All About Spanish Guitar Fighting

Fight is a method of sound production in which the performer strikes the strings with his right hand, thus creating a certain rhythm. Spanish guitar fighting is a type of musical accompaniment. As a rule, guitarists do not start by mastering this particular method of sound production, because it requires some training, technique and knowledge from the performer.

The essence of Spanish fighting is that the right hand strikes the guitar strings, while the fingers on the left hand play the chords. It sounds very nice, and it seems that it is not easy to learn this technique. But for those who want not only to master the basics of chords, but also to play for real, nothing is impossible, especially now, when all the necessary information is freely available.

This method is necessary primarily in order to perform songs, romances and, of course, flamenco music, for which it was originally invented. In this case, chords alone are not enough, the accompaniment will be incomplete. The combination of chords and battle makes the musical accompaniment of the song more complete, rich, beautiful.

The Spanish type of combat is called "fan" because visually it looks like an expanding and closing fan. The fingers of the right hand seem to fly out of a fist, the strings are moved one by one, and thus the sound acquires the flavor characteristic of flamenco music.

The main feature of Spanish combat is that both hands are involved in this manner of execution, with all 10 fingers. Coordinating your hands can be tricky, but starting to master the fight at a slow pace will make it easier. The statement that the Spanish technique requires great skill from the performer will be absolutely fair, and it will not be possible to master it quickly, “off the bat”. It is necessary not only to know the basics of musical notation, but also to constantly train, develop the flexibility of the joints of the finger phalanges, do exercises to give them mobility, because in Spanish guitar fighting it is those whose fingers literally slide along the strings that succeed. Someone is given this by nature, while most performers need long-term practice. The age at which a person begins learning is also important - in children and adolescents, the joints are more mobile, thanks to this they quickly achieve success in playing the strings.

The common name for all Spanish fighting techniques is rasgeado. Before starting to learn authentic pieces of music, a beginner guitarist needs to master a number of elements of rasgeado. These are ascending, descending, circular rasgeado, and index finger fighting. In all types of rasgeado, the thumb acts the same - plucking the bass strings. The nuances are in the actions of the rest of the fingers of the right hand.

In upward fingering, the guitarist takes turns using his forefinger to pinky across each string. Thus, with short intervals the strings from the 6th to the first one "run through" all fingers, except for the thumb. Of course, you need to start learning this technique at a slow pace, accelerating only when the rhythm is impeccable. It should be remembered that in a high-quality rasgeado, the sound is continuous due to the absence of time intervals between successive finger strikes on the strings.

In the downward rasgeado technique, the fingers act in the opposite way. The fingers go up the strings, not down, and in a different order - from the little finger to the index finger. For the sound of Spanish guitar striking to be complete, the performer needs to be able to combine both techniques.

In a circular rasgeado, the upper and lower are combined. Only those who have made significant progress in the technique of the first and second elements can master it. You need to start the performance with a slow pace, gradually increasing it.

The rasgeado technique, which uses only the index finger, is optimal for beginners. It is she who gives an accurate idea of ​​what a fight is. When learning this technique, the performer must hit each string in turn using only one finger (as the name suggests, the index finger). Once this technique is mastered, you can move on to other fingers. After the strikes with all the fingers have been worked out, you can proceed to the coordination of the fingers: first two, then three, then all four.

To master the technique of Spanish combat, you first need to be able to place a barre. If it is not possible to learn to play the instrument in person, you can watch video tutorials for beginners, in which the entire sequence of actions is described and shown in detail.

Having mastered the barre, you can proceed directly to the study of combat techniques. Well, if a beginner guitarist is already familiar with the standard six-beat, then learning Spanish technique will be more understandable for him. The difference between the second technique and the first is that in it the fingers do not just move along the strings, but open up from a clenched fist in turn and strike them, creating a characteristic "Spanish" mood.

Watch the video for Spanish guitar fighting.