Deepak Verma Book a Lesson

Online Lessons

Flamenco Guitar
Lessons Online

Learn flamenco guitar one-to-one over video with a guitarist trained at the source.

I've taught guitar for eighteen years and flamenco for the last ten, to students across India, Europe, the US and Australia. Before that I spent years in Andalusia, living and studying in Jerez, Sevilla, Madrid, Cádiz and Granada, accompanying dance and cante classes, playing in juergas, and studying privately with Amir John Haddad, Alfredo Lagos, Juan del Gastor and Eduardo Rebollar.

Lessons are one-to-one over video, wherever you are. I take a small number of students at a time, because I teach personally and I want to know how you're playing between sessions, not just during them.

The main way in

The Three-Month
Foundation Program

24 sessions8 classes a month

Twice a week for three months, one-to-one over video. Eight classes a month, twenty-four sessions in all. We build the foundations of flamenco guitar in increments small enough that nothing ever piles up into confusion, with guidance and feedback between every session.

Twice a week exists for a reason. Once a week leaves six days for a small misunderstanding to be practised into a habit, and undoing that takes far longer than catching it. Meeting twice means I see your playing before anything sets.

8 classes a monthFixed slots that are yours, so consistency isn't left to willpower.
Feedback between lessonsSend me video during the week and I'll respond before the next session.
Foundations, properlyTechnique, compás and musicality built in the right order, at a pace you can absorb.
Enquire about the program →

I run this with a small number of students at a time. Enquire and I'll tell you what's open and what it costs.

Every student starts with a free 30-minute trial. We play together, I hear where you actually are, and we decide together whether the program is right for you.

If you'd rather not commit to a block

Ongoing weekly lessons

One session a week, continuing for as long as it's useful, with the same between-lesson feedback. Better suited to players who already have a foundation and want to keep developing, or to anyone whose schedule won't hold twice a week. Enquire and tell me what fits.

How I teach

Most flamenco education is information-based. You get told what a bulería is, you get shown a falseta, and you're left to work out the actual doing on your own. That isn't teaching, it's reference material, and it's why so many people stall after a year of videos.

I teach the doing. Technique, rhythm and musicality, broken into parts small enough to actually assimilate: left hand alone, right hand alone, compás alone, then combined once each one holds up under pressure. You'll spend more time on fewer things and get further.

I was self-taught for years before I studied properly, so I know precisely where self-taught players get stuck. The habits that feel productive and aren't. The gaps you can't see from inside them. The technique that works at slow tempo and collapses at speed. Most of my students arrive with some version of this, and most of the early work is unpicking it.

The other thing that stops people isn't talent, it's rhythm of a different kind. Practice that happens when there's time, lessons booked when the week allows, long gaps where habits drift. So my teaching now runs on fixed, regular sessions rather than lessons arranged one at a time. Structure isn't the boring part of learning an art form. It's the part that makes the art possible.

There are no shortcuts in art. What I build with you is a foundation that holds for a lifetime of playing, not a party trick for next month.

Who these lessons are for

Complete beginners

Never held a guitar? We start at the very beginning: how to sit, how to hold the instrument, how to place the right hand. We don't rush it. Beginners who start flamenco properly often progress faster than guitarists who come to it later, because there are no habits to undo.

Guitarists switching to flamenco

You already play classical, rock, fingerstyle or jazz. A lot transfers: fretboard knowledge, reading, time spent with the instrument. A lot doesn't. Rasgueado, picado, golpe, and above all compás, which is not a time signature but a feel you have to internalise. I'll tell you honestly what carries over and what you're starting fresh on.

Intermediate & beyond

You can play, but something isn't landing. The feel is stiff, the compás drifts under pressure, the repertoire is narrower than you'd like. This is the work I enjoy most: refining timing, expanding palos, and finding your own voice rather than a copy of a recording.

How it works

1

Tell me where you are

A short message with your level, what you'd love to play, and what's been frustrating you. That's all I need to start.

2

A free 30-minute trial

We meet over video and play together. I listen to where you actually are, not where you think you are, and map out what the path looks like. If it isn't a fit, I'll say so.

3

We set your slots

Fixed times each week, reserved for you, so the schedule holds itself rather than depending on how the week goes.

The time between sessions is where the learning actually happens, which is why I'd rather catch a problem on day two than day seven. Almost all my students stay in touch long after they start, and there's now a community of hobbyists and working artists around this who help each other along.

