These are only two of Juan's titanic falsetas from the legendary 1970 recording "El cante de Fernanda y Bernarda de Utrera." The first is heard in the intro to Bernarda's earth-shaking bulería "Todo el mundo nos separa."
The transcription is written in 3/4 time, and each of the 12 beats in the bulería rhythm is represented by a quarter note. Thick bar lines are used to divide whole compases between beats 12 and 1, but only appear at the beginning of the transcription.
Everything in the first four bars, aside from the slurs, can be played using a thumb-thumb-index (p-p-i) pattern with your striking hand. Notice how this involves alternating the stress between the first and second thumbed notes, as the ternary (three-part) mechanism is played in eighth notes.
At the end of the fourth bar, an unvarying pattern of slurs descends from the third-string B flat to the sixth-string G. The symbol "G" seen in the fifth and sixth bars indicates a loud fingernail tap, although there are other fleshy thumps that aren't indicated due to the lack of space. From the sixth-string G, Juan slurs on the fifth string up to the open fourth and back down to the sixth.
Starting at the sixth bar sixth beat, Juan's right- and left-hand moves clearly display his use of strong rhythmic patterns and harmonic dissonance. Use your thumb for the sixth, fifth and fourth strings and your index for the third. If the sixth-string F sharp and third-string G sound too dissonant for you, think Dsus4 and listen to the recording. If you have trouble keeping the thumping counterpoint mechanism under control, you can try gradually increasing the intensity throughout each pattern. For example, at the sixth bar eighth beat, back off of your attack at the first F sharp, and gradually increase the intensity, peaking at the sixth-string G at beat 12.
The falseta ends with an extra half-compás of Juan's tidal-wave rasgueado. Juan is credited with the creation and development of the q-am-p rasgueado (thumb upstroke, combined downstroke with ring and middle fingers, and final downstroke with thumb). He was born with only two joints in both little fingers, and developed the "abanico" rasgueado as an alternative to the standard thumbless three- and four-finger variety. Capo at the second fret.
This falseta is heard at 2:30 in Fernanda's soleá "Mi mal no tiene cura." Like the preceding falseta, it demonstrates Juan's strong right hand and his sense of unsettling dissonance. Like the preceding falseta, everything but the first string is played with the thumb. Capo at the ninth fret.
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