, and it sounds like you're young and have plenty of time.
Seconded. I didn't have to use nail polish or anything, my chronic biting for both hands just stopped when I was learning classical guitar, probably since I was really motivated at the time.
Ever since I started using a pick the biting has been back with a venegance though :P
I started learning on songs such as Romance (might be by Terrega but I could be wrong). Learning techniques by playing classical will help you be a better guitarist. Check out Segovia's scales and works along with other guitarists such as Paco de Lucia for more of the Flamenco style.
I was thinking of picking this album up as an example of what I wanted to learn, so it'd be nice to know.
I'm not sure if that could be considered flamenco, typically you don't use a pick, rather you pluck with your fingernails. The woman appears to be mostly strumming, but she does some picking with her fingers.
There's some flamenco guitar playing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdzLWGfl5xg for a live version.
That's an interesting technique by the way: I mean, i've heard of slapping a guitar to count off, but never utilized the way she does.