The accent of the triplet rasgueo always fall on the upstrokes with the thumb.  Here is the notation:

    The piece above is written in 3/4 time and notice that the accents on the upstrokes with the thumb lies on 1 2 and 3.  It sounds like this:

1                  2                  3
One and a Two and a Three

    This is ofcource at a slow speed.  When the speed is faster, you don´t mark the accents that much.

    Now, these rasgueos that I have shown are the most common of the strumming techniques used in flamenco.  Ofcource there are hundreds of variations of these used in different patterns, but I won´t get in to that !  Instead, I will show you some other techniques that are not strumming.  They are the "alzapúa", "tremolo" and "picado".

    If you look at the Gipsy Kings or any flamenco guitarist, you soon notice that they use their thumbs very much in different techniques.  One of these teschniques is called alzapúa.  The name alzapúa (from alzar="lift" or "raise" and pú a="point" or "pelctrum") comes from the use of upstrokes with the thumb in this very flamenco technique.

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1998-1999