Simone;
I grew up in San Francisco, and we had five Italian families on our block! They were so much fun!
My wife, Enriqueta (Katy), is from Peru, and her family is from Spain. Katy attended Catholic School near Lima, Peru, which was administered by nuns from Italy. Katy speaks Spanish, Italian, and English. Katy studied flamenco dance when she was a girl.
I have been playing guitar since I was 10, and that was 68 years ago. I acquired an interest in many forms of music, Classical, flamenco, country and western, Latin, and Blues. Katy and I met in 1963, and she thought it was interesting for an American to play flamenco guitar. We married in 1965.
I gave a flamenco performance in San Jose, California, and Concha Vargas (a well known flamenco dancer and teacher from Spain) was in attendance. Concha invited us to a flamenco party the next day, near the University of Santa Clara. I got to meet her oldest son, who also plays guitar. They are from Moron de la Frontera, east of Seville. The son told me he plays the Blues! That is so interesting! We enjoyed ourselves with our guitars.
This is a great group on this forum. If you have any questions, you will receive answers that will be helpful.
Enjoy your journey with the Blues. By the way, my favorite Blues guitarist is B. B. King. To me, he is the Blues!
The Blues and flamenco have many things in common. One being the many forms that those two genres have. Both have about 50 different forms. In flamenco, they are called “Palos”, which means “Stick”, or “Branch”. Like the branches of a tree.
You might listen and play many different forms of the Blues, and then get to a point where you prefer specific ones. To me, the “Shuffle” is the most fun. Some people like to play many notes and as fast as possible. B. B. King said that "the Blues is like having a conversation", and I truly enjoy that approach.
Tom
