Hal Leonard Flamenco Guitar Method

An excellent book. I have been a rock/metal guitarist for thirty odd years but have always yearned to get to grips with flamenco. After a number of false starts I found this book. It is just right. It gives you plenty of varied examples, explains all the flamenco terminology, has brilliant insights into fingerpicking techniques and has got me over the line to the point where I actually feel like I know what I am doing! Great value for the keys to the kingdom. Highly recommended!

I had a yen to learn some flamenco guitar and this looked like a fairly straightforward introduction. It begins with some nice background to flamenco, its guitarists and its guitars, and then the tuition begins. I play some classical guitar (grade 4) and that certainly helps. Although you could begin playing guitar with this book (if you knew flamenco was where you wanted to focus) there are much better ways to begin and I think this is really a book for people who already play at least something of another style - without that I suspect it could be frustrating, with that though I found initial progress was satisfyingly quick.You first work through a few exercises and an atmospheric chordal progression, but it's not at all long before you play your first short solo and it certainly sounds the part. Once you master Malaguenas on page 18, perhaps incorporating the two falsetas (musical interludes) you learn 4 pages later, you'll be beginning to get the feel for things... and the feel will feel good! The next two solos came surprisingly easy to me and again sounded great and you can start mixing them up too: my repertoire was expanding almost effortlessly. Then "Farruca" on page 30 felt like a full proper Flamenco piece, complete with shimmering "tremolo" technique - this requires a significant amount of practice, but it's worth it and I love playing this piece now, even if my tremolo isn't quite up to speed yet.I felt though that the book peaked there. This may be unfair but, although the next piece is OK, it is slightly duller, and then there are a couple of excerpts from Spanish classical pieces which are neither flamenco nor sound that good on their own. The book may improve thereafter but I decided to switch to Juan Martin's book  Play Solo Flamenco Guitar with Juan Martin Vol. 1  at this stage so I can't really say.So 4 stars may seem strange seeing as I stopped using this book half way through... but that first half gave me the flamenco bug and a small flamenco repertoire, as well as real satisfaction: I can play pieces which are not too difficult but which still sound straight out of the back streets of Seville, and which all but transport you there. And all for a little over £6!So this book was, as I said, a straight forward introduction and good value at that... In fairness I didn't give its second half a fair chance, but I've a feeling it's not as good as its first, or at least that it is significantly harder work... maybe I'm wrong and should give it another go some time, but, anyway, if you just want to dip your guitar playing fingers into the flamenco style then the first half of this book serves that purpose on its own, it is well worth the money and deserves the 4 stars by itself... if, with more tenacity, the second half is better than the impression I've passed on here, then hey that's a bonus. Play Solo Flamenco Guitar with Juan Martin Vol. 1

Not bad.....though not always thorough enough in explaining how to achieve results from techniques. Alright if you just want to dabble in the subject as I do but I wouldn't recommend it for the serious beginner. From what I've read it would be better to pay more and buy the Juan Martin And Patrick Campbell: Essential Flamenco Guitar - Volume 1 tutor book. Another option might be JUANITO PASCUAL-The Total Flamenco Guitarist.

Not a bad start. well laid out and easy to follow.

I've played the flamenco guitar for years but have still learned a few things from this book and CD. It's good for getting ideas on which you can build, depending on your level of expertise. Highly recommended, especially for the beginner/intermediate level guitarist. Excellent value for money.