I just rediscovered Rodrigo y Gabriella, a Mexican guitar duo, after having come across them a few years ago. Holy crap, Rodrigo is an amazing player, but, even holier crap, the way Gabriella backs him up …
oops, I put one too many “L’s” in “Gabriela”.
She’s great, no doubt. Love that flamenco/nylon string rapid strum; really great to use as a spice while establishing a groove.
And I believe the technique is called rasgueado but don’t want to use it improperly and assume the jargo would confuse the non-flamenco types reading this anyway 
The ultimate rhythm guitarist is Malcolm Young. Ain’t no doubt.
I really enjoyed those links. Thank you.
WordMan, I expected (and hoped) that you would be the first replier to my OP 
I honestly think that Gabriela is the better guitarist of the two. They remind me of a music riddle:
Q: What do you call a soprano who can sight read?
A: An alto.
Most of what Rodrigo plays is just the melody (like a soprano). Gabriela provides literally everything else.
One thing that fascinates me about this duo is that they played together in a heavy metal band in Mexico City (they met each other when they were both 15 years old). The metal band was gaining no traction in Mexico, so the two of them formed this acoustic duo. And they still didn’t get anywhere. So, despite the fact that neither of them spoke any English at the time, they packed up and moved to Dublin, Ireland. They busked, and played wherever they could, and eventually landed a record deal. Holy cow, Mexicans in Ireland. Whoulda thunk?
And, despite how it may look, they’re not married to each other. From their Wikipedia page:
"[Rodrigo] Sanchez and [Gabriela] Quintero dated for many years before ending their relationship (but not their musical partnership) in 2012. “We’re now better friends by far,” said Quintero. “We no longer behave like 15-year-olds and it’s allowed us to grow up.”
And Rodrigo cutting his long hair off made me notice (and look up) the fact that these two aren’t all that much younger than me. (I was born in 1966; Gabriela was born in '73 and Rodrigo in '74).
Anyway, here is a full concert, apparently performed in Seattle:
(43 minutes, and time well spent.)No argument from me: Musicians, Please Explain Why I Love AC/DC... - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board (link to thread discussing Malcolm’s fine work).
Arguably, the greatest rhythm guitarist ever was Freddie Green, the rhythm guitarist for Count Basie. Known for playing huge archtops with high actions and a big, jazz “chop” rhythm, he would vamp on three-string partial chords that held everything together. And being the core rhythm player for Count Basie - few bands grooved harder
Totally agree. I was thinking about Malcolm when I wrote my OP.
The thing about Rodrigo y Gabriela is that there is no drummer, and no bass player. It’s just two nylon-stringed acoustic guitars, and it sounds like there’s a whole band up there.
Hey, thanks - wave a guitar thread in front of me and I get Pavlovian.
I agree about Gabriela, from the vid’s I’ve seen of them. But that’s just like that thread I linked to in the post above: Malcolm was more central to AC/DC’s sound vs. Angus - or as I said in that thread, Angus is the sizzle; Malcolm the steak.
Same with R&G. I kinda wish Rodrigo didn’t use a pick - he comes across at times like an electric shredder converted to nylon string. A strong nylon-string player can do the most amazing lead work fingerstyle, and do more complex stuff.
I haven’t watched a full concert;perhaps he does it and I just haven’t seen it.
But yeah, good stuff.
“Holding everything together”
That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Rush. With that band, it’s rare that all three of them are going nuts at the same time. More likely, two of them will go nuts, and the third will be the “center”, holding things together. Like By-Tor and the Snow Dog" Neil Peart restrains himself during the guitar solo, while Alex and Geddy go nuts.
Likewise, witness Tony Grey on bass, providing the rock-solid foundation in the middle of a ton of complexity from the piano and drums in this jazz bit:
Yes!
It’s just sad about Malcolm now.
Gabriela’s right-hand technique guitar lesson
Holy moley.
You think that because it’s true.
He is an electric shredder converted to nylon strings. They both are because they’re both metalheads:
That’s Rodrigo singing and Gabriela on guitar, btw, from 1996.
Very cool, thanks for sharing that. I wish they had mounted a GoPro on the headstock of her guitar, because it is hard to see what her fingers are doing as she strums.
Hah! I was right!
I knew that because I heard their story when I first found them a few years ago, and knew they were both former metal players.
I was interested to hear Gabriela’s English voice in the concert video I linked above. I live in a town that is 30% Mexican, and I’m accustomed to the Mexican Spanish accent when they speak English. The majority of the Mexicans in my town have origins in Oaxaca and Michocan, and other southwestern Mexican states, and they have an accent that I’m accustomed to after 32 years here. But, a few years ago, while traveling with my sister, I ate in a Mexican restaurant near Seattle, and it was immediately obvious to me that the Mexicans working there were from a different part of Mexico. The spoke perfect English, but I could hear the difference in their accents. I didn’t know what part of Mexico they were from, but their accents told me that they were from a different place than the Mexicans I knew in my hometown.
That said, I know that Rodrigo y Gabriela are from Mexico City. There is a pretty Mexican woman at work … whose accent is very much like Gabriela’s in that concert video. Now I’m going to have to ask her if she’s from Mexico City, or its vicinity. Her accent, when she speaks in English, is not the same accent I’m accustomed to hearing.
Sorry - yeah, I knew their backstory; it was what led to my comment. Gabriela was a shredder and has adapted her rhythm style to exploit what a nylon-string guitar can do, e.g., flamenco rasgueado strumming. Rodrigo doesn’t seem to exploit the lead capabilities on a nylon string nearly as much…
To my ear, tho, Rodrigo is a very competent guitarist with a fine ear for melody and his playing complements Gabriela’s perfectly. There is enough space in their music for me to be able to hear and appreciate both their parts individually and as a whole, and I have yet to hear them play and say “well that just wasn’t very good”.