The bulerías compás

How to count it

Picture a clock face: 12 beats in a circle, with 12 at the top. Each compás of bulerías is one full turn, and the beats that carry the weight are 12, 3, 6, 8 and 10. The others are played too, but without an accent.

Those accents are not evenly spaced. In the first half of the compás they come in threes, and in the second half, in twos. That is why it is called a mixed-metre compás, a 6/8 followed by a 3/4, and that change of stride halfway round is what gives it its sway.

From 12 to the cierre

Beat 12 is the last accent of one turn and the starting point of the next. That is why many people count bulerías from there, ‘twelve, one, two, three…’: the count starts on a strong beat rather than off the beat.

The other landmark is beat 10. That is where remates, cierres and llamadas usually end, and the two beats that follow leave room to come back in. A bulería itself ends there too: on beat 10 of its last compás.

The app’s recordings start playing on 12, and the wheel starts there too: press play and count along with it.

In 12 or in 6

Bulerías throws you at first, and not only because of the speed: it is not always in 12. At times it moves in half compases, half a turn of the wheel at a time, and settles back in 12 with a cierre or a remate. If you always count in groups of 12, that is where you get lost.

That is why some people simply count it in 6, especially in Jerez: the 12-beat compás split into two equal halves. And there is no single way of marking it in 6; everyone puts the weight on different beats. In the app, counting in 6, the strong beats are 12 and 6, and beats 2, 4, 8 and 10 carry a lighter stress.

You choose how to count it in the metronome settings, under Accents. Only the count changes: the recording sounds just the same, and the shape on the wheel changes.

What tempo it is played at

Bulerías is one of the fastest palos in flamenco. In the app it is recorded at 180, 200, 220 and 240 beats per minute, and you can set it to any tempo from 150 to 240: between two recordings, the nearest one is stretched without changing pitch. The first time you open it, it starts at 200.

Be careful when comparing with other metronomes: some tick once every two beats, so their number comes out at half. What reads 100 there is 200 beats per minute here.

How to practise it with the metronome

If you are just starting out with bulerías, take it one step at a time:

1. Listen and count

   Choose Full and count along with the wheel out loud from 12, until the 12 comes to you on its own.

2. Mark only the accents

   Clap on 12, 3, 6, 8 and 10, and let the other beats go by. That way the compás settles into your body.

3. Close on 10

   Clap a few compases and stop on 10, the way a bulería ends. If the two beats of silence fall into place and you come back in on time, you have got it.

4. Start slowly

   Set it to 150 and turn on the Speed trainer in the settings: the tempo goes up on its own every few compases, up to whatever target you set.

5. Strip back the accompaniment

   Switch from Full to Instruments and keep just the palmas or the cajón. Turn on the Click if you want a hit on every beat.

6. Count it in 6

   Once counting in 12 comes easily, change the count under Accents. You will get used to feeling the two halves of the compás, which are the ones that show up when bulerías moves in half compases.

What you can practise it with in the app

Bulerías comes with 5 accompaniments in Full, with every instrument at once. In Instruments you have them separately, to combine as you like, each with its own pattern and volume. And with Fills turned on, the cajón and tinaja round off every few compases with a recorded fill.

Full

5 accompaniments

Palmas

5 patterns

Knuckles on table

2 patterns

Cajón

2 patterns

Tinaja

2 patterns

Frequently asked questions