See the recent updates on the site. Last updated on 05/05/2008

Learning Manouche guitar: techniques, tricks et theory

To be able to watch the videos under Mac, you can use VLC Media Player.

About my approach

• Material
• Picks and strings
• Adjusting the neck and the bridge
• In general
• Starting Manouche guitar
• Advices to work out more efficiently
• Measuring progress and setting goals
• Right hand techniques
• Position of the hand and wrist and overall body position
• The pompe (typical accompanying rhythm guitar in different styles)
• Roulés or chord tremolos
• Rest-stroke
• Playing "ternary", the essence of swing
• Alternate picking
• -v-v- or how to play two downstrokes in a row (on the same string or while going up one or more strings)
• -v-v-v- or how to play three downstrokes in a row (on the same string or while going up one or more strings)
• Sweeping
• Work out the tonicity of the right forearm muscles
• Specific left hand techniques
• The "grip" and the thumb
• Typical chords
• Chord inversions
• Typical scales and exercises
• Arpeggios
• A chromatic approach of arpeggios
• Minor pentatonics à la Manouche
• Embellishments and typical effects
• Typical licks
• Voicings
• Improvisation
• Techniques for both hands
• Playing with harmonics
• Play-along tracks
• Interviews

Useful links

The following links are really useful resources both in French and English:

manoucheries.com: THE welcoming forum dedicated to Gypsy music.
Joseph Dubreuil's site: Lyrics, charts and transcriptions of Manouche and Klezmers tunes and online lessons.
Nuages de Swing: Great playbacks and charts to learn improvisation. Great job!
Stéphane Wrembel: Other excellents playbacks!
Flèche d'Or: Really accurate note-for-note transcriptions of various standards as played by Django.
DjangoBooks.com: A site dedicated to Gypsy music and managed by Michael Horowitz, the author of the excellent "Gypsy Picking".
Tableauclair: About harmony
L'Oreille Manouche: Techniques, charts
Héritage Manouche: Resources for Gypsy guitar with videos
Emicad's site: Charts and good tabs
Gypsy guitars: Gypsy guitars forum