Un Sabor De Flamenco — part 1 (of 2)
The Andalucían Cadence (One Flavour of Flamenco)
Part One (of Two)
Un Sabor De Flamenco (One Flavour of Flamenco)
First things first. Initially, I could not firmly grasp whether this post should be a quick note in passing or a full-on article. The reason why is simple. Relatively speaking I know close to nothing about Flamenco, I am not a Flamenco guitarist, not by any stretch of the imagination — at best I can knock out some Flamenco-ish sounding chords and toplines. However, I am surrounded by Flamenco’s essence whilst here in Andalucía, on a daily basis, almost everywhere I go. Local artist, Evaristo Guerra’s phenomenal painting above encapsulates everything I see and feel every day that I am here (unfortunately the photo above of this painting does not do it justice, it’s huge and vibrates with colour).
In terms of me passing on to you anything other than a mere hint of the flavour of Flamenco, I’d say I could probably go slightly better than a short note. However, it has to be said right from the word go that there are literally hundreds of posts (some really good) on YouTube by authentic contemporary Flamenco players. Here’s just one.
So my aim in this post is just to give one Guiri’s brief perspective on one very well-known Flamenco chord progression, The Andalucían Cadence.
Almost all of what I am about to explain here was explained to me by, or picked from various different local guitarists that I’ve met, watched and jammed with at various different local live events in Andalucía over the last years. One such is José Ramon, a well-known local Flamenco guitarist. I am actually going to see him play this Saturday (5th August 2023). I’ll attempt to film something on my phone at the show, and try to include it in part two of this article, so you can see him in full flight. That’s the plan anyway, however, to be honest, I am always so mesmerised when he plays that I forget to film him, but this time I will do my best to remember!
When I told José that I wanted to try to learn at least one or two basic Flamenco guitar tricks, and asked him about how and what he practices, well, he laughed. He said his practice was having a siesta on the couch, and that authentic Flamenco was a state of mind, you could not learn it, you lived it. Fair enough. I think there’s more than a little truth in this, however, I simply don’t believe that you get to the level of playing that José has achieved without a lot of practice! Wait until I post some video of him (in part two of this post) and decide for yourself…
José did show me a few things, and I’ve observed what he does, all of which I’ve cobbled together below with other bits and pieces I’ve picked up about The Andalucían Cadence.
The Andalucían Cadence
(You may find this Scale and Mode Spellings resource useful whilst reading this).
More or less, when you hear this term — Andalucían Cadence — it actually refers to a very specific four-chord repeating pattern. The basic chords are:
Am G F E
More fully it’s known as The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba. More accurately it’s an ostinato (repeating pattern) not a cadence (the final part of a section of music where everything resolves).
There are other versions of it, for example starting on Dm (so Dm, C, Bb, A), known as The Andalucían Cadence Por Medio. As far as I know, these two, Por Arriba and Por Medio, are the two traditional versions, probably dating back to when the guitar was first used in Flamenco, so perhaps four hundred and fifty years old or more. There are other more modern/contemporary versions, usually achieved by transposing the same chord progression/shapes using a capo on the second or fourth fret. An example being Por Levante which uses a capo on the second fret and the Am, G, F, E progression which gives Bm, A, G, F♯.
On the face of it, it looks like four very basic chords, nothing earth-shattering. However, a closer look reveals a few secrets.
What immediately becomes clear is that this progression is not pure diatonic harmony, it leans outside of that box.
If we were to analyse this Am, G, F, E progression in terms of being in the key of A natural minor (C Aeolian Mode), we get:
i VII VI V
So, we get a major V chord — E Major. Strictly speaking, diatonically speaking, that chord should be a minor v chord — E minor.
However, maybe just play the progression yourself now, 4/4, one bar per chord. End it first on E minor. Then repeat and end it on E Major.
Ending with E minor simply does not work as well as E Major, and ending with E Major helps resolve the progression, and naturally makes you want to head back to the top and repeat.
So maybe it’s not best to view this (as most people seem to) as being in the key of A natural minor?
