

“That’s the only thing that might be able to throw off a beginning guitar player.” From there, Aparicio also recommends tackling the iconic Son Jaliscience, from the western state of Jalisco, where mariachi originated. These have a more accessible up-and-down pattern, and only an occasional mánico, which is a more complex hand-strumming pattern combining down strokes, upstrokes, and ornamentations on the offbeat. She says beginners can learn a Son Michoacán. And after that it all becomes sort of second nature.” Learn to listen to the other instruments at some points the guitar plays in sync with the violin, at others you’re playing redobles-an ornamentation consisting of two down strums and one up strum, repeated in one measure-with the vihuela and guitarrón as part of the rhythmic armonías section. “Know your chords and know your time signatures and know your mánicos, your rhythm patterns.

“There are a lot of syncopations and different rhythms to accent certain beats that you would need in a specific son,” Aparicio says. Knowing the elements comprising each type is your mariachi bread and butter, as some classic mariachi songs change son style several times throughout. “You have to find what fits you.” Speaking at the D’Addario string factory in Farmingdale, NY-where she and band member Shae Fiol were testing new strings for vihuela and guitarrón-Aparicio shared her tips for beginning mariachi guitar.Ī son is a musical form in mariachi music, and each has specific rhythm patterns, chord progressions, and accents.
#Manico mariachi full#
I listen to mariachi all the time,” she says.Īparicio encourages new students to strive for the full sound essential to mariachi music, but remain comfortable, paying close attention to their body. “I love mariachi music, it’s in my blood, in my everyday life. But for several years she’s studied mariachi guitar with teachers from across Mexico, where the tradition is largely learned by ear. Aparicio is the guitarrón player in the Latin Grammy-nominated all-female mariachi band Flor de Toloache.

She should know-she’s been playing mariachi music for 17 years. Mariachi guitar is very special,” Eunice Aparicio says.
#Manico mariachi free#
This article is free to read, but it isn't free to produce! Make a pledge to support the site (and get special perks in return.)įrom the October 2017 issue of Acoustic Guitar | BY CRISTINA SCHREIL
