El Arte Flamenco de la Guitarra (With Free Audio CD) (Guitar Solo)

in his iconic book Juan Martin goes step by step through the basic compas, llamadas and falsettas, rhythms and structure. It really is a great foundation to this fascinating and complex subject. Highly recommended.

Very old, as it is, and I think out of print now, but regardless, this book is the absolute best book for studying flamenco guitar. Well weighted for beginners (although if you are completely new to stringed instruments you may struggle), and progresses at pace to introduce a lot of concepts. In particular it introduces and reinforces the concepts of 'compás' in all the various forms, which is essential to know. It also has detailed descriptions, with photos, of various left and right-hand techniques to get you playing right. I don't know of any other book that does this nearly as well. As a body of work, this book, plus Juan's two 'Play Solo Flamenco Guitar' volumes form an excellent study course. I'm not as convinced by his 'La Guitarra Flamenca', and will review that separately. I haven't seen his 'Essential Flamenco Guitar' volumes yet, though will probably end up getting them.

This is a fantastic book to learn flamenco. Not only does it teach about the various flamenco styles, Sevillanas, bulerias, sequriyas, it also teaches basic and more advanced flamenco techniques and gives a history about flamenco music itself. I've had this book for around 18 months and I think it would be difficult to find a better book as an introduction to flamenco. There is also a CD where the maestro plays all the tunes in the book. Unless you are a proficient guitarist I would recommend that you have lessons as well as not everything can be learned from a book - this is true in my case anyway. If you get the chance to see Juan Martin in concert, take it !

I recently found myself with a beautiful loan guitar on my hands, so I decided to buy a bunch of books and rekindle my old, self-tought, flamenco flame (I've also, in the past, been to Andalusia a lot to experience this breath-taking tradition and even have a go at the dance, cante and palmas). I got G M's Fl. I, II and Gipsy Gtr and Martin's El Arte, 42 Solos and La Guitarra Fl. All have been absolutely invaluable to me and possibly the best purchases you can make starting out (and believe me, I've browsed most of 'em...)

Some years old now but a top class book which stands the test of time

An excellent book, with good technical exercises from day 1. Gets you playing early on, which is encouraging, although it doesn't take long for the pieces to get quite challenging. The music is very good indeed, which makes it rewarding to play, and is recognisable to the stuff he plays in gigs and on albums. If I have a criticism, it's that, once you've gone through it (am working my may through, it takes time) you'll be able to play well, but a bit more on the underlying muscality - an explanation of the scales (with exercises) and chord progressions would be useful. It isn't there. Another plus, however, is that his passages on element of flamenco are worthwhile reading, and his emphasis on looking to the cante for one's inspiration. His observation that a true flamenco guitarist should be able to accompany is, whilst dispiriting for those of us who don't live in Spain (and rhythmically challenged), true nonetheless.

i read other books but keep coming back to this. the more i progress the better i realise it is

Good