A beautiful part of practicing your instrument is discovering new musical ideas, tricks, etc. Sometimes you come across these great little ideas, even by mistake, that really inspire you. Well, as I'm always coming across something, here's what happened this week:
I love flamenco music, especially the guitar playing. They take a nylon string guitar to another level. The sound, tone, chords, etc. Its so raw and beautiful. One of my favorite flamenco guitarists is Vicente Amigo (link). I was checking out his Solea, Mezquita, from his album, Un Momento en el Sonido, and was struck by some beautiful chords. Check this out:
Beautiful, dark, E chord (no third) with a flat 9 (the 'F'). In fact its that flat 9 that gives it that biting sound as its a half step away from the E and rings against with a beautiful dissonance. You hear in all the time in flamenco music.
Play with some of the notes around it like this (somewhat reminiscent of a bit what Vicente plays at the beginning of Sting's track, Send Your Love):
Take it a step further and lead it into another great E with a flat 9:
The above is close to what Vicente plays around :37 in Mezquita. Listen here.
Here are a couple more versions of the chord around the neck:
Have fun with it,
PA