Flamenco guitar
Encyclopedia
A flamenco guitar is a guitar
similar to a classical guitar
. Flamenco guitar also refers to toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of Flamenco
.
made instruments in a wide range of prices, largely based on the materials used, and the amount of decoration. The cheapest guitars were often simple, basic instruments made from the less expensive local woods such as cypress
, rather than imported rosewood
. Antonio de Torres, one of the most renowned luthiers, did not differentiate between flamenco and classical guitars.: Only later, after Andres Segovia
and others popularized classical guitar music, did this distinction emerge. (See José L. Romanillos "Antonio De Torres: Guitar Maker-His Life and Work" (1987, 1997).
, sycamore
, or rosewood
for the back and sides, and spruce
for the top. This (in the case of cypress and sycamore) accounts for its characteristic body color. Flamenco guitars are built lighter in weight than classical guitar
s, which produces a “brighter” and more percussive sound quality. Builders achieve the lighter weight by reducing the amount of internal bracing and the thickness of body and top construction. The top is typically made of either spruce or cedar
, though other tone woods are used today. Volume has traditionally been very important for flamenco guitarists, as they must be heard over the sound of the dancers’ nailed shoes. To increase volume, harder woods, such as rosewood, can be used for the back and sides, with softer woods for the top.
In contrast to the classical guitar, the flamenco is often equipped with a tap plate (a golpeador), commonly made of plastic, similar to a pick guard, whose function is to protect the body of the guitar from the rhythmic finger taps, or golpe
s. Even so, a well used Flamenco guitar only survives so long before the constant "golpe
s" wear through the top.
Originally, all guitars were made with wooden tuning pegs, that pass straight through the head stock, similar to those found on a lute
, a violin
or oud
, as opposed to the modern classical-style guitars' gear
ed tuning mechanisms. Traditional pegs remain popular among flamenco guitarist and guitar makers.
The action, or the height of the strings above the fingerboard, is generally lower than a classical guitar's, typically less than 3mm at the twelfth fret. This lower string height can facilitate playing speed, and greatly reduces fatigue of the left hand during lengthy performances.
"Flamenco negra" guitars are called "negra" after the darker of the harder woods used in their construction, similar materials to those of high-end classical guitars, such as rosewood or other dense tone woods. The harder materials increase volume and tonal range. A typical cypress flamenco guitar produces more treble and louder percussion than the more sonorous negra. These guitars strive to capture some of the sustain achieved by concert caliber classical guitars while retaining the volume and attack associated with flamenco.
, koa
, satinwood
and caviuna.
While a classical guitarist supports the guitar on the left leg, and holds it at an incline, flamenco guitarists usually cross their legs and support the guitar on whichever leg is on top, placing the neck of the guitar nearly parallel to the floor. The different position accommodates the different playing techniques. Many of the tremolo, golpe, and rasgueado techniques are easier and more relaxed if the upper right arm is supported at the elbow by the body of the guitar rather by the forearm as in classical guitar. Nonetheless, some flamenco guitarists use classical position.
Flamenco is commonly played using a cejilla
(capo) which raises the pitch and causes the guitar to sound sharper and more percussive. However, the main purpose in using a cejilla is to change the key of the guitar to match the singer’s vocal range. Because Flamenco is an improvisational musical form that uses common structures and chord sequences, the capo makes it easier for players who have never played together before to do so. Rather than transcribe to another key each time the singer changes, the player can move the capo and use the same chords positions. Flamenco uses a lot of highly modified and open chord forms to create a solid drone effect and leave at least one finger free to add melodic notes and movement. Very little traditional Flamenco music is written, but is mostly passed on hand to hand. Books, however are becoming more available.
Both accompaniment and solo flamenco guitar are based as much on modal
as tonal
harmonies; most often, both are combined.
In addition to the techniques common to classical guitar, flamenco guitar technique is uniquely characterized by:
Flamenco guitar employs a vast array of percussive and rhythmic techniques that give the music its characteristic feel. Often, eight note triplets are mixed with sixteenth note runs in a single bar. Even swung notes are commonly mixed with straight notes, and golpes are employed freely and frequently, as is strumming with the strings damped for long passages or single notes.
More broadly, in terms of general style and ability, one speaks of:
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
similar to a classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
. Flamenco guitar also refers to toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of Flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
.
