Reviewed by:
Norman Paul Kliman
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Óscar Herrero Flamenco guitar Step by Step Vol. I RGB Arte Visual 1997 PAL format See details Buy NTSC format See details Buy

	Overview

In the last five years a lot of new material has been published that will greatly improve the way in which flamenco guitar can be learned through transcriptions. The most important of these new developments is the use of video to show how the techniques are actually performed. Nothing is better than a knowledgeable and well-organized teacher that can actually explain the material that he plays, face-to-face, but this is of course not always possible, due to the geographical situation or resources of the student.

	Materials included

Oscar Herrero has created a series of videos that explain the intricacies of flamenco guitar, step-by-step. I examined the first part of the series, which consists of a video of over an hour of performance and instruction by Mr. Herrero, an experienced and capable guitarist with a very well-structured format. Accompanying the video is a small booklet with transcriptions of the exercises and falsetas. Mr. Herrero's comments are all in Spanish, with a voice-over in English that sounds remarkably like the typical narration of nature documentaries. The quality of the sound and images is good.

	Contents

The video opens with a lively bulería performed by Óscar Herrero accompanied by a percussionist on cajon. The instruction begins with the most basic elements: posture, tuning, and hand positions. Several approaches are shown, and the disadvantages of each are briefly analyzed. I found this introduction to be very basic but with this information the video will serve absolute beginners in flamenco guitar, even those that have no experience with the guitar in general.
The next part shows how to use the thumb alone or in combinations with the index. These combinations constitute a very important mechanism that has always been used in flamenco guitar, but is not often recognized as an intrinsic part of this style. Several different exercises are offered to develop these techniques.
The next part deals with different rasgueado patterns for tango rhythms. Óscar Herrero has wisely chosen to address this fundamental technique early on in a simple 4/4 rhythm, ideal for novice players. The fingering for several different rasgueados is shown and then applied to a series of basic falsetas that use the thumb, as previously explained. In this way the material is well-organized and fun to play, but the exercises themselves are not at all musical and will have the student running through very mechanical-sounding routines that use no left-hand fretting. This isolates the right hand technique but also involves ringing open strings that sound unpleasant and will quickly become boring despite their great usefulness. On the other hand, the student can of course apply these patterns to any fretted chord or chords in order to make the exercises more musical. For this and other reasons I feel that the video is an excellent addition to a beginner's learning resources, and even makes for a very sound starting point, but should be complemented with other material. The rasgueados shown are very effective and widely used by today's players but it will take most beginners at least a year to build up the muscles and coordination needed to play them strongly and cleanly. This comment should not be interpreted as a reflection of a defect in the material presented here, but rather of its brevity.
The next section shows the do's and don'ts of picado technique, with more exercises.
Finally, the video concludes with more tangos and soleá falsetas that incorporate all the techniques covered.

	Comments

As a general overview of the materials there are several comments worth making. The booklet is quite small, fitting inside the video cassette case, and the notation was hand-written by Óscar Herrero over normal five- and six-line staves. This will have some players squinting at times, but everything is clearly represented. The 30-page booklet includes a glossary of terms at the back but lacks a guide to the video indicating at exactly what point the transcriptions can be found on the tape. This is done with on-screen indications, but the exact minutes and seconds of tape position are not provided (although this can easily be penciled in by the student).
Mr. Herrero's comments throughout the video are informative, but rather dry and authoritative (I don't recall seeing him smile even once). On many occasions he offers advice on what not to play but rarely explains why, and there are several unnecessary close-ups of his face following his stern and deadpan delivery.

	Rating

In summary, the material is presented in a very organized manner, and thoroughly but briefly covers the techniques of thumb, thumb and index, rasgueado, and picado. There are several falsetas for tangos and soleá, as well as many useful exercises, although the latter are not based on musical ideas. Mr. Herrero clearly explains what to do and what to avoid, and will quickly have beginning students correctly playing several fragments of basic flamenco guitar. On a scale of one to five I would rate this as a four.

Norman Kliman