Is it possible to learn Flamenco Guitar at the age of 64?
Well, that’s what I’m wondering as well. In the Spring of 2023, I thought I would at least give it a try, and these pages are all about my trials and errors and, hopefully, progress over the years to come…
I don’t expect many visitors, as this is mainly a site to document my thoughts, trials, and progress, but—should it help somebody to avoid some of the mistakes I’m bound to make on the way, by all means, be my guest!
(BTW: My name is Max Gossell, and I’m living in Malmö, Sweden.)
PROS AND CONS
Pros
• I have been a professional classical guitarist, which means I’m used to the guitar and many techniques used—especially left-hand techniques.
Cons
• I haven’t played the guitar in 20 years.
• Many right-hand techniques are completely new to me, and many others are used in a way I have to re-learn/re-program my fingers.
• I have no understanding of the music, the rhythms, the singing and dancing of the flamenco music.
• I had quite some load damage at the end of my professional career, like tennis elbows in both arms, and both my thumbs had semi-atrophied muscles. This means I have weak hands and forearms—I have to be careful not to get injured by over-practicing.
MY MUSICAL BACKGROUND
After the mandatory three chords and a pentatonic scale on the electric guitar as a teenager, I suddenly found myself studying the classical guitar. Then in 1991 my student colleague at the conservatory Håkan Frennesson and I started “Progetto Avanti —The Swedish Guitar Project” with the idea to rewrite and perform orchestra music on two guitars.
We made two albums on Warner Classics International:
Orchestral Illusions (1997)
Baroque Illusions (1999)
As this was in the 90-ies, we also made a couple of videos:
We canceled the project around 2004. I never thought I would play the guitar ever again, so I sold all my instruments. But I had always had an interest in this mysterious music called Flamenco, and around 2018–2019 I bought a second-hand flamenco guitar with a cracked top, and took some lessons with the local flamenco guitarist Johan Påhlson. It didn’t last long, though, I simply didn’t have time to practice at the time.
Then during the pandemic, the internationally known flamenco dancer Josette Reilly came to Malmö. She and percussionist Stephan Jarl started up the Flamenco Tablao in Malmö, and that was it. I was hooked. Even more so, as my wife Daniela had started to dance for Josette as well.
In January 2023 I retired from my job as a school principal, and I once again thought about learning the flamenco guitar. This time, I browsed the net and found Kai Narezo and his great site Flamenco Explained. I quickly signed on and got access to a ton of video lessons. These have a systematic educational structure and are great if you want to learn about the Flamenco guitar and the Flamenco music itself. Highly recommended!
Also, Kai, after having read your page The Myths of Learning Flamenco Guitar I hold you personally responsible for this venture…! 🙂
BTW: My “artist name” Maxito was given to me by some friends. It’s partly a play with the fact that “ito” is a Spanish suffix to create a diminutive meaning “small”—often used to create an affectionate nickname—and often used to give the greatest Flamenco players their artist names, like the legendary player Tomatito. Partly it becomes a rather paradoxical expression as “max” has to do with maximum and “ito” with small. And yet it makes sense: Of all the Flamenco players on the net and YouTube, I’m the one who knows “maximum minimum”…