Facts About the Flamenco Guitars

Flamenco guitars are typically smaller and lighter than the classical varieties.

Most people perhaps think of rhythmic, exuberant dancing when Spanish flamenco music is mentioned. However, guitar playing also plays a central role. Flamenco guitarists have adapted the standard, classical guitar over the centuries, in order to produce a guitar that is better suited to playing the musical style. As a result, the flamenco guitar has many distinguishing features.

History

According to the Classical Guitar Illustrated History, the incorporation of guitar accompaniment in flamenco music dates to at least the 18th century, when travelers in Andalusia made note of it. Prior to the guitar, flamenco musicians often relied on tambourines, violins and the mandolin-like bandurria in order to provide backing rhythms for singers and dancers. The renowned Spanish guitar maker Antonio de Torres was one of the primary forces behind standardizing a distinctive flamenco guitar, which he did in the mid-19th century.

Construction

While classical guitars typically have rosewood bodies with spruce or cedar tops, traditional flamenco guitar bodies consist entirely of cypress, as the Spanish language website Enforex points out. The guitars utilize violin-style push-pegs on their headstocks for tuning the strings, as opposed to metal gears. They also often feature specialized tapping plates or finger-guards next to their sound holes known as golpeadores.

Size & Weight

Flamenco guitars are generally smaller and lighter than their classical counterparts, which gives them a more percussive and sharper sound. According to Classical Guitar Illustrated History, many historians believe that these qualities were the result of a lack of resources available to early flamenco guitar makers.

Playing Style

If you are thinking of learning to play the flamenco guitar, be prepared to multitask. As Enforex mentions, when playing in the traditional style, flamenco guitarists tap out rhythms on their golpeadores while simultaneously strumming chords or picking notes in a melody. Flamenco guitar playing is very fluid and, similar to jazz guitar, relies more heavily on improvisation than the memorization and precise reproduction of certain sequences of notes.

Flamenco Guitarists

A traditional flamenco group consists of two male dancers, three or four female dancers, one or two singers and two guitarists, who are known as tocaores, as Classical Guitar Illustrated History notes. However, many modern tocaores now take on lead roles in music ensembles instead of simply providing accompaniment. One of the most celebrated modern flamenco guitarists is Jose Fernandez Torres, also known as Tomatito, who was born in Almeria, Spain. Other well-known tocaores include Paco Pena, Paco de Lucia, Enrique de Melchor and Manolo Sanlucar.

References

• Classical Guitar Illustrated History: History of Flamenco
• Enforex: Flamenco Guitar