Koster Books

[jtucker]

I know several people have been disapproving of Koster's playing as exemplary for beginner flamencos, but I'd like to give him props for the actual material presented in his books. I'm still pretty beginner/intermediate and I'm almost done with Juan Martin's El Arte books I and II, which I've really enjoyed. I bought the Koster books just to get another perspective and more ways of doing things. The teaching of several different palos, one technique at a time is an interesting way, don't know if I like it or not. Martin used the teaching of one palo with several different techniques at a time, and that felt quite natural.

Koster's books are great for some of the traditional compas sequences or falsetas that kind of get taken for granted. Several times, as I've been listening to the cd and following along in the book, I've heard things that I hear in just about every flamenco's bag of tricks but have never been able to learn from cd's. There's been several times where I'm like, "AHA! That's how they play that!" and Koster has it written right down for me.

There are some stylistic things in Koster's books that I don't really agree with, like the overuse of chromatic chord changes (mostly in his alegrias compas) and the lower register chord alterations during rasgueado passages (muddies up the sound too much for me). That said, I'm glad I bought the Koster books and will definitely incorporate a lot of the material into my playing. It's also nice to have some easy-ish Sabicas falsetas that I can cut my teeth on.

Anyway, that's my two pesetas. I'd love to see what you all feel about Koster's books, good or bad.

[Dave Tate]

Koster's books are my favorite, I have no complaints. Two thumbs up from me.

[jtucker]

Yeah I'm liking them more and more as I get further in. It's pretty early in book one that he does a ton of rasgueo for several lessons. I've had to change it up a bit instead of mastering one lesson before I move on. So I'm going the rasgueo compas a bit then the thumb falsetas, and back and forth. That seems to keep me able to practice for longer per session. I was getting totally fatigued after like 15 min. when I was trying to just do the rasgueo section!

[El Diablo Suelto]

I recently started learning flamenco. I always enjoyed flamenco guitar, but I don't have any experience playing it. I bought Koster's Keys to Flamenco Guitar to get started. For a flamenco beginner like myself, I found it to be very clear and easy to follow. Also, the music CD that comes with the book has been very helpful.

[jtucker]

ARGH! Koster's playing on his CD's is infuriating!!! Don't try and play along with him on his soleares solo in the first book. His timing is so rubato it's killing me. I'm trying to get one falseta in time and his example isn't helping me keep my compas very much. Listen to it to get an idea and then play it on your own.

[tanolonco]

the juan martin series are very good and besides the book you get the video (it may be on dvd by now) as well as a c.d. i personally like martin's material over koster, which is a tough thing for me to say in that i am a friend of aaron green who is a friend of dennis koster.

[jtucker]

yeah I've really enjoyed the Juan Martin "El Arte" series. I haven't invested in his videos yet.