In this post I am going to talk to give you a few tips on how you can keep the beat when playing flamenco. This advise is valid for anybody, whether you are singer, guitarist or dancer. As you probably already know, keeping the beat, or compás, is one of the most important things in flamenco. Many people say that you need to feel it instead of count it in order to do it properly, and through constant repetition you can internalize the beat until it becomes a part of yourself.

However, before you go ahead and start practicing for ten thousand hours how to keep the beat. I would like to suggest you to get your feet moving, or at least get one foot moving. This because you can maintain the pulse using your feet, and though it may prove to be difficult at fist, once you get it down, you will be able to keep the compás much easier.

One way you can practice this is by doing the following exercise:

Notice how the feet are maintaining the pulse, and thus, creating that stability which is necessary when doing compás. There are other ways you can use your feet to keep the beat, but I would suggest to begin with this exercise, until you are ready to try other patterns.

This is the essence of flamenco and this what we teach in the flamenco villa. If you are interested in learning do not hesitate to contact us about the availability and dates of our programs.