4 Essential Flamenco Guitar Lessons to Try

The Spanish E Chord

To play the spanish E chord:

• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)

Can you see how the E shape has been moved up one fret? Let’s see what other chords we can apply this too.

The A Chord

This is our standard A chord.

To learn this chord, go here: 3 Easy Ways To Play The A Chord On Guitar

The Spanish A Chord

Now let’s move our standard A chord up one fret.

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

The D Chord

Here’s what our standard D chord looks like:

Learn this chord here: 3 Easy Ways to Play the D Chord on Guitar

The Spanish D Chord

Now let’s apply our method of moving our D chord up one fret, to play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 3rd fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the high E string. (1st string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 4th fret of the B string. (2nd string.)

The Final Trick

One last trick you can do is move these chords up the fret board.

You can move each chord to the following frets:

• 3rd fret.
• 5th fret.

Let’s apply this to each of our open chords.

The E Chord

Notice how it gradually moves up each fret from the 2nd, to the 3rd and then to the 5th.

The A Chord

The D Chord

This a really great way of giving your standard chords a new exciting flavour.

Flamenco Guitar Lessons – Essential Flamenco Chord Progressions

Now we’ve learned some flamenco chords, let’s take a look at some classic flamenco chord progressions.

For this section, we’ll be using the key of Am. Our first chord progression uses the following chords.

Some of these chords use barring technique, if you don’t know how to do this technique, watch this video:

For this progression, we’ll be allowing four beats per chord. Like this:

That sounds like this:

As an added challenge, try applying some fingerstyle techniques to this progression.

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Adapting Your Chords

Just like before, we can adapt the standard voicing’s of our chords to give them a Spanish flavour!

Here are our revised versions:

The names of the chords sound a lot worse than what they actually are. Don’t worry about the names, just focusing on playing them.

Here’s the tab:

All together, they sound like this:

Other Chord Progressions

As well as our standard Am – G – F and E chord progression, there’s also another chord progression that features heavily in flamenco music. This progression is slightly different, as it doesn’t use standard open chords. Here it is:

Watch this video to learn how to play this classic chord progression:

Even though this sounds Spanish already, we can add finger picking to this progression to bring it to life.

Finger Picking Pattern 1

In our first variation, we’re still playing the same chord progression, but this time we’re using finger picking to add interest.

In this variation, we’re going to be using our thumb to play the D string (4th string), and our 1st and 2nd fingers together to play the G (3rd string) and B strings (2nd string) simultaneously.

You may notice that there are a few extra letters and numbers above and below the tab.

These mean:

• P = thumb.
• i = first finger.
• m = second finger.

These are the fingers on the right hand which you’ll use to play each chord.

Where as the numbers relate to what fingers you use for each chord, like this:

• 1 = first finger.
• 2 = second finger.
• 3 = third finger.

It’s important that you use the correct fingers in this pattern, as it will help you to play it smoothly and accurately.

Finger Picking Variation #2

In this variation, we’re going to be plucking each note separately. This sounds great and is a fantastic for improving the dexterity in your right hand.

Flamenco Guitar Lessons – Essential Flamenco Scales

Even though it can be great fun to play classic flamenco chord progressions. Flamenco playing wouldn’t be complete without improvisation.

In this section we’re going to learn:

• A natural minor scale.
• A harmonic minor scale.

To learn about scales, go here: Learn Guitar Scales In 8 Easy Steps

The A Natural Minor Scale

This is a must-know scale for any aspiring flamenco player.

Make sure you spend a bit of time playing this scale slowly, it can be tricky to get this scale underneath your fingers.

One of the best ways to intergrate this scale into your playing is to learn some spanish licks. Let’s learn some.

Flamenco Guitar Lessons – Lick #1

This first lick sounds great and works perfectly over an A minor chord.

Make sure you spend a bit of time getting it right. You can either use your fingers to pick this or you can use a pick!

Make sure you play each note with accuracy.

Flamenco Guitar Lessons – Lick #2

This lick is a little tricker than the previous one, it descends down the scale and then switches to the high E string. (1st string.)

This can be a difficult change, so make sure you practice this slowly.

Now we’ve learnt a couple of licks which use the A natural minor scale, let’s take a look at the harmonic minor scale.

The A Harmonic Minor Scale

This scale sounds fantastic and is THE perfect scale for spanish guitar playing.

Here’s the tab:

Can you see the difference between this scale and the natural minor scale? It’s the seventh note. We’ve sharpened it.

This is what gives the harmonic minor scale it’s extra kick.

By playing this scale on its own, it doesn’t give you that flamboyant sound which is commonly associated with flamenco music. However, what we can do is create some licks from this scale.

Flamenco Guitar Lessons – Lick #1

The first lick is a bit of a finger twister as it descends down the scale. To enhance this lick, try and add some hammer on’s and pull off’s to this lick.

To learn about this technique, go here: How To Play Lead Guitar

Flamenco Guitar Lessons – Lick #2

The final lick we’re going to learn features a flurry of notes. If you want to instantly sound like a flamenco god, learn this lick.

Here’s the tab:

When you play this lick, make sure that you don’t rush. Play each phrase slowly, then gradually build up the speed.

Playing licks, is a great way of integrating a ‘Spanish’ sound into your guitar playing, however playing them on your own is no fun. When practicing these licks, try and use them in a musical situation.

Here’s a backing track which you could play all of these licks over:

Once you’re comfortable playing these licks, try improvising with the natural minor and harmonic minor scales!