Spanish Guitar in 4 Steps

Intro, Chord Progression, Melody, and Ending

Today we are on fire.

Spanish guitar is one of my favorite genres and not just because I love the music and passion behind it, but because I know that guitar students love to play this style.

I am not specifically referring to Flamenco music but much more of the Spanish vibe to get out of some chord progressions and melodies.

Today I will show you 4 steps that you can follow to create a beautiful sounding Spanish composition that is easy and fun to play.

The Video

The Intro – Full Lesson –

It doesn’t have to be difficult.

Let me tell you more about this Spanish guitar intro and how I like to build a solid overture before the song begins.

I really think that intros should never be too long or too articulated. After all, it is just an introduction to the main part of the song.

In this example, I am playing two chords that sound awesome together: E major and F/E.

The E major is probably one of the first chords you learned.

The F/E chord is just like an E major, but one frets up. It is actually an F major chord with the root note E.

Combine both chords, and you have a beautiful Spanish intro that is easy yet really effective.

I am also combining a few single notes and a technique called Tambora to spice up the intro.

The Chord Progression

Chords are the most important part when it comes to Spanish guitar.

Thousands of songs have been written with the same chord progression. Even if you strum each chord one time slowly, it will remind you of Spain.

The chord progression is Am – G – F – E. 

In these exercises, though, we will be focusing on combining chords and melody.

Honestly, this is one of my favorite parts.

Challenging but totally worth it.

The Melody

One thing you can do to really spice things up is to add a famous Spanish motive.

You will be learning Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona.

The amazing this about this guitar part fits perfectly with the rest of the composition, and you can play the melody over different octaves.

We will also introduce the tremolo technique, which is another creative technique that we can borrow from Classical Guitar.

I am sure you are going to love this part.

The Ending

We are going to end these exercises with a Harmonic minor scale on the E string.

The scale is descending, and it will earn to the last chord, which is an A minor (add9)

A blend of technique, musicality, and folklore.