The rumba is one of the most exciting rhythms to play on acoustic guitar. It's a rhythm that is pretty familiar to the "western ear" as opposed to many flamenco forms that follow a much more complicated rhythmic structure. In my decades of teaching guitar, I have composed many studies for...
When you listen to classical guitar music, you're likely to see works adapted for guitar from composers like Bach, Beethoven and others who weren't writing for the guitar, but the pieces have been adapted to the instrument. However, you seldom hear the works from Russian composer Pyotr...
Take a quick tour of five of the best and most iconic gypsy jazz songs. In this video I briefly explain what gypsy jazz is and some of the vital elements of this style, pioneered by Django Reinhardt in 1930’s Paris with violinist Stephane Grapelli. If you’re into Latin guitar or...
The Argentine tango is a musical genre and dance style that originated in the late 19th century in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina, evolving from a mixture of European and indigenous musical styles.
The tango is characterized by its syncopated rhythm and intense,...
"Blue Bossa" is a jazz standard composed by the late American saxophonist and flutist Kenny Dorham. It was first recorded on his 1962 album "Afro-Cuban" and since then it has become a staple in jazz repertoire, often played by jazz musicians in live performances and jams.
"Blue Bossa" is...
Malagueña is a Spanish song that has become one of the most well-known and beloved traditional folk melodies in the world. The origins of the song are somewhat unclear, but it is thought to have originated in the region of Málaga, Spain (hence the name) in the late 19th or early...
Let's look into the history of the nylon string guitar...
The nylon string guitar (most simply call it the classical guitar) has a long and storied history, with roots dating back to the Renaissance period in Europe.
The modern classical guitar can trace its origins back to the lute, which was a...
Gypsy jazz guitar is one of the most exciting styles to play for Guitarist at any level. That characteristic "la pompe" rhythm coupled with beautiful melodic phrases often incorporating "gypsy" elements like the harmonic minor scale, Hungarian (or gypsy) minor scale, and copious ornaments (like...
The Gipsy Kings basically own the entire genre of rumba flamenca. There are other artists who have capitalized on the guitar rumba style like Ottmar Liebert, Jesse Cook, Strunz and Farah and many others. (We can trace the history of this style back to Paco de Lucia's Entre dos Aguas.) But no...
The "rumba flamenca" style of guitar playing is so fun and there are so many songs out there to play. Not to mention a tremendous variety of ways to strum a rumba, as I talked about in my "Play Romanza as a Rumba" video lesson. In this arrangement, I've included a new variation on the rumba...
Here's one of the exercises I do just about every day for my classical guitar technique: Allegro by Mauro Giuliani. This is not the more well known Allegro by Giuliani but rather a seldom-heard piece that is made up entirely of the double arpeggio technique where we play all fingers of the right...
There are so many fun and beautiful songs to play in the nylon string guitar universe: classical, Spanish classical, flamenco, bossa nova, tango, choro, etc. etc. the list of different styles goes on and on.
But the more songs you learn you start to notice similarities between them and you might...
The Gipsy Kings basically own the musical sub-genre of "Rumba Flamenca" - their sound is so distinctive because they are capitalizing on one of the most familiar and accessible latin rhythms there is: the rumba. Here I show you how to play a rumba the way the Gipsy Kings do it, which...
Wow this video was a long time ago (11 years!) but here I am in 2022 still playing, teaching and loving the Spanish ballad Romanza. I continue to believe that this song - after new learners have got some of the fundamental techniques under their belt - has an entire universe...
