Farruca: Your Entryway to Flamenco Guitar

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Welcome to my mini-course on this beautiful flamenco form!

Farruca is one of the most accessible flamenco forms and therefore a great one to start with if you're just getting into flamenco. In this mini-course you will learn:

• To understand and play the building blocks of the flamenco form Farruca
• To play the Farruca "compás" in the keys of A minor and E minor
• How to play an excerpt from a Sabicas farruca using rasgueo, picado and arpeggio techniques
• A full A minor Farruca study to develop our skills

HERE WE GO

Let's get started learning the basic chords and basic rhythm of Farruca.

If you know a few open chords, you're ready to start playing Farruca. In this module we learn:

• The meaning of the term "compás" in flamenco
• The essential Farruca chords in the key of A minor
• How to understand and count the basic rhythm of Farruca
• How to play a traditional concluding phrase for Farruca that will make you instantly sound "flamenco" 

When you're done with the module, you'll be able to place accents correctly, switch chords at the right time, include a melodic variation inside the chords, and play a traditional Farruca conclusion. 

CHANGING KEYS

Farruca with a darker flavor

Although many traditional Farrucas are played in the key of A minor, another very common key for verruca (and for guitar in general) is the key of E minor. This key allows us to have a deeper and darker sound for the main (tonic) chord of the song. In this lesson you'll learn:

• How to transpose the chords you learned in the previous Farruca into a new key 
• How the "embellishments" of the first Farruca would be modified in this key to fit the scale
• The "flamenco way" of fingering a very common guitar chord
•  Play-along practice to get the rhythm and chords right

A lot of Spanish guitar music – not just Flamenco – you will find composed in the key of E minor because it maximizes our use of open strings. This lesson has given us the basic elements that we need to play an excerpt from a great Farruca in E minor by the maestro Sabicas coming up in the next module. 

FLAMENCO SOLO PIECES

An Actual Flamenco Solo from one of the Masters

In this module we dive into a doable excerpt of "Con Salero y Garbo." You'll get step-by-step instruction as you learn:

• How to play a "falseta" using the picado technique
• How to incorporate percussive techniques like the "golpe" to augment the Farruca
• How to best combine rasgueo, arpeggio and picado techniques for maximum clarity

Now you're on your way to playing some of the greatest guitar music ever written. In this next module I have a way to take what you've learned and your newfound skills to the Farruca form.

A COMPLETE STUDY

Play a Full Farruca That Will Hone Your Rasgueo, Arpeggio, and Picado Skills

Throughout my decades of teaching guitar and flamenco, I have noticed certain specific challenges a majority of students have. I composed this Farruca solo so that students can work on a variety of techniques while still staying squarely in this essential flamenco form. Some of the techniques this study will address:

• Picado, index and middle rest stroke alternation
• 4 types of rasgueo, from the simple index stroke to quintuplet rasgueo 
• Legato techniques for the left hand
• The reverse arpeggio with thumb bass movement

Once you have this down you'll use the play-along practice video with metronome to increase your speed and clarity, preparing you for more advanced flamenco pieces.

NOW WHAT?

The Next Steps 

Once you can play and understand the Farruca form, there is another form in 4/4 time you should move to next before moving on to more difficult forms like Alegrías and Bulerías. 

USING FARRUCA FOR TECHNIQUE AND MUSIC THEORY DEVELOPMENT

Exploring FARRUCA in a New Key

Continue to develop your understanding and proficiency with Farruca by transposing it to the uncommon key of D minor:

• Full tutorial exploring the key elements of Farruca in a different key 
• Review and transposition of the characteristic melodic and harmonic elements of the form in D minor
• Full guitar tabs of standard tuning and drop D version of Farruca in D minor 
• Play-along videos of the basic compás, melodic embellishments and drop D Farruca at 80bpm. 

Get a deeper understanding of this exciting flamenco form as well as juicy music theory tidbits that will benefit your fretboard knowledge and rhythmic awareness.

PDFs, TABS, PRACTICE VIDEOS AND ADVANCED SOLOS

Practice Aids and FULL Farruca Solos from Sabicas

Hone your flamenco guitar skills as you develop and build on what you've learned with tons of play-along practice aids including full traditional farruca. In this resource module, you get:

• Farruca in A minor and E minor PDFs and play-along videos
• An excerpt from a Sabicas E minor farruca
• A full A minor Farruca study with PDF and play-along practice video. Includes arpeggio and picado falsetas and rasgueo variations for practice
• 2 outstanding advanced farruca compositions by Sabicas with play-along videos: Punta y Tacon and Con Salero y Garbo

You’ll finish this course with an actual nylon string repertoire to call your own, a technique foundation that will pay off for years to come, and a constantly updated database of practice material for you to continually develop and refine your newfound skills.