A solo flamenco guitar round in which one player is marked out of 100 on technique, compas and musical expression, with a separate class for younger players.
Guitarra Flamenca is the solo guitar discipline of a flamenco contest. One player performs alone, without a singer or dancer to lean on, and the panel hears the whole of the music through the instrument: the rhythmic cycle of the chosen palo, the falsetas (the melodic variations between sung sections), the rasgueado strumming and the picado runs that give flamenco guitar its character.
Because there is no voice to carry the structure, the player has to make the palo recognisable and the phrasing tell a story. A good round holds the compas steadily, builds and releases tension, and uses silence and dynamics as deliberately as speed. Speed alone rarely wins a flamenco guitar round; control, taste and a clear musical idea usually do.
The template carries the item as an individual entry, open to both genders and scored as Marks out of 100 with a ten-minute limit on the clock. It appears twice in the template: once in the Open (16+) class and once in a separate class for younger guitarists aged 16 to 30. The source rules describe a staged contest that moves from a video screening through selection rounds across Spain to semi-finals and a final, with entries made online or by post with a photograph, a CV, a video and a bank certificate. Those are the source organiser’s conditions; the template records the item, the classes, the clock and the score.
In practice an organiser runs it as one class inside a larger flamenco contest alongside singing, dance and instrument classes. Running both guitar classes in the same event means a coordinator can rank open and younger players on their own lists without rebuilding the entry sheet.
Where Guitarra Flamenca is run
On eTalenter this item is used in a single template, built from the published rules of a long-running flamenco singing, guitar and dance contest held in the Murcia region of Spain. Flamenco guitar competitions are held mainly in Spain, where the art form grew up in Andalusia, and in flamenco festivals and academies elsewhere in Europe, Japan and the Americas; each event’s own notice sets its classes, age limits and time limits.
- Spain (flamenco tradition rooted in Andalusia; contest held in Murcia)
Key facts
- Individual item: one guitarist, no singer or dancer, one score
- Open (16+) class, both genders, with no language requirement
- A second class in the same template is reserved for guitarists aged 16 to 30
- Scored as Marks out of 100, with a ten-minute limit on the template clock
- Core techniques on show: falsetas, rasgueado, picado, arpeggio and tremolo, all held to the compas of the chosen palo
- Solo guitar is a different item from the contest’s separate Instrumentista class, which the template lists on its own
On eTalenter, Guitarra Flamenca is filed under On Stage and typically scored with Marks. It appears in 1 ready-made event templates — each one can adjust its time limit, age-group assignment and scoring setup independently.
Across the templates that use it, Guitarra Flamenca is most often entered as an Individual competition, typically scored out of 100, commonly time-limited to around 10 minutes where a limit is set.
The scoring method the templates attach to this item, and what that scale means. The category this competition is filed under when a template is installed. Others in this category: Dance, Music, Drama, Mimicry, Debate, Elocution, Story Telling, Group Song, Action Song eTalenter matches an item to its criteria on the words in its name, and creates exactly these when the template is installed. No criteria match this name, so none are created automatically — judges score it on the event’s own criteria instead.How it is scored
Where it sits
Judging criteria installed for it
What judges look at in Guitarra Flamenca
What a Guitarra Flamenca panel is actually weighing up, and where the marks are usually won or lost:
- Compas: whether the rhythmic cycle of the palo stays steady and clear, including through changes of speed and the accents the player places against the beat
- Technique: clean rasgueado, even picado runs, controlled arpeggio and tremolo, with no buzzing, rushed notes or dropped strings
- Musicality and falsetas: melodic ideas that are original, fit the palo and develop across the piece instead of strings of unrelated phrases
- Dynamics and expression: contrast between soft and strong passages, well-judged silences and a sense of building to something
- Command of the form: the palo is recognisable from its opening and the player moves between sections the way the form expects
- The template records one total out of 100 and does not print a split; a panel that wants separate headings agrees its own before the round
Treat these as the judging focus, not a fixed rubric: publish your own weighted criteria for Guitarra Flamenca under Scoring Setup, or start from our judging and score tabulation guide.
How to prepare for Guitarra Flamenca
How entrants and their teachers usually get Guitarra Flamenca right on the day:
- Read the notice first for the time limit, the class you qualify for by age, the entry deadline and whether the round is a video screening, a live round or both
- Choose a palo you can play with real compas rather than the most difficult one you can almost manage
- Plan the ten minutes: an opening that sets the palo, two or three falsetas that contrast, and a clear ending, then time it with a metronome and a stopwatch
- Practise the hardest passages slowly with a metronome and add speed only when every note is clean
- Check tuning, strings and the guitar’s action well before the round, and rehearse once on a different guitar in case yours is not available
- Record yourself and listen for rushed passages and unclear accents, then fix those before polishing the showy parts
- After a loss, ask whether compas, technique or musical ideas cost most, and work on that one element alone before the next round
- Ideas, not rules: play the same falseta at three speeds, record each, and keep the one where the compas is clearest
Events that run this (1)
Ready-made templates that already include this competition. Installing one sets it up for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Guitarra Flamenca judged individually or as a team?
Across eTalenter’s templates it’s most often run as an Individual entry, though an organiser can set either participation type when assigning the item to an age group.
Is Guitarra Flamenca judged individually or as a team?
Individually. The template records one guitarist, one performance and one score out of 100.
How long can the performance be?
The template clock is set to ten minutes. The event notice states the exact running time for each round.
Why does the template list Guitarra Flamenca twice?
It appears in two classes: the Open (16+) class and a separate class for guitarists aged 16 to 30. They share the same item, scoring and clock, but the two classes are ranked separately.
Is this the same as the Instrumentista Flamenco item?
No. Guitarra Flamenca is the solo guitar discipline. Instrumentista Flamenco is a separate item on the template, so check the event notice for which instruments each one accepts.
Want the full judging picture? Read our judging and score tabulation guide, or browse every on stage competition item.
Try Guitarra Flamenca in eTalenter
See every ready-made template that runs Guitarra Flamenca, and install one as a live event — age groups, rules and scoring included.
