Flamenco Style Strums

We study Flamenco style strumming techniques.

Exercise 1 - Main techniques

This exercise includes 3 chords but we only use the open E major shape as shown in the lesson video. This means:

• Playing a normal E major chord

• Moving the whole shape up a fret to produce the second chord

• Then, up two more frets to produce the third chord

Flamenco style

This technique is essentially a downstroke, where each finger plays through the chord separately but quickly - from the 4th finger through to the 1st finger.

An even and consistent sound with some control over dynamics (loud or soft) is the main goal for great flamenco strumming.

Start by:

• Making a fist

• Individually stretch out each finger - we can think of this as a 'fan' - to 'fan' out your fingers

• Start slow and focus on each finger having as much power and control as the next

Strumming pattern

• Our first downstroke is the flamenco strum

• Then we open up our wrist to fluidly up-strum and down-strum using fingers/nails

  "Strum-and-2-and-3-and-4"

• Downstrokes occur on the beat and upstrokes happen on each 'and'.

For each chord change, the video details how we play during each bar. Using our ears, we can hear and try to feel the chord changes.