It cannot be E Major because, strictly diatonically speaking, that would mean that:
The A minor chord should be A Major (IV)
The G Major chord should be G# minor (iii)
The F Major chord should be F# minor (ii)
So what is it?
Maybe C Major (A natural minor’s relative major) — nope, again strictly diatonically speaking that would require an E minor chord, the iii of C Major.
So probably it’s modal, and to cut to the chase it’s E Phrygian mode, the third diatonic mode of C Major.
Diatonic Mode 3 Phrygian
1 - b2 - b3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - b7
which for E Phrygian is:
E - F - G - A - B - C - D
For our Am, G, F, E progression, that gives us:
iv III II I
This means that The Andalucían Cadence, more strictly speaking, can actually be viewed as a perpetually repeating modulation between the Phrygian mode of C Major (E Phrygian) and the Aeolian Mode of C Major (A Natural Minor). Both are basically all the white notes on a piano, one starting from A, the other starting from E.
The E Major chord at the end of the progression turns out to be the lynchpin, that holds it all together, the perpetual turning point in between the Phrygian and Aeolian modes. So it’s probably best to view this particular version of The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba in terms E Phrygian, and not from the perspective of A natural minor/Aeolian mode (as is quite often the case).
Here’s why.
If it ended on an E minor chord, it’s simply game over. It’s no longer Phyrgian. And ending on Em — A natural minor’s v chord — leaves everything hanging, it just feels totally unresolved (or perhaps better to say unresolvable without an additional chord inserted). Whereas E major feels finally resolved (a cadence) yet it wants to keep going back to the beginning — which is simple genius, a V to i cadence (E to Am in A Natural Minor aka A Aeolian mode) that takes you (back) to a fresh beginning in E Phyrigian mode (E to Am is I to iv in E Phyrigian mode). So this progression utilises this tension (or possibly better to say attraction) between the Am and E Major chords — Am wants to resolve to E Major.
And at a slight tangent, just play E Major and Am chords back and forth. They are very often used simply like this in Flamenco, just alternating between the V and the i. You can really see this in the traditional Malagueña Flamenco guitar theme, which is more or less exactly as I have just described V to i, with G and F implied after the Am and before the next E Major. I will provide a simple example of this theme in part two of this article. Here below is a contemporary rendition of the Malagueña theme on solo guitar. (However, do keep in mind that this theme has also been used by great composers in larger-scale works for at least a few hundred years, an example being Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz’s ‘España’, Opus 165, which contained several variations on the Malagueña theme — click here for one example).
However that’s still not it, there’s more…
We can’t forget the naturally diatonically occurring Em chord is part of A natural minor (the minor-third of an Em chord is G natural, not G sharp).
So, at the end of the Andalucían Cadence, the E Major chord’s major-third introduces a G#.
G# does not naturally occur in either the E Phyrigian or A Aeolian modes
Is there a related mode that has this G#?
Again, cutting to the chase, yes. There is a naturally occurring G# in A Harmonic Minor (aka the Aeolian #7 mode, mode 1 of the Harmonic Minor modes). Its leading note is on the major-seventh point, so G#, not G (the minor-seventh point of the A Natural minor scale). This scale has a mysterious Moorish feel to it. There is a huge jump, a minor-third interval, in between its sixth and seventh point, and its major-seventh leading note adds a tension that pulls relentlessly toward the tonic. All of this adds a mystical Arabian flavour to the mix.
That’s still not it, still, there’s more…
The fifth mode of A Harmonic Minor is E Phrygian Dominant. To say this another way, if you play A Harmonic Minor but instead of starting on point one (A) you start on point five (E), you get E Phrygian Dominant aka the Spanish Gypsy Scale
It’s an incredible-sounding scale, try it.
Mode 5 Phrygian Dominant or Phrygian ♮3 (aka Spanish Gypsy Scale)
1 - b2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - b7
which is:
E - F - G#- A - B - C - D
Our E Major chord is naturally part of this Spanish Gypsy Scale, of E Phrygian Dominant.