Brief history
The luthiers of AndalusiaAndalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
made instruments in a wide range of prices, largely based on the materials used, and the amount of decoration. The cheapest guitars were often simple, basic instruments made from the less expensive local woods such as cypress
Cupressaceae
The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera , which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130-140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or dioecious trees and shrubs from 1-116 m tall...
, rather than imported rosewood
Rosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...
. Antonio de Torres, one of the most renowned luthiers, did not differentiate between flamenco and classical guitars.: Only later, after Andres Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
and others popularized classical guitar music, did this distinction emerge. (See José L. Romanillos "Antonio De Torres: Guitar Maker-His Life and Work" (1987, 1997).
Construction
The traditional flamenco guitar is made of Spanish cypressCupressaceae
The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera , which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130-140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or dioecious trees and shrubs from 1-116 m tall...
, sycamore
Sycamore
Sycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms....
, or rosewood
Rosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...
for the back and sides, and spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
for the top. This (in the case of cypress and sycamore) accounts for its characteristic body color. Flamenco guitars are built lighter in weight than classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
s, which produces a “brighter” and more percussive sound quality. Builders achieve the lighter weight by reducing the amount of internal bracing and the thickness of body and top construction. The top is typically made of either spruce or cedar
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
, though other tone woods are used today. Volume has traditionally been very important for flamenco guitarists, as they must be heard over the sound of the dancers’ nailed shoes. To increase volume, harder woods, such as rosewood, can be used for the back and sides, with softer woods for the top.
In contrast to the classical guitar, the flamenco is often equipped with a tap plate (a golpeador), commonly made of plastic, similar to a pick guard, whose function is to protect the body of the guitar from the rhythmic finger taps, or golpe
Golpe
Golpe has multiple meanings, as described below:* In music, golpe can mean**Golpe is a Flamenco guitar technique where one uses the fingers to tap on the soundboard of the guitar, from the Spanish "golpe", meaning to strike....
s. Even so, a well used Flamenco guitar only survives so long before the constant "golpe
Golpe
Golpe has multiple meanings, as described below:* In music, golpe can mean**Golpe is a Flamenco guitar technique where one uses the fingers to tap on the soundboard of the guitar, from the Spanish "golpe", meaning to strike....
s" wear through the top.
Originally, all guitars were made with wooden tuning pegs, that pass straight through the head stock, similar to those found on a lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
or oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
, as opposed to the modern classical-style guitars' gear
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
ed tuning mechanisms. Traditional pegs remain popular among flamenco guitarist and guitar makers.
The action, or the height of the strings above the fingerboard, is generally lower than a classical guitar's, typically less than 3mm at the twelfth fret. This lower string height can facilitate playing speed, and greatly reduces fatigue of the left hand during lengthy performances.
"Flamenco negra" guitars are called "negra" after the darker of the harder woods used in their construction, similar materials to those of high-end classical guitars, such as rosewood or other dense tone woods. The harder materials increase volume and tonal range. A typical cypress flamenco guitar produces more treble and louder percussion than the more sonorous negra. These guitars strive to capture some of the sustain achieved by concert caliber classical guitars while retaining the volume and attack associated with flamenco.
Materials
Classical guitars are generally made with spruce or cedar tops and rosewood or mahogany backs and sides to enhance sustain. Flamenco guitars are generally made with spruce tops and cypress or sycamore for the backs and sides to enhance volume and emphasize the attack of the note. Nevertheless, other types of wood may be used for the back and sides, like rosewood, mapleMaple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
, koa
Koa
Acacia koa is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, where it is the second most common tree. The highest populations are on Hawaii, Maui and Oahu...
, satinwood
Satinwood
Satinwood can mean the following:*A name for a wood that can be polished to a high gloss derived from certain species of the flowering plant family Rutaceae:**Chloroxylon swietenia, Ceylon satinwood or East Indian satinwood...
and caviuna.
Sound
A well-made flamenco guitar responds quickly, and typically has less sustain than a classical. This is desirable, since the flurry of notes that a good flamenco player can produce might sound muddy on a guitar with a big, lush, sustaining sound. The flamenco guitar’s sound is often described as percussive; it tends to be brighter, drier and more austere than a classical guitar. Some jazz and Latin guitarists like this punchy tonality, and some players have even discovered that these guitars’ wide-ranging sound also works well for the contrapuntal voicings of Renaissance and Baroque music.Techniques
Flamenco is played somewhat differently from classical guitar. Players use different posture, strumming patterns, and techniques. Flamenco guitarists are known as tocaores (from an Andalusian pronunciation of tocadores, "players") and flamenco guitar technique is known as toque.While a classical guitarist supports the guitar on the left leg, and holds it at an incline, flamenco guitarists usually cross their legs and support the guitar on whichever leg is on top, placing the neck of the guitar nearly parallel to the floor. The different position accommodates the different playing techniques. Many of the tremolo, golpe, and rasgueado techniques are easier and more relaxed if the upper right arm is supported at the elbow by the body of the guitar rather by the forearm as in classical guitar. Nonetheless, some flamenco guitarists use classical position.
