METODO GUIT FLAMENCA vol2 OK.indd

STUDY TIPS 2
15. Practice 1 hour of technical exercises daily or dedicate one day of the week exclusively to
technique.
16. In order to achieve an optimally clean sound in our playing, we should be as strict as possible
with ourselves. When we notice a mistake in our playing, however small, it is better to stop and
fix the problem. Playing duffed or unclear notes is akin to speaking without vocalising, and we
should remember this simile in order to improve our guitar playing.
17. To improve picado technique, play speed bursts of 2, 3, 4 or 5 notes as fast as possible. This will
develop more muscle in the right hand and increase our picado speed over a short period of time.
18. To continue educating our musical ear, improving as musicians, and widening our repertoire, we
should transcribe musical phrases by ear while listening to CD tracks of the great guitar masters.
This will help us to play in time and we will learn to listen to flamenco in more detail.
19. We can improve our sight reading by playing musical variations and pieces. The main factors that
will aid our reading are looking ahead on the score, keeping the body relaxed, and playing the
piece at a slow pace. At first it is better to read scores which we have played before, looking a few
measures ahead while playing. This reduces the surprise element of the piece or phrase. The
more we practice sight reading, the better. Before playing it is advisable to read the score without
the guitar to make a general analysis.
20. Work on the memory to retain musical phrases and pieces. This section is divided into two parts:
“Visual memory” and “Retentive memory”.
a) Visual memory is what we use when playing from a musical score that we know how to play.
As we play we remember fingerings, melodies, chords, phrases, etc. However, the
peculiarity of this type of memory is that without the score, we can hardly play a note. This
memory is developed simply by playing different scores because it is on a subconscious and
automatic level.
b) Retentive memory is what we use when we play without needing a score. The most effective
way to develop this memory and achieve results almost immediately, is to play repeatedly
through measures or phrases. When working on a new piece or phrase we should firstly
read the score thoroughly without playing, while observing how many phrases or variations
there are. Next we imagine the positions of the left hand on the fingerboard. The following
step is to take the instrument and slowly play through each phrase to learn the fingerings
and phrasing in detail. The final step is to repeat the measures over and over again and
then to do the same with the phrases.
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