Flamenco celebrates the folklore and music traditions of Southern Spain and while the style embraces singing (cante), dance (baile), vocalizations (jaleo), and hand clapping (palmas) — it's the guitar playing (toque) that seems to grab everybody’s attention!
Bulerias, Tientos, and Tangos are just a few of the many styles of Flamenco music but Soleares is considered by many to be the “mother of all flamenco forms” because so many of the other important forms were derived from it.
John Fillmore’s Soleares Flamenco Guidebook is much more than just an introduction to the form; it's a fast track to developing some of the most essential techniques, which you can and should incorporate into your playing whatever your preferred styles happens to be.
”Flamenco, with its sometimes spectacular techniques and emotional content, has had a huge influence on guitar players of all styles worldwide. Contrary to popular belief, you really don’t need to possess flashy techniques to play Flamenco guitar and here, in this Guidebook, I’ll show you how to build a traditional Soleares Flamenco solo piece, using some basic techniques along with some of the more intricate ones.”
John studied in Spain at the Centro Flamenco in Cordoba and then at the Rotterdam conservatoire with Paco Peña for six years, becoming the first graduate teacher and performer of Flamenco guitar. He has performed all over the world with notable Flamenco companies, duos, trios, and as a soloist at concerts and international guitar, jazz and world-music festivals.
John has five 5 albums to his credit, all of which have received critical acclaim in the international press. We’re very proud to welcome John to the family with his first TrueFire course, the Soleares Flamenco Guidebook.
John’s unique curricular approach has you constructing a complete solo guitar piece of Soleares using both original and traditional variations. As you work through the piece, you’ll learn key techniques including Pulgar, Arpegio, Rasgueado, Golpe, Picado and Tremolo; all of which can also enrich your country, bluegrass and fingerstyle playing.
You’ll also be studying different elements of the Soleares: the Llamada, the Falsetas, the Escobillas, Compas, Cierre and Remate.
Grab your guitar and let’s get a grip on Soleares Flamenco with John Fillmore. Vamosnos!
Hello, I'm John Fillmore and welcome to the Soleares Flamenco Guidebook. Flamenco is an art form native to southern Spain, with song, dance, and guitar playing a central role. With its sometimes spectacular techniques and emotional content, it has had a huge influence on guitar players of all styles worldwide.
Flamenco has many different forms: Bulerías, Tientos, Tangos, and Soleares to name but a few. You certainly don't need flashy techniques to play Flamenco guitar.
In this course, I will show you how to build a traditional Flamenco solo piece, called Soleares, using some basic techniques and also some of the more intricate ones. Some of the techniques we will be using are: pulgar, arpegio, rasgueado, golpe, picado, and tremolo. We'll also study the different elements of the Soleares: the llamada, the falsetas, the escobillas, compás, cierre, and remate. We'll be constructing a complete solo guitar piece of Soleares using original and traditional variations. The techniques we learn are used in all Flamenco guitar styles and can also enrich your country, bluegrass, and fingerpicking. As always, this guidebook comes with tabs and text descriptions for each video lesson. Vamosnos!
2Soleares
What I would like to share with you on this course, is my accumulated knowledge of Flamenco guitar - techniques, music, interpretation, and my love for the Flamenco guitar.
There are many different styles within Flamenco music. These styles are referred to as palos. Soleares, Bulerias, Tientos, and Tangos for example are all Palos Flamencos. We have 3 main disciplines in Flamenco: the singing (cante), the dance (baile), and the guitar (toque). When referring to the various different palos on the guitar, we call them toques, from the Spanish word to play an instrument, tocar.
Other disciplines in Flamenco are the palmas, the hand claps (which is an art in itself), and more recently, the cajon. This ia a box-like percussion instrument from Peru introduced into Flamenco by the legendary guitarist Paco de Lucia.
3Half Compás
When referring to meter or beats in the bar, in "Flamenco speak" we use the Spanish word for meter, compás. The Soleá has a compás of 12 beats with accents on 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
4Solo Flamenco Guitar
The solo Flamenco guitar is based on stringing falsetas together one after the other, building up a solo piece.
5Technique and Posture
Posture and hand position are essential to playing well. The classical guitar posture is not really efficient while playing Flamenco as it does not allow the right sort of freedom of movement we need for strumming and thumb.
6Pulgar
The thumb, or pulgar, is probably the most important technique in Flamenco guitar playing. I consider it the root of the right hand technique. While playing with the thumb, some say the movement comes from the wrist. Well, actually, it's the forearm.
7Alzapua
Alzapua means literally alzar, to raise, and pua, plectrum or pick. To play alzapua we play the thumb through the string downwards, then play through the rest of the strings downwards, and then strike the strings with the top of the nail upwards.
Builds a solear repertoire and a introduction to flamenco
A great course, with generally very good tablature with it. Mr. Fillmore gives an overview of how flamenco songs are built and the different parts that go into their construction. He covers the basic techniques with exercises to help you improve your ability, such as with rasgeado, picado, and tremelo specific to flamenco. If you follow the exercises, at the end you have built a nice sounding rendition of the soleares. I'm also working through the course with instructor Mario Dasilva, who also offers a couple falsetas for soleares and covers the the basic strums and techniques as well...the two course compliment each other well. Cheers!
G
germanbluesguitar
Verified buyer
03/10/22
Great Flamenco-Guitar
Mr. John Fillmore studied flamenco-guitar under the great flamenco-guitarplayer Paco Pena. So you can´t make a mistace to take this course. There is definitely something to learn from him.
T
TomoStrat
06/30/21
How to become a Flamenco player
The first note he plays on his guitar tells you one thing right away... that he's one hell of a player! And, of course that's who everyone likes to learn from. Even though he IS a brilliant technical player, he still explains everything in a way even the beginner fingerstyle and flamenco players can easily understand and follow. You can definitely find all the techniques, tricks and secrets to the distinctive flamenco sound here in these lessons. Everything you learn in the course he incorporates into a composition at the end, which I still haven't learned, but am really looking forward to.
I'm sure if you start with Brad Carlton's "Flamenco chords" vol1 and vol2, continue with the "New world Flamenco" and finish with this course, you can call yourself a Flamenco player.
N
neildono
Verified buyer
05/04/20
V Good
Things are explained in a very clear and straightforward way and John makes it feel like this is achievable regardless of your starting point
J
JOHN P.
02/02/20
A very good basic Flamenco course
For anyone interested in learning soleares John Fillmore's brilliant course is the place to start. John is an excellent teacher (one-time pupil of the great Paco Peña), with a friendly, structured, non-pedantic approach. Flamenco guitar is by no means "easy" to master and you will need plenty of patience, dedication and perseverance - plus many hours of practice - to obtain a reasonable level of proficiency. but the slog is ultimately worth it. TrueFire would do well to ask Mr Fillmore if he could produce another volume, covering ,say, bulerias, alegrias, etc.