Flamenco is commonly played using a cejilla
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
(capo) which raises the pitch and causes the guitar to sound sharper and more percussive. However, the main purpose in using a cejilla is to change the key of the guitar to match the singer’s vocal range. Because Flamenco is an improvisational musical form that uses common structures and chord sequences, the capo makes it easier for players who have never played together before to do so. Rather than transcribe to another key each time the singer changes, the player can move the capo and use the same chords positions. Flamenco uses a lot of highly modified and open chord forms to create a solid drone effect and leave at least one finger free to add melodic notes and movement. Very little traditional Flamenco music is written, but is mostly passed on hand to hand. Books, however are becoming more available.
Both accompaniment and solo flamenco guitar are based as much on modal
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
as tonal
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
harmonies; most often, both are combined.
In addition to the techniques common to classical guitar, flamenco guitar technique is uniquely characterized by:
- GolpeGolpe (guitar technique)Golpe is mostly used in Flamenco guitar. It is a finger tap on the golpeador .-Technique:It is usually performed with the middle or annular finger, and can be performed either simultaneously with a down-stroke performed by another finger Golpe is mostly used in Flamenco guitar. It is a finger...
: Percussive finger tapping on the soundboard at the area above or below the strings. This requires a golpeador (tap-plate) to protect the surface of the guitar. - PicadoPicadosPicados are the flamenco scales of a guitar , or a guitar playing technique where musician plays scale passages by alternating the index and middle fingers. Picado is normally executed apoyando . It is often used rapidly to play a melody....
: Single-line scale passages performed by playing alternately with the index and middle fingers, supporting the other fingers on the string immediately above. Alternate methods include using the thumb rapidly on adjacent strings, as well as using the thumb and index finger alternately, or combining all three methods in a single passage. - RasgueadoRasgueadoRasgueado is a guitar finger strumming technique commonly associated with flamenco guitar music. It is also used in classical and other fingerstyle guitar picking techniques...
: Strumming done with outward flicks of the right hand fingers, done in a huge variety of ways. A nice rhythmic roll is obtained, supposedly reminiscent of the bailador’s (flamenco dancer's) feet and the roll of castanets. The rasgueo can be performed with 5, 4, or 3 fingers. - Alzapúa: A thumb technique which has roots in oudOudThe oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
plectrum technique. The right hand thumb is used both up and down for single-line notes and/or strumming across a number of strings. Both are combined in quick succession to give it a unique sound. - TremoloTremoloTremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
: Rapid repetition of a single treble note, often following a bass note. Flamenco tremolo is different from classical guitar tremolo, it is usually played with the right hand pattern p-i-a-m-i which gives a 4 note tremolo. classical guitar tremolo is played p-a-m-i giving a 3 note tremolo. Or it may be used as an ornament to a chord, in which case it is done on the highest chord string finishing with a thumb across all the strings that make the chord. This creates a very quick trill followed by a full bodied thumb.
Flamenco guitar employs a vast array of percussive and rhythmic techniques that give the music its characteristic feel. Often, eight note triplets are mixed with sixteenth note runs in a single bar. Even swung notes are commonly mixed with straight notes, and golpes are employed freely and frequently, as is strumming with the strings damped for long passages or single notes.
More broadly, in terms of general style and ability, one speaks of:
- Toque airoso ("graceful"): lively, rhythmicm, with a brilliant, almost metallic sound.
- Toque gitano o flamenco ("Gypsy" or "flamenco"): deep and very expressive, using a lot of grace notes and countertempos.
- Toque pastueño (from a bullfighting term for a calm, fearless bull): slow and peaceful.
- Toque sobrio ("sober"): without ornament or showing off.
- Toque virtuoso: with exceptional mastery of technique; running the risk of excessive effects.
- Toque corto ("short"): using only basic technique.
- Toque frío ("cold"): the opposite of gitano or flamenco, unexpressive.