Frequent Questions
HOW TO USE THIS SITE
If you’re new to flamenco, we strongly recommend you start with our Beginner Course. If you already play flamenco and need something specific, just Search for what you’re looking for or Browse our courses, falsetas and other videos to get inspired.
How does the site work?
Think of it as Netflix for your flamenco lessons. If you know what you’re looking for you can go there directly or use our Search function. And if you’re not sure what to do next use our Browse function to get inspired. And if you’re ever lost just email us and we’ll help you figure out what lessons make sense for you at the moment.
Where do I begin?
We recommend our Beginner Course unless you already have a solid background in flamenco. Even if you’ve played quite a bit of flamenco but feel there are concepts that don’t quite click yet, you’ll be surprised by how many of your questions will be addressed in this course.
What Will I Learn?
As much as you want to! If you complete our Beginner Course you’ll develop a solid understanding of the important principles of how flamenco works, you’ll be able to perform a piece, and you’ll have most of the techniques you need to play flamenco guitar. From there we have an extensive menu of courses and videos that cover hours and hours of material as well as accompaniment, techniques and much more.
What kind of guitar do I need?
If you’re committed to flamenco or don’t have a guitar yet, then you’ll want to get a flamenco guitar or any nylon-string guitar to get started. If you own another guitar and aren’t yet sure if flamenco is your thing, then we recommend you take a few lessons with whatever guitar you have, or borrow a nylon-string guitar if you can. Once you know this is for you you’ll want to get a nylon-string guitar in order to properly learn flamenco technique. You can also watch this video to learn more.
What Courses Do You Have Available?
In addition to our Beginner Course we have courses in many of the Palos (styles) you’ll want to learn as well as in accompaniment of flamenco Baile (dance) and Cante (singing).
How long does it take?
This question is impossible to answer. Most of us who do this for a living know that we’re still always learning, so in that sense there’s no end to it. The answer will depend on how far you want to go and how much time and energy you can devote to your practice.
Do I have to go to Spain?
Once upon a time it was all but impossible to learn flamenco without going to Spain. And if you love flamenco you should absolutely come visit and experience flamenco in its birthplace. But you can learn at home, too. That’s why we built Flamenco Explained, and we’re certain we can help you learn.
Do I have to speak Spanish?
Music is its own language. You can absolutely learn flamenco without speaking Spanish. Which is not to say you’ll fully appreciate the poetry of the Cante (singing), or the complexity of the culture. But you can definitely learn flamenco guitar without speaking the language.
Do you offer Tabs?
We have Notation/TABs for all of the material except for the material that only covers compás (the rhythms). There’s a reason we believe strongly in not offering TABs for compás lessons, which you can read about here.
Do I need to read music?
No. Flamenco has traditionally been taught without any written music at all. So while we provide Notation/TABs for most of the music on the site, I teach in a way that you never have to look at a piece of paper at all if you don’t want to.
Am I too old to learn flamenco guitar?
No. If you can move your fingers you can learn to play.
What if I'm left handed?
It makes no difference whether you’re right or left handed in terms of playing. We do, however, often refer to the fretting hand as the “left hand” and the picking or strumming hand as the “right hand.” Probably not so cool if you’re a lefty, but it’s traditional so lots of us just pick up that language. The only adjustment you’d have to make is to understand that in your case those would be reversed, so when we say “right hand” that would be left for you, and vice versa. ?
What if I play Classical guitar already?
How Much Does It Cost?
A monthly subscription is 19.99USD and yearly is 199.99USD and includes one free lesson with Kai (a $100USD Value).
What Do I have Access To?
We have only one subscription tier, which is full access. If you’re a subscriber you have access to every video we’ve ever produced.
How Do The APPs Work?
Our Apps are a reflection of the Flamenco Explained web experience, and will even sync with the web to reflect your saved videos and favorites. The apps themselves are free downloads, and if you’re already a subscriber there are no additional fees or in-app sales whatsoever.
What if I don’t have a credit card?
If you don’t have a credit or debit card you can use PayPal or Apple Pay to subscribe via our iOS App and PayPal or Google Play Credit to pay via our Android App.
VOCABULARY
What is a Palo?
A Palo is a style of flamenco. Each Palo has a mood, a tempo range and a key it’s traditionally played in. One of the best things about flamenco is learning the various Palos so you can express different aspects of yourself.
