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The guitar and, specifically the classical guitar, has its roots in Spain, so it should be no surprise that any discussion of classical guitar tradition takes us back to that beautiful country. The nylon string guitar, while reserved almost exclusively for performances of classical music in North America, has never really gone out of style in Spain. Flamenco guitar developed from an aggressive dance style native to Spain. (Check out the movie, Mission Impossible II - it's got a great example of this kind of dance.) To the untrained eye, a flamenco guitar looks no different than a traditional classical, nylon string guitar. Under closer examination however, there are several differences. Since flamenco is a much more aggressive style (think of it as the rock music of the 15th century) the flamenco guitar has been specially designed to accommodate it. The body style is slightly smaller, to sit higher on the body. There is generally a large clear pickguard on either side of the soundhole to prevent damage to the body by aggressive strumming. While a classical guitar is built for deep, sustained tone, a flamenco guitar has a lighter tone, with slightly less sustain, to avoid the excess buildup of sound that would naturally occur from such a "busy" style of playing. To learn more about the flamenco guitar, you should definitely check out the music of Paco de Lucia, flamenco's foremost master. In addition to being the most well-known player of this style, he also is an accomplished craftsman who builds the very instruments he plays his music on!
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