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.

Song List: 5th Avenue Swing Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow American Hornpipe An Comhra Donn Angels Rock Me To Sleep Bacon In The Skillet Balkan Sunset Barney's Goat Bennett's Favorite Reel Bill Cheathum Billy in the Lowground Black And White Rag Blackberry Blossom Blanchard's Hornpipe Bluesin' the Frets Bottom of Punch Bowl Hornpipe Brian Boru's March Brighton Beach Bring Back to Me My Wandering Boy Brunswick Dance Brush Creek Bumpin' Buster's Reel Buttermilk Jig Caleb's Gorge Cape Cod Reel Carolan's Draught Carrie's Dream Catawissa Reel Catskill Night Cold, Frosty Morning Coldwater Creek Collin's Quest Copthorne Blues Crazy Creek Cumberland Gap Cumberland Ridge D Lite Days Of 'Lang Syne Devil's Dream Dixie Breakdown Don't Go Out Tonight, My Darling/East Virginia Down In The Willow Garden Dublin Dance East Tennessee Blues Echo Canyon Echo Waltz Eighth Of January Eleven Mile Canyon Em Study Fair And Tender Ladies Far From Home Gladiator Reel Green Fields Of America Guster Halloween Harvest Moon Strathspey Haste to the Wedding Haul Away, Joe Heebie Jeebie Hens In The Kitchen High Barbaree High five Hills of Roane County Hooker's Hornpipe I Never Will Marry I'll Be All Smiles Tonight Indian Creek Isle Of Cumbrae Ivy Leaf Reel Jacks Fork Rendezvous Jackson's Jig Katy Trail Kitchen Girl Lady's Fancy Lark in the Morning League Reel Little House 'Round the Corner London Hornpipe Lonesome River Lost Indian Luckie Bawdin's Reel Maddie's Bonnet Martha's Cider Mere Point Midnight Flight Mississippi Basin Missouri Mud Molambe Morrison's Jig National Lancer's Hornpipe Neapolitan Threshers Night Voyage North Sea Obadiah Johnson Peeler Creek Waltz Powder Mill Raqad Red Fox Waltz Red Haired Boy Reel De Lapin Rickett's Hornpipe Roll On Buddy Sally In The Garden Shannon's Well Ships Are Sailing Reel Short Life Of Trouble Shuckin' The Corn Sidney Street Silver Bell Silverheel's Shuffle Song Soppin' The Gravy Soulard St Anne's Reel St Clair's Hornpipe Star Of Bethlehem Step Around Johnny Stepping Out Stone's Rag Storms Are On The Ocean Suffolk Stroll Sugar In The Gourd Sundance Swallowtail Jig Sweet Lillie Sweet Sunny South Swing LTD Swing Steppin' The Burning Of The Piper's Hut The Clergy's Lamentation The Cuckoo The Downfall Of Paris The Girl I Loved in Sunny Tennessee The Promenade The Rights Of Man The Teetotaller's Reel The Unfortunate Rake The Wild Mare Whiskey Before Breakfast Wilson's Hornpipe Witch Of The Wave Reel Young McGoldrick