At the risk of seeming politically incorrect, what scale do I use to make my guitar sound like that of a Spaniard, or a Mexican (I believe it's called Flamenco, but I could easily be wrong)... You know, like they show it in the movies, with the lightning fast runs into a quickly strummed major chord haha.
The closest I've found would be the Phrygian, but something doesn't sound quite right... Help would be greatly appreciated :)
Thanks in advanced,
Dave
The Phrygian Dominant scale might be closer to what you're looking for.
From E the notes are:
E F G# A B C D E
Thank you very much for the quick reply..
And ya that sounds better thanks
I suppose I should have been able to figure out that one myself haha not much of a difference
Thanks
That was actually taught to me as the "Spanish Phrygian."
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
It's often called the "Spanish Phrygian", but it's perhaps more enlightening to think of it as harmonic minor with the V chord featuring rather heavily.
Spanish/Mexican songs are almost invariably in A minor, but with heavy use of the E (V), F(bVI) and G (bVII) chords, plus an occasional C (III).
I once watched a Spanish singer/guitarist for an hour play about 20 songs and they were all like that. In very many of them tension is built by alternating E and F (using a barre chord), then resolving to the Am occasionally.
And yes, the notes of A harmonic minor are E F G# A B C D E, only arranged A B C D E F G# A, plus the odd G from the natural minor.
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Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Thank you all very much :)
First, I'm not a specialist.
Now, flamenco is not Mexican music and, for example, rancheras are not Spanish songs. They are completely different styles of music.
Hbriem, just a curiosity, who was that singer? Did he play pop?
Hbriem, just a curiosity, who was that singer? Did he play pop?
I don't know who he was. It was at a kind of "European Christmas festival" in Manchester, but he wasn't playing christmassy music. I have no idea what he was playing. It was all in Spanish and I recognised none of the songs. It was not pure flamenco although he frequently used the rasquedo. I'd say "old fashioned Spanish pop/folk based on flamenco" for want of a better description. Not very different from mariachi bands I've heard but different from the pop Spaniards play on FM radio. Lots of "corazon" and "ay-ay-ay-ay" in the lyrics.
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Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Lots of "corazon" and "ay-ay-ay-ay" in the lyrics.
LOL! Great description!
The "corazón" and "ay-ay-ay-ay" and the same kind of music, chords, lyrics, rhythms, etc. sound like "bolero". Although the people of the south of Spain could also play similar rhythms with some flamenco-like addings.
Difficult to say anything or help here :?
En lo personal prefiero la sonora mexicana, obviamente soy fanática de los mariachis y es `por eso que me encanta tener en cuenta este tipo de melodías.
En lo personal prefiero la sonora mexicana, obviamente soy fanática de los mariachis y es `por eso que me encanta tener en cuenta este tipo de melodías.
Which translates more or less as:
Personally I prefer the Mexican sound, obviously I am a fan of mariachis and that's why I love to take into account this type of melodies.
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