An arrangement of the Flamenco style (palo) Tientos for solo acoustic guitar. The piece is based on traditional themes for the Tientos that I have expanded and elaborated on to weave together a self-contained composition that lies somewhere between Brahms? Hungarian Dances and Dvorak?s Slavic Dances. The composition is inspired by my studies with Juan Gonz�lez ?Triguito? in Madrid in the late 1960s. The Tientos belongs to the Tango family of Flamenco styles and is a slow majestic Flamenco rhythm that can reach great emotional depth in the hands of skilled guitarists. The Tientos is notated in standard 4/4 measures that although seemly simple can be deceptively complex because of the nearly inexhaustible possibilities for rhythmic variation. Lots of tapping can be found in the notation together with melody and chords, but also alone at rests which I leave in the notation. The tapping is perhaps a vestige of the African origin attributed to the Tango family of Flamenco palos. The arrangement ends with a finale (macho) that moves from the Tientos through a few bars of Tango to a finish in Rumba Gitana, the fastest and liveliest member of the Tango family.The Tientos is played in a Phrygian modal that moves from D minor through C and B-flat to A or A7. This variant of the so-called Andalusian cadence is typical for gitano Flamenco palos.The piece can be played by students of Flamenco guitar at the intermediate to advanced levels and contains many essential elements of serious (jondo) Flamenco guitar playing.

A Flamenco guitar solo in the Tarantas style. The Tarantas is a free-flowing slow moving Fandango from the region of Almeria which was earlier a principal mining region of Spain. The style is therefore sometimes called Mineras. Tarantas has long been one of my favorite Flamenco pieces for the guitar. It is notated in the key of B minor, based on a so-called ?Andalusian? cadence consisting of the chords B minor - A major (open B and E) - G major (open B and E) - F# major (with open G, B, and E). These dark and indefinite sounding chords allow plenty of room for the guitarist to open up emotionally with the audience.The material for the piece consists mostly of traditional themes that I have woven into a compositional whole along with a few of my own creations (falsetas). Songs for Tarantas are often expressions of loss of a loved-one in some mining tragedy. The long legato passages demand a complete mastery of the technique and should be played as fluidly as possible. The fanning (abanico) rasqueados in the finish of the piece can be new to guitarists coming to Flamenco from classical guitar. Demonstrations of this type of rasqueado can be found at my YouTube sites: https://youtu.be/sB-rDGtXK34 and https://youtu.be/OVBbUZFIj2s. Another type of rasqueado used frequently in the piece is a soft four finger rasqueado (cami) preceded by and followed by a brush up and down over the strings with the thumb (p-camip), accompanied by legatos on the base strings.The piece is accessible for advanced intermediate to advanced guitarists. As the Tarantas is played sens mesure, not demanding any competence of special flamenco rhythms, it is also a flamenco piece readily playable by classical guitarists. Classical guitarists should however be aware that the thumb plays the dominant role even in the more melodic passages.

A hard-hitting Flamenco guitar arrangement for Fandango de Huelva based on standard traditional themes. The Fandango de Huelva is a relatively fast and rhythmically strict Fandango compared to Fandangos from other regions in Andalusia (Granada, Ronda, M�laga, Almer�a) that are often slower and without a steady rhythm (sans mesure). Rhythmically, Fandango de Huelva consists of a repetition of a six beat phrase, that Flamencos refer to as a comp�s, with accents on the third and fifth beats (1 2 3 4 5 6). This is notated in the score as a repeated sequence of 4/4 and 2/4 measures with the first beat of the comp�s falling on the third beat of the first 4/4 measure. The first accented beat in the comp�s falls on the first beat of the following 2/4 measure and the second accented beat falls on the first beat of the 4/4 measure following. This asymmetrical distribution of accents in the phrase gives the Fandango a kind of choppy almost stop-and-go flow. Note the number of holds that occur in the melodic passages. These are signs of a feature of the Fandango that is used much more in the slower versions where the singer or guitarist can vary the rhythmic flow at will. The melodic passages in the piece are based on traditional songs for Fandango de Huelva, much as Brahms? Hungarian Dances were based on traditional romani melodies from Hungary. The piece ends with a so-called Macho, a finale, in Verdiales, a fast Fandango rhythm from the region of Malaga. The Verdiales runs in standard 3/4 measures.I learned the Fandango de Huelva rhythm in my studies with Juan Gonz�lez ?Triguito? in Madrid in the late 1960?s. I gathered further rhythmic and melodic material working with other Flamenco guitarists and singers, especially in El Mes�n de la Guitarra just off the Plaza Mayor, during my years in Spain.The Fandango de Huelva is a fast and lively style (palo) of Flamenco with lots of good old-fashioned strumming (rasgueados) together with long continuous melodic passages. There is quite a bit of tapping on the face of guitar (golpes) in combination with the strumming and left hand legatos. Some passages are played with the thumb in alzap�a, meaning that the thumb strikes in triplets down, up, and down again in rapid sequence in combination with glopes. The alzap�a and tapping really add to the gitano-andalusian flavour of the piece. The last measures of the finale in abanico (fanning) rasqueado style are a powerful sendoff. Audiences have always enjoyed the positive spirit and energy that the Fandango de Huelva radiates.