Mel Bay Art Of Rasgueado [Paperback]

Ioannis Anastassakis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 24, 2002

The rasgeuado technique is without a doubt the most impressive and characteristic element of the flamenco guitar. Author Ioannis Anastassakis has studied and researched the rasgueado technique of every significant flamenco guitarist in the world, and has compiled his work in this book in an easy and understandable notation form, with excellent explanations of each rasgueado technique. From this book, every flamenco and non-flamenco guitarist, from aficionado to professional, can learn everything about the rasgueado technique and its interpretation. Rumba rhythms and the golpe technique are also discussed. Notation and tablature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Mel Bay Publications (October 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786649224
• ISBN-13: 978-0786649228
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AUTHOR'S NOTE: Book Content Clarifications, October 6, 2003

By 

Ioannis Anastasakis "ioannis_anastassakis" (Athens, Greece) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mel Bay Art Of Rasgueado (Paperback)

I am the author of this book, and I wanted to take the chance to clarify a few points about it.
This is a Rasgueado instructional manual. The Rasgueado is probably the most characteristic technique of the Flamenco guitar, and as such I thought it deserved its own publication!
However, even though all the included examples are taken from the Flamenco guitar repertoire, this is not a Flamenco guitar method. This is a Rasgueado method. The book does includes a fair assortment of Flamenco falsetas, but only ones that demonstrate the appropriate use of the verious Rasgueados forms. There are NO complete compositions or even lengthy falsetas included, and only the techniques relevant to rasgueados (eg. the Golpe) are explained
If you want to de-mystify the Rasgueado techniques of the Flamenco guitar(ists), I think you will find this book very helpful, whether you are a Flamenco, Classical or Fingerstyle Acoustic player. Thanks for reading!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars money well spent!, December 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mel Bay Art Of Rasgueado (Paperback)

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago, after reading the previous
review. I've been playing the Flamenco guitar for 10 years now,
semi-professionally and I think that the subject of rasgueados is probably
the most difficult of this guitar style! So I was very curious and
interested to see how the author was going to handle the descriptions of
all these convoluted right hand strumminh finger patterns.
Well, I'm very happy to report that he did a very good & thorough job! The
book was way more complete than I initially expected. As the previous
reviewer mentioned, there are more rasgueado patterns included than you can
shake a very big stick at, and they are all very clearly labeled, defined
and explained. I see this book becoming a staple in the serious classical
guitarists' library, since it offers several rasgueado pattern suggestions
that would work much much better for the classical guitar repertoire that
uses this technique. I think that the included examples helped clarify the
materials and gave me an immediate point of reference for ther use of each
specific pattern.
Having said all these good things, I do have a small complaint! It would
have been really helpful to have either an audio or a video recording of
the patterns. I emailed the author about this "omission" and he replied
that he plans to include both audio and video samples for most of the
included examples at his new WWW site (www.ioannis.org). If that turns out
to be the case, it would be a great addition to the book (PLUS, it will be
free, I think.)
To sum up, I liked this book. I felt it was really worth the money spent
on it, it seemed to be exhaustively researched and well-organized. The
author also mentioned to me that he has completed a new guitar
instructional book for Mel Bay publications, that "deals very exhaustively
with the Tremolo technique for both the classical & flamenco guitar, to be
published in 2004". This will definitely be on the top of my to-buy list!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Rasgueado Manual, November 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Mel Bay Art Of Rasgueado (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. Each one of the included Rasgueado techniques is clearly explained, with musical examples and each finger stroke is
distinctly described. I have been playing flamenco guitar for over 15 years and I still did not know more than half of the presented Rasgueado
patterns! 2-3 of them have already found their way into my regular playing. I wish I had this book available when I first started playing flamenco
guitar, it would have been worth its weight in gold!
The author has structured the book very carefully, in a way that the rasgueados get progressively more challenging and more interesting. I also
liked that the author explained the origins of each rasgueado pattern, or its "inventor" and that he categorized them according to their use(16th
notes, quintuplets, Traditional vs Contemporary, anchored vs free-floating etc). The extensive list of Classical guitar pieces that use Rasgueado
techniques was a very thoughtful inclusion. I also found the final chapter (Rumba basic rhythms and variations) particularly interesting.
However, keep in mind that this is NOT a TEACH YOURSELF FLAMENCO GUITAR book! For that, you should consider getting Juan Serrano's
books & DVDs or Juan Martin's and Oscar Herrero's instructional materials. BUT, If you want to de-mystify the Rasgueado techniques of the
Flamenco guitar(ists), I cannot currently think of a better way to do it than though working closely with this book! It is also good to see the Mel

Bay book range expanding to include more 'advanced' pedagogical works. The only criticism I might have is that it would be nice to have access
to CD recording or, even better, considering the subject matter, a DVD/Video tape of the included rasgueado examples.
BOTTOM LINE: An excellent addition to any Flamenco/Classical guitarist's library.