What is a falseta?
A falseta is like a guitar solo, but different. It’s a self-contained harmonic/melodic bit of music that is the building block of solo flamenco guitar or the ‘guitar solo’ when accompanying the Baile (dance) or Cante (singing).
What is Compás?
Compás is the most important, and for many the most confusing, past of flamenco. Basically it’s the rhythm. And the reason that compás is difficult for may is that it’s unfamiliar. You have to spend some time with these new rhythms to feel them the way you probably feel 4/4 time. Don’t worry – explaining how compás works is what we do.
Alzapua
Alzapua is one of the coolest flamenco guitar techniques there is. You sort of use the thumb like a pick in that you use both sides of your thumb nail to create a fast, percussive sound unique to flamenco guitar.
Arpeggio
Arpeggio technique on the guitar is when you use the right-hand fingers to play the notes of a chord individually, in sequence, rather than all at once as in strumming. Arpeggio is central to right hand flamenco guitar technique.
Picado
Picado is what we call scale technique in flamenco. We play alternating rest-strokes with our middle and index fingers to achieve some pretty impressive speed in scale playing. (Some folks use more than two fingers or ring and index, but the vast majority of players use middle and index).
Rasgueado
Rasgueado is the distinctive strumming we do in flamenco – it’s pretty much the sound of flamenco! There are many different Rasgueado patterns, which involve different patterns of the fingers combining to play literally any rhythm you can think of.
Rest Stroke
Rest strokes are one of two techniques we use to play individual notes with either the fingers or the thumb. We call them rest strokes because the thumb or finger lands on the adjacent string (and rests there, if only for an instant). Rest strokes tend to be a bit sharper or more percussive than Free Strokes.
Free Stroke
Free stroke are the other of the two techniques we use to play individual notes with either the fingers or the thumb. Rather than land on the adjacent swing, the finger or thumb follows through to a place where it floats above the strings, rather than landing to rest on an adjacent string.
Golpe
A golpe is when we strike the top of the guitar percussively. It’s the reason that flamenco guitars have tap plates (golpeadores).
Golpeador
A golpeador is a tap plate used to protect the guitar from those Golpes. Traditionally they were made of wood or color plastic (white or black). The vast majority of modern golpeadores are clear plastic.
Golpeador
A golpeador is a tap plate used to protect the guitar from those Golpes. Traditionally they were made of wood or color plastic (white or black). The vast majority of modern golpeadores are clear plastic.
Macho
A golpeador is a tap plate used to protect the guitar from those Golpes. Traditionally they were made of wood or color plastic (white or black). The vast majority of modern golpeadores are clear plastic.
Llamada
A Llamada is literally a call. Llamadas can be used to communicate to other artists, as in “hey, something’s about to happen,” or they can be used as a form of punctuation in a solo guitar piece.
Libre
Libre, which literally means “free” is the term we use for those flamenco forms that don’t have a meter – in other words they’re free of rhythm. Libre Palos can be sung or played, but they are generally not danced.
Palo Seco / Tapado
Palo Seco and Tapado are both terms we use for when the guitar is muted with the left hand and we play rasgueados and other patterns with the right hand. The result is that guitar sounds like a percussion instrument.
Palmas
Palmas are the rhythmic hand claps that are the backbone of percussion in flamenco. There are countless patterns we clap depending on what Palo is being played. Learning Palmas is a very important part of learning flamenco and is very helpful for internalizing your compás.
Por Fiesta
Por Fiesta means as at a party and involves the singers, dancers and musicians all playing together and improvising little bits. There is no grand structure when playing Por Fiesta – people take turns showing off what they have, usually dancing one letra before allowing the next dancer to take their turn. Bulerias, Tangos and Rumba are the main Palos played Por Fiesta.
Letra
A Letra is a sung verse in flamenco. Each Palo has its own styles of Letras. When a singer sings, they will string together various Letras, which may or may not have anything to do with one another. Letras are also central to the dance structures of all of the danced Palos.
Subida
A Subida is a section in which the tempo gets faster, either gradually or suddenly.
Cantaor / Cantaora
A Cantor is a flamenco singer, and a Cantaora is a female flamenco singer.
Bailaor / Bailaora
A Bailaor is a flamenco dancer, and a Bailaora is a female flamenco dancer.