by October Crifasi<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you you tell what this is?\u201d guitarist Ben Woods asks upon my arrival at his Los Angeles studio, a gleeful smile on his face. In the background, I hear a gorgeous flamenco arrangement of a song I should recognize, but can\u2019t quite pinpoint. \u201cIt\u2019s for the new Judas Priest flamenco record,\u201d he says. It is the most intricate and beautiful arrangement of Judas Priest I have ever heard.<\/p>\n
With an impressive list of flamenco and hard-rock collaborations and performances to his credit Woods has crafted a unique and much sought-after sound and niche for himself, often referred to as \u201cflamenco metal.\u201d Whether it is with his trio, Heavy Mellow, or as the traditional flamenco duo of Flamenco LA with his partner and flamenco dancer, Arleen Hurtado, Woods is forever exploring new ways to break the boundaries of both genres.<\/p>\n
You started out as a metal guitarist primarily. What led you to playing flamenco?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was living in Seattle in the early \u201990s and renting a house with a group of my musician friends. I was 18 or 19 at the time and playing lead guitar in a death-metal band. We rented out a room to a guy who ended up being a junkie. We came home one night to find that he had left and took my electric guitars and gear with him, never to be seen again. I needed to keep playing and still had my classical guitar, so I practiced on that. The more I played fast music on the nylon strings, the more I thought it sounded like Spanish music. I did some research and discovered that flamenco was what I liked. It was acoustic speed metal\u2014aggressive, fast, and virtuosic\u2014exactly everything I needed.<\/p>\n Did you study with anyone specific, or did you teach yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was very lucky to find flamenco instructors Marcos and Rubina Carmona. Marcos taught me in the traditional Spanish way, mano a mano. He would play me something and I would have to play it back to him. I would tape the You learned everything completely by ear?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. We didn\u2019t use sheet music, but he did provide some tablature. We started out with the sole\u00e1, which is the mother of all flamenco forms, then learned some tangos and rumbas, which are the 4\/4 forms. Sevanillas, which is standard for all beginner flamenco students\u2014guitarists as well as dancers\u2014came next. We got into playing buler\u00edas and fandangos later, as they are a little more complicated. I also ordered a ton of CDs from Spain each month and would try to figure out the licks and little patterns I heard in the recordings.<\/p>\n Eventually, Marcos and his wife, Rubina, a flamenco singer and dancer, told me that if I wanted to learn flamenco properly, I had to learn how to accompany the cante<\/em> [singing], and the baile<\/em>, [dancing] as well. I had to learn the unspoken communication of how a flamenco group works together.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t hesitate. I dove right in, accompanying flamenco classes several days a week and continued to do so for the next five or six years.<\/p>\n
\nentire lesson, then go home and play along with it. I would do this for several hours a day.<\/p>\n