Rhythm and Rasgueos for All Guitarists

About Rhythm and Rasgueos for All Guitarists

Rasgueo (pronounced ras-kay-oh, also written ‘rasgueado’) is a rhythmic strumming technique produced by extending right hand fingers one at a time. Rasgueos are one of flamenco’s trademark sounds, but they can serve and inspire guitarists of any genre. From a technical standpoint, basic rasgueo technique balances out your right hand by developing the extensor muscles. Rhythmically, studying rasgueos will help your sense of pulse, subdivisions, and accents. Musically, well-placed and properly-executed rasgueos can enliven songs of any genre (songwriter, rock, folk, classical, etc.) and help you drive home peaks in intensity.

In this course, you’ll learn several types of rasgueos commonly used in flamenco. Each week I’ll introduce you to one type of rasgueo, demonstrate how to practice and refine it, and teach a musical example that features it. With a modest repertoire of rasgueos, you’ll strengthen your right hand technique and gain a new reserve of tools to spice up your music.


Class Materials Needed

Guitar - nylon strings recommended

Metronome or metronome app (nothing special - just a click at a steady beat)

Class Goals

  • - Learn to play the most common types of rasgueos and understand how to use them rhythmically and musically.
  • - Strengthen your right-hand technique.
  • - Deepen your understanding of rhythm, subdivisions, and accents.
  • - Sample flamenco guitar repertoire that features the rasgueos we study.
    - Spice up the music of your choice with ear-catching percussive techniques.

Age Range

Adults

Skill Level

One year of playing experience (any style) is recommended. Ideally, students will already know basic chord shapes and be able to change chords smoothly. Being comfortable with (or at least tolerant of) barre chords will help.

Beginning guitarists are welcome but may find parts of this course very challenging.

No knowledge of music notation is needed. I’ll teach by a combination of TAB and demonstration.

No prior knowledge of (or deep interest in) flamenco music is needed. I’ll use traditional flamenco repertoire to provide musical examples of the rasgueos we learn and will explain a few basics you’ll need to understand them. But we’ll focus more on rhythm and technique than on flamenco music.


Watch To Learn More

Not sure what rasgueos sound like? Here’s a sample in this video.


$179.00

Already signed up? Log In Here

When

The class will meet for ten weekly 60-min live online sessions at 12:30 pm ET | 9:30 am PT | 16:00 UTC on the schedule below. The first session is on May 9.
(Convert to my time zone)

Enrolled students receive lifetime access to the video recordings of the classes.

Jul
18th
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM EDT
Rhythm and Rasgueos: 10. Review
Leah Kruszewski

How It Works

Students can connect to the online platform using a tablet or computer with reliable internet. To actively participate online students also need a webcam with microphone. The class is covered by the Lessonface Guarantee.


Students Say

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Neil G. on May 9, 2021

exciting and challenging new tools. Looking forward to the next class.

Book 1:1 online lessons with Leah Kruszewski on their Lessonface profile.

Leah Kruszewski

Leah Kruszewski

Multi-year Teacher of the Year for Flamenco and Classical Guitar, Leah loves introducing flamenco guitarists to the rhythms and melodies of southern Spain and guiding classical players as they develop their technique and repertoire. She also enjoys guiding beginners in Loog, fingerstyle, and acoustic guitar (ages 6 & up, please).

About Lessonface, PBC

Lessonface's mission is to help students achieve their goals while treating teachers equitably. Since 2013, we've hosted more than 20,000 students and 2,000 teachers for live music, language, and arts lessons and classes online.

Loading cart contents...
Load contents