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Lets discuss the bulería rhythm.
As you know, we apparently count in 12 beats.
And we place accents on 1, 3, 6, 10 and 12, more or less like the soleá or soleá por bulerías, only faster.
However, in bulerías, there are some nuances.
At times we play with an open rhythm in 6/8.
Sometimes we're constantly closing the rhythm.
And sometimes we're starting and closing as needed to accompany singing or dancing.
As a guitarist, it's important to know as much as possible about traditional bulerías lyrics.
This way, when they're sung, we have a firm handle on where we can open and close the rhythms.
We'll also see different ways to maintain the rhythm.
Also keep in mind that in bulerías, we shouldn't always keep the rhythm going at all times.
Many students, when they hear a bulería, hear a lot of guitar and continuous sound.
When I listen to some guitarists, I hear a confusion of notes - notes and chords stepping on each other.
Also, I often see a tendency for guitarists to carry the rhythm until the 12th beat.
We need to be aware that this is not quite right. Bulerías contains plenty of space and silence that we need to pay attention to.
For example, we'll see later that the 3rd beat, an important one, lets us leave the guitar open and close on the 10th beat.
And the 11th and 12th beats are used as a link to the next measure.
They can be silent or very lightly accented because the next measure will give us the feeling of continuity of the rhythm.
Also be aware of the 'tiempo de tierra' (underlying base rhythm) which we sometimes don't feel because we're too busy trying to close each measure.
If we simplify the rhythm completely, it would sound like this: 1, 2, 3...
The 1st beat of every 3rd here is the tiempo de tierra. How would this sound with the guitar?
See how I'm marking the rhythm with a golpe?
If this tiempo de tierra is present, the rest of the sound feels more solid and in rhythm.
Sometimes we're so stuck with doing this...
...that we're limping along in the rhythm and we lose the sense of weight and continuity we need in the bulerías.
Otherwise we force the closing of the rhythm and we don't give ourselves freedom to explore. We also take the base rhythm away from singers or dancers because there are too many accents.
I recommend learn how to free up the rhythm as often as possible. This way, dancers and we ourselves can get that sound in the rhythm we often see in performances but don't know how to achieve because it's different from how we're traditionally taught to play.
We should always remember the tiempo de tierra.
Here we can always open and close.
Here we hear the tiempo de tierra at all times.
Tiempo de tierra is very important in bulerías because it seems fast and furious, but the tierra is always there underneath.
This is what makes dancers and singers seem to have such a comfortable command of rhythm and its weight
and what sometimes really surprises us. Now we'll see some examples of how to use this accenting to keep the rhythm firm.