Learn Flamenco Guitar Online
(Beginner-Friendly & Structured)
Flamenco Explained is an online flamenco guitar learning platform designed for people who are new to flamenco — from complete beginners to experienced guitarists — who want to understand rhythm, technique, and structure, not just copy videos.
A clear, step-by-step way to learn flamenco guitar without feeling overwhelmed or intimidated.
How Flamenco Explained Started
Flamenco has traditionally been taught by rote – you sit with a teacher and imitate what they are doing until it all makes sense. Except that a lot of the time it never seems to make sense. This is what I kept hearing from students who came to me frustrated by sometimes years of trying to learn flamenco. After a few lessons they’d often tell me “ok – that makes sense now.”
One of my students was Scott Wolf – a very accomplished classical guitarist who before getting his doctorate had lived in Spain and studied a lot of flamenco. He had studied with some big name flamenco players and put in the time, but he was still frustrated, especially because he wanted to be able to accompany his flamenco-dancer wife. After a few lessons he started to get it, and he asked me why I thought no one had ever taught him the stuff I was teaching him.
He pointed out that though I had never thought of it as such, I had a very specific method for teaching flamenco, and that it really made sense. This tracked with what I’d been hearing from other students. He said if I could articulate my method, he’d help me put it into book form. So we started writing what would become Flamenco Explained, the book.
I’d been working for years with Tara, producing videos for GSI and various guitar companies. She did video and I did audio, and we were already a team, so there was no question about who would help me produce videos to accompany the book. As we shot the videos I realized that I could go further in that format, where I could show, and maybe talk a little too much, than I could in book form. So when we finished shooting the book videos, we just kept going. And that was the beginning of the online version of Flamenco Explained.
Flamenco instruction is often fragmented and assumes you already know more than you do — especially online, where you can’t stop and ask why. Flamenco Explained was built to fix that: a place where learning flamenco actually makes sense, and where understanding comes before imitation.
Today, Flamenco Explained includes over 900 lessons and a complete learning path — all designed for students who are ready to learn and just need clear, thoughtful instruction.
Kai Narezo
Explainer In Chief & Co-Founder
K
ai first heard flamenco – or what he thought was flamenco – when he saw Roy Clark play a Malagueña on a steel–string guitar on a rerun of The Odd Couple. Seriously.
A few years later, when he moved to NY to get a degree in Russian Literature at Columbia (still not joking – he got the degree) he found Dennis Koster and learned that he didn’t actually know what flamenco was. He became determined – ok, obsessed – to learn every single thing there was to know about flamenco. He practiced guitar every minute he wasn’t reading Russian Lit. He spent his summers in Spain at the Córdoba Guitar Festival and traveling around Andalusia.
On his first trip to Spain, he met aspiring young British guitar maker Stephen Hill, who had a car and wanted to meet every guitar maker in Spain. So together they met just about all the guitar makers, and also took lessons all over Andalusia. Kai currently plays a Stephen Hill guitar made for him in 2018, and they see each other often as they live about an hour apart.
Back in New York, Kai started playing for flamenco dance classes with Jose Molina at the historic Fazil’s dance studio, because he was too naive to know he wasn’t ready for that (turns out that’s a pretty great way to learn). And he spent four years studying with Dennis, gaining a fantastic foundation in what he’d soon learn was Old-School flamenco.
When he finished his degree, he chose flamenco over academia, so he moved to Granada, where he had had some amazing experiences during those summers. Also because a nice crazy lady he had met at JFK airport (she was sitting on the floor playing classical guitar, so he introduced himself, as one does) told him she needed a house-sitter there.
When he got to Granada Juan Fernández – his first teacher in Spain and arguably his most important one – said to him “What you’re playing – that used to be flamenco. It’s not anymore. We’d have to start from scratch.” So they started from scratch and Kai learned all about the post-Paco world of flamenco guitar. Kai had to re-learn a lot, but it turned out that his Old-School foundation served him very well. He also saw how naturally Juan’s children, who didn’t play (yet) felt compás. Not because it was somehow in their blood, or a hereditary birthright, but because they just heard it constantly. ?
After a few years in Spain (and a few in Russia – long story) Kai decided that some formal music education might be a good idea if he was really going to do music for a living. So he got a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, where he learned something invaluable: a language for talking about music in a way that made sense to others. He also had a blast playing with a ton of amazing musicians, which was really the best part of going to Berklee.
While in Boston Kai earned a living gigging and accompanying flamenco dance classes for Ramon de los Reyes, who had been a part of the amazing flamenco scene in New York in the 60s. Though a dancer, Ramon became one of his very important teachers. Between gigs and almost daily classes with Ramon, Kai reinforced his foundation and expanded his understanding of dance accompaniment. And he started really thinking about how the things he was learning at Berklee made sense in the context of flamenco.