A student's story

In his own words

A fellow musician. Finn came to deepen his craft with flamenco. Here's what learning one-to-one has been like.

Finn LiengÃ¥rdMusician · founder of Manifest Gathering

What students say

"Deepak is an amazing teacher, a pioneer of flamenco music in India. Learning from him helped me develop good technique and build my own style. It's helped not only with flamenco but with classical and bossa nova too."

Udit GuptaClassical Guitarist, Young Musician of the Year 2020, OJCF

"Studying flamenco guitar from Deepak was a transformational experience. His varied background across Spanish, Western, and Indian music made flamenco concepts easy to understand, and gave me a wider skill-set as a composer."

Karan KulkarniBollywood Music Director / Composer

Questions

What exactly does the three-month program cover?
The foundations of flamenco guitar, built in the right order: right-hand technique including rasgueado, picado and golpe, left-hand independence, and compás from the ground up, applied to real palos rather than exercises in isolation. By the end you'll have technique that holds under pressure, a working feel for compás, and pieces you can actually play. It runs twice a week for three months, eight classes a month and twenty-four sessions in all, with feedback between them.
Why twice a week rather than once?
Because the gap is where things go wrong. A week is long enough for a small misunderstanding in technique to be practised a hundred times and become a habit, and habits take far longer to remove than to prevent. Twice a week means I see your playing before anything sets, and the increments stay small enough that you're never left guessing between sessions.
What happens after the three months?
Most students continue, usually moving to weekly lessons now that the foundation is in place and they can carry more on their own. Some take a break and come back. There's no obligation either way. The program is designed to leave you with something solid whether or not you carry on with me.
Can you really learn flamenco guitar online?
Yes, and better than most people expect. Flamenco is learned by watching hands and listening closely, and a good camera angle shows you more than sitting across a room does. What online can't give you is the room itself, playing for dancers, sitting in a juerga. So I teach the instrument over video and push students toward live flamenco wherever they are, or toward a trip to Andalusia when they're ready.
Do I need to read music?
No. Flamenco is traditionally passed on by ear and by hand, and that's how I teach it. If you do read, it's useful for harmony and analysis, and we'll use it. If you don't, you'll lose nothing. You'll develop your ear faster instead, which matters more in this music.
What guitar do I need to start?
Any nylon-string guitar will do to begin. A classical guitar works fine for your first months. The differences that matter, lower action, a brighter and more percussive attack, a golpeador to protect the top, only start to hold you back once your technique is developed enough to feel them. Don't buy a flamenco guitar before your first lesson. Tell me your budget and where you are and I'll help you choose when the time comes.
I play classical, rock or fingerstyle. How much transfers?
Your left hand, your reading, your fretboard knowledge and your general musicianship all come with you. Your right hand largely doesn't. Rasgueado, picado, alzapúa and golpe are new mechanics, and classical players in particular often have to loosen a right-hand position that's been drilled for years. Expect the first months to feel like starting over in one hand and not the other.
How long before I can play a full piece?
With consistent weekly work, most students are playing a simple but genuine piece within a few months, usually a rumba or a basic tangos. Playing it with flamenco feel rather than just the right notes takes longer, and that's the real work. I'd rather you played eight bars that sound like flamenco than three minutes that don't.
Do you teach compás and palos, or just repertoire?
Both, but compás comes first and never stops. Repertoire without compás is a sequence of notes. We work through the palos properly, soleá, alegrías, tangos, bulerías, tarantas and others, including how each accompanies cante and baile, not just the solo versions.
What if I've tried online courses and got stuck?
This is the most common reason people come to me. Pre-recorded courses can't see you, so they can't tell you that your thumb is collapsing or that you're rushing the twelfth beat. Almost everyone who arrives after a year of video courses has technique that needs rebuilding and a lot of information they can't yet use. That's fixable, and it usually moves quickly once someone's actually watching.
What time zones do you teach in?
I'm based between Spain and India and teach students worldwide, so most time zones work. I'd rather not teach early mornings. Tell me your availability in the trial and we'll find a slot that's sustainable for both of us.

Ready to begin

Book your free trial

Tell me a little about yourself. I'll reply directly on WhatsApp to arrange your free 30-minute trial, and we'll work out whether the program or weekly lessons suit you better.

Prefer to skip the form? Message on WhatsApp, or write to contact@deepakvermaflamenco.com.

Contact

For gigs, sessions,
and lessons

Based between India and Spain, and available for live performance, studio session work, and private flamenco guitar instruction.

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