So most accurately The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba (our Am, G, F, E progression) can be described as a perpetual modulation in between E Phrygian mode (with a G natural, not a G sharp) and E Phrygian Dominant mode (with a G sharp, not a G natural).
But still, there’s more…
The ‘Por Arriba’ flamenco Scale
There is a nine-note Flamenco scale (as opposed to our normal seven-note diatonic scales or five-note pentatonic scales). Maybe slightly confusingly this scale is also called the ‘Por Arriba’ Flamenco Scale.
It combines mode scale notes from E Phrygian and E Phrygian Dominant (and therefore also from A Harmonic Minor).
Most of these notes are also shared with the A Aeolian mode (aka A Natural Minor).
And also there are notes from the E Aeolian #7 mode (aka E Harmonic Minor), in particular, it adds a completely new note, the Major-seventh leading note, D#.
So, for improvising over this Am, G, F, E progression, instead of having to know five scales (E Phrygian, E Phrygian Dominant, A Aeolian #7, E Aeolian #7, and A Aeolian), you simply need to know one nine-note scale, the ‘Por Arriba’ Flamenco Scale.
1 - b2 - b3 - 3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - b7 - 7
which is:
E - F - G - G# - A - B -C - D - D#
Also, it’s been explained to me that there is, as well, a ten-note Flamenco scale, based upon the ‘Por Arriba’ flamenco Scale, that takes a note from the E Locrian scale, it adds a flat-five, a Bb. (Personally, I don’t instantly see the relationship between E Phyrigian and E Locrian, but hey, who am I to say? Please check it for yourself.)
1 - b2 - b3 - 3 - 4 - b5 -5 - b6 - b7 - 7
which is:
E - F - G - G# - A - Bb - B - C - D - D#
Here below is a chart that lays out EVERYTHING relating to the scales mentioned above.
Just to recap:
Overall you could say this The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba, this Am, G, F, E progression, relates directly to the key of C Major (C Ionian mode).
Specifically, it relates to C Major’s modes 3 and 4
Mode 3 = E Phrygian
Mode 6 = A Aeolian (A Natural minor)
The G#, the third of the E major chord, is found in mode 1 of the Harmonic Minor modes, namely in A Aeolian #7 aka A Harmonic Minor, where the seventh point leading note becomes G#
Further to this, mode 5 of the A Harmonic Minor modes, E Phrygian Dominant, has only one note different from E Phrygian, namely the Major third, G#.
In this respect, when improvising, The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba is perhaps best viewed from the perspective of E Phrygian, specifically as continual modulation in between E Phrygian (with a G natural) and E Phrygian Dominant (with a G sharp).
E Phrygian Dominant is the same as A Harmonic Minor starting from its fifth point — E.
For improvising, all of these scales above (E Phrygian, E Phrygian Dominant, A Aeolian, A Aeolian #7, and E Aeolian #7) are combined within a nine-note scale, known as the ‘Por Arriba’ flamenco Scale.
You can find a quite comprehensive summary of scales and modes here.
You can find a quite comprehensive summary of diatonic harmony here.
You can find a quite comprehensive summary of how to practise scales and modes here.
So try it out. Maybe loop The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba, and try improvising by using the ‘Por Arriba’ flamenco Scale.
Hopefully, with just this slight glimpse into just one Flamenco chord progression, you can begin to understand a little about the totally unique Flamenco melodic harmonic system — which is definitely not straightforwardly diatonic, and, to say the very least, both simply subtle and complexly rich.
However, please remember, I am not a Flamenco player or aficionado, so please check everything I have laid out here, more than likely there are errors and maybe even misinterpretations. Also, keep firmly in mind that simply basing an improvisation on a scale is not the only way to go (so, for example, chord outlining, arpeggios, melodic themes etc).
In the second part of this two-part article, I’ll mainly cover the chord variations and additional chords that can be used with The Andalucían Cadence Por Arriba progression to further increase the Flamenco flavour.
Please note: I have another infotainment channel on Substack, called Unleashed & Unlimited, where I post podcasts, articles and content unrelated to music.🖋🎥🎙