Toques Flamencos (Book & CD) (Music from the Student Repertoire)

I had, 30 years ago , come across a flamenco tab book by a hiralousously english chap (John Martin,from shoreham) made up as "Juan Martin" - very very easy stuff.Put that one away -this is the master at work.LISTEN to the cd and practice practice and practice some more, research the compas and the golpe and the other techniques, then get started -it WILL take you YEARS to master this beginners guide, like many others, i have nbeen playing western rcok and blue metal etc for decades, its all good with reverb and a wah wah? This is the real deal folks - you must master technique and be incredibly dedicated. Once you get a decent Rasgueado and say tremolo technique (far from easy) you will LOVE playing at least a version of this beautiful album. My personal fave is a farruca and he destroys my heart with his version here. Its missing a tap of the shoe (zapateado) but we cant expect everything. Indulge and immerse yourself in flamenco -learn Spanish and point out a sevillanas on the radio next time you are in a shop and spanish people have the radio on -they will love you. This is great, by the way......practice.

Paco Pena plays on tickover on this student edition, its great that he will play this way so that flamenco students can attempt to decipher what he plays, there is a good selection of flamenco styles on offer including a few obscure ones, the "Columbian" for example. my only regret is that a Tab for "Bulerias" a style which Paco plays particulaly well, is not included, probably because the student cd is based on a regular CD apptly named "Torques Flamencos".dont think you can pick this up and learn flamenco, cos you cant, unless you already have a working knowledge of flamenco playing teqnique, it will be a long winded affair, Spanish guitar playing is so diffrent from English traditional styles,I came to flamenco from County and folk flat picking style, so for me it could of not been any more diffrent, using a pick is out of the question with flamenco, even guitat solos are played using the fingers, So its not just a matter of picking up a book and off you go, there is a lot of highly rewarding work required, to accomplish may of the tunes contained in this book.If you are prepared to put in the hard work the rewards are well worth it.

Excellent, Paco De Pena starts the book with a short but excellent explanation of the techniques and an introduction of each piece. The book and is intended for flamenco students, so it is not for absolute beginners.

Fantastic music but not for the beginner or the faint hearted. I've been casually playing classical and electric guitars for 30 years and I find the music in this book a significant challenge, but I'm loving it. The tab gives good finger positions to help you along the way, it also describes some of the flamenco specific techniques which are required for the piece's. I love this book but it's going to be a long study period.

Its a great book.

An excellent book. Not suitable for beginners, but for people already playing it is a book that will teach you new skills. A bit complicated in parts, but if you want to improve that is what you want from a book. Also some nice tunes to learn.

Like others that have reviewed this item, I would agree this is not really suitable for beginners or students, more an advanced level of flamenco. Juan Martins book & CD is what you need 'El arte flamenco de la guitarra' That would be your best choice.

Don't be tricked by the use of the word 'student' in the title - this is not an absolute beginners book, or a book with 'how to' sections that will teach you in a step by step fashion. What it is though is a great set of example pieces which are fun to learn and really demonstrative of different palos. Easy enough to play if you're already playing flamenco and challenging enough to be great fun to learn. If you don't have a grounding in flamenco though, go get a teacher first (teachers trump books every time).