Can I teach myself rasgeado?

[IcyScythe]

I've been playing CG for about 4 months now, (played electric for a year before that), and I REALLY REALLY want to learn rasgeado technique. I'm learning El Vito and I'm making excellent progress (my electric practice consisted almost entirely of 4 hours/day of scales which has carried over a lot) but the strumming parts sound terrible because I don't really know what I'm doing. I've ordered a book on "The Art of Rasgeuado" and I've watched some youtube instruction vids... do you guys think I can learn this on my own? I had a teacher for the first 4 months but I'm on my own for now for various reasons. How should I practice it? Should I use 4 finger technique?

 

Also, I've noticed that they always have the thumb pressing down on the E string... are you not supposed to hit the low E when strumming?

[Stackabones]

I've been playing CG for about 4 months now, (played electric for a year before that), and I REALLY REALLY want to learn rasgeado technique. I'm learning El Vito and I'm making excellent progress (my electric practice consisted almost entirely of 4 hours/day of scales which has carried over a lot) but the strumming parts sound terrible because I don't really know what I'm doing. I've ordered a book on "The Art of Rasgeuado" and I've watched some youtube instruction vids... do you guys think I can learn this on my own? I had a teacher for the first 4 months but I'm on my own for now for various reasons. How should I practice it? Should I use 4 finger technique? Also, I've noticed that they always have the thumb pressing down on the E string... are you not supposed to hit the low E when strumming?

 

I'm not a flamenco/CG player, but I use some of the techniques involved. "The Art of Rasgueado" book is excellent imo. I got the impression from the book that many players use different amount of fingers (and combinations) ... I'd guess they learned it one way from a teacher and either stuck with it or added variations?

 

I've noticed that also about the thumb. Check out alzapua techniques. You'll notice that some use the thumb to strum.

 

More.

 

[YOUTUBE]55Rge5AfnRY[/YOUTUBE]

 

Again, I just borrow stuff from here and there. I'm by no means an expert at any of these techniques!

[ChiyoDad]

[YOUTUBE]iMUwEfCP5Ko[/YOUTUBE]

 

I found Charles Sedlak's Flamenco Made Easy to be a good DVD if you just want to acquire the correct strumming skills. The video above is a sample of his skills and is the prelude to the instructional section. This is actually the one DVD that I am currently focusing on and using to study and develop rasgueados.

 

Yes, he looks like someone who should be teaching you electric guitar rather than flamenco. I too was rather skeptical about his DVD until I got to rent it from Netflix. It turns out that Charles is a good and experienced teacher and his DVD focuses on what most folks want to do ... just get started with a good number of authentic strums.

 

[YOUTUBE]ZslZqQqwo7c[/YOUTUBE]

 

Another good resource is Sal's Flamenco Soapbox. Sal has a YouTube channel with all his instructional videos. I donated $25 via PayPal to the fellow for his efforts.

 

I haven't yet had a chance to examine the Graf-Martinez method that Stackabones featured with a video in his post. Maybe ChiyoMama will get it for me. Then again, she probably won't.