From there, Kai’s career expanded quickly. He gigged constantly as a soloist and accompanist, taught and recorded in Boston and New York (he even took over Dennis’ old teaching gig at AIG for a while), did an internship at a recording studio, and later moved to Los Angeles after 9/11. In L.A., he opened Universal Exports, a small recording studio in Hollywood, he kept gigging and started playing with some of the great players in the LA jazz-fusion scene, he recorded two albums of his own music, and together with Tara he produced the first 1,200 videos for the Guitar Salon International YouTube channel. He also taught at Pasadena City College, CSU Dominguez Hills, and CSU’s Summer Arts program—first in California, and later in Granada (he might have had something to do with the choice of location).
In 2020, smack in the middle of the pandemic, Kai and Tara married in, of all places, Alhambra, CA. They picked up stakes with their two dogs and moved permanently to Granada, Spain, where Flamenco Explained is now based. From there, Kai continues to teach, play, record, and—most importantly—explain flamenco in a way that makes it feel learnable, human, and alive.
Some of Kai’s most important guitar teachers include Dennis Koster, Juan Fernández, Enrique de Melchor, El Viejín, and David Cerreduela. Dancers Jose Molina and Ramon de los Reyes were just as important.
Tara Narezo
CEO & Co-Founder
Tara Narezo is the creative and organizational force behind Flamenco Explained, shaping how the platform looks, feels, and functions. Where Kai brings musical clarity, Tara brings structure, storytelling, and the kind of thoughtful design that turns complex ideas into a learning experience people actually stick with.
Long before flamenco entered her life, Tara grew up immersed in both music and visual art. She learned to read music in elementary school and played trumpet, percussion, marimba, and piano throughout her school years. At the same time, she was rarely without a video camera—making videos, documenting friends, and experimenting with visual storytelling long before she knew it could be a career.
Tara didn’t come to guitar easily. Despite her musical background, guitar never clicked, and traditional rock-based approaches left her uninspired. That changed when she encountered that sound—what she would later learn was flamenco’s Phrygian voice. The sound made sense to her musically, even when the learning materials didn’t.
Her professional path took her deep into the music world. After studying media and visual arts, Tara built her career as a fast, music-literate editor and producer, eventually working at Fender Musical Instruments. She produced and edited videos for artists including Nile Rodgers, Eddie Van Halen, and Stephen Stills—players whose sound is inseparable from the guitars they played. Living inside that world sharpened her ear for tone, rhythm, and feel, even as guitar itself remained just out of reach.
That mystery cracked open the night she met Kai Narezo after a show in Los Angeles. Nervous but determined, she asked if he taught lessons. He did—and what followed changed everything.
Studying with Kai didn’t feel confusing or opaque. It felt explained. Compás made sense. Structure replaced intimidation. Listening became part of practice. Tara wasn’t just learning flamenco guitar—she was learning how it could be taught clearly. As their lessons continued, they began bartering: Tara helped Kai improve his videos and website, and Kai taught her flamenco. In the process, they discovered something rare—they worked exceptionally well together.
Tara’s ability to edit flamenco instruction comes directly from being a student herself. She understands compás because she’s lived inside it. She knows where learners get lost because she’s been there. That perspective—musical, visual, and experiential—is the foundation of Flamenco Explained.
In 2015, Tara left her job in Los Angeles to study flamenco guitar in Spain, spending months immersed in the tradition before returning to officially launch Flamenco Explained in 2017. In 2021, she and Kai—now married—moved permanently to Granada, Spain, where the platform is now based. That same year, Tara completed another long-held goal by building her first flamenco guitar—purely for the love of understanding how things work.
Today, Tara runs the creative backbone of Flamenco Explained: filming, editing, organizing the curriculum, shaping the platform, and quietly keeping the entire system human, navigable, and welcoming. When she’s not working, she’s usually in her garden in Prado Negro, painting, caring for an ever-expanding group of animals, or planning the eventual arrival of a donkey.
At the heart of Tara’s work is a simple belief: learning works best when it’s explained with respect, curiosity, and clarity—and when it is, people surprise themselves with what they’re capable of.
Company Ethos
This isn’t your traditional flamenco instruction. At Flamenco Explained, we believe flamenco guitar, as a musical style, is learnable—not reserved for those “born into it,” and not locked behind gatekeeping or mystique. It takes discipline and hard work, yes. But it’s far more inclusive and accessible than the traditional narrative suggests. We don’t pretend to represent or explain Spanish or Gitano culture – instead we focus on the music itself.
We believe it’s never too late to start. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced guitarist frustrated by years of fragmented instruction, understanding flamenco is possible when it’s actually explained.
We also believe in science, kindness, respect, and equity for all. This is a place where people from all walks of life—regardless of background, race, color, gender, creed, or sexual orientation—can come together in the shared interest of learning flamenco guitar. We don’t gatekeep. We explain.
Our working philosophy:
- Be Nice (So simple and so powerful)
- Try something weird
- Don’t be afraid to fail
- Encourage others
- Be accountable
- Question your assumptions
- Stay curious
We are passionate about animal welfare, social justice, and creating a more equitable world—and we donate a portion of Flamenco Explained proceeds to related nonprofits each year.