11 Of The Greatest And Most Famous Flamenco Guitar Players 

Written by Dan Farrant

The flamenco guitar is a crucial instrument in the flamenco genre of music. Flamenco, as a whole, is regarded as an art form that can be expressed through song, dance, and guitar. 

The instrument is lighter than a traditional guitar due to the posture flamenco guitarists must use to play. Its sound is also softer so as not to overshadow the vocal arrangement that often goes with it.

Flamenco has a rich history and a fascinating backstory. Its musicians are no different. Here, we will take a look at 11 of the greatest and most famous flamenco guitar players throughout history. Let’s get started. 

1. Paco de Lucía

Born Francisco Gustavo Sánchez Gómez in 1947, Paco de Lucía was considered a Spanish flamenco visionary. He is said to be a virtuoso. Lucia played the flamenco guitar, composed music, and produced many records.

He is best known for his fast-paced fingerpicking style runs on the guitar, also known as picados. Throughout his career, De Lucía performed in a trio, a sextet, and an orchestra.

De Lucia is held in high regard in Spain, as he has a statue of his likeness and a line of the Madrid metro system named after him. Musical historians even consider him to be a key part of the evolution of flamenco into the Latin jazz fusion of the 1970s.

2. Tomatito

José Fernández Torres, professionally known as Tomatito, is a flamenco guitarist and composer whose career has spanned over four decades.

Tomatito was discovered by the first flamenco guitarist on our list, Paco De Lucía, and worked with him and the singer Camarón de la Isla for the first two decades of his career.

He won multiple Latin Grammy Awards—some for his collaboration efforts, like with artists Michel Camilo and de la Isla, and others for his solo work. Two of Tomatito’s six solo albums, Paris 87 and Aguadulce, won a Latin Grammy for Best Flamenco Album.

3. Vicente Amigo

Spanish-born flamenco guitarist and composer Vicente Amigo, whose complete name is Vicente Amigo Girol, is best known for accompanying famous flamenco artists of the 1980s, like El Pele, Luis de Córdoba, and Camarón de la Isla.

An interesting fact about Amigo is that he nearly exclusively played concerts for three years before releasing his first solo album in 1991. This helped him embark on an even more successful career as a solo artist.

A Best Flamenco Album Latin Grammy win in 2001 for his work on Ciudad de las Ideas, and a 2002 Ondas Award (as well as many nominations) cemented him as one of the best guitarists in the flamenco scene.

4. Jesse Cook

Our next guitarist, Jesse Cook, stands out among the rest of the flamenco players on this list in that his flamenco style is unconventional. A mix of world music and jazz, his flamenco is certainly with a twist and is categorized as rumba or new flamenco.

With a passion for modern music the world over as well as traditional sound, he set off to make his own fusion that captured the world, winning him silver in the Flamenco category of Acoustic Guitar‘s 2009 Player’s Choice Award.

Though he is not truly traditional in any sense when it comes to the genre, Cook has made his mark as being innovative in style and was successful in the music industry.

5. Carlos Montoya

Throughout his long life, Carlos Montoya made a huge mark on the world of flamenco. Historians regard him as being the founder of modern-day popular flamenco music.

Born in Spain, Montoya learned traditional flamenco from his uncle Ramón Montoya (whom we’ll discuss later) and other neighbors he grew up with. Later in life, he moved to the United States, experienced much of his music success there, and became a US citizen.

An interesting note about Montoya’s playing style is that it did not keep up with the traditional tempo of flamenco music. It was known for being more fast-paced, sometimes abandoning the traditional compás (rhythmic cycle) of flamenco altogether, which caused much controversy among traditionalists.

6. Armik

Iranian-Armenian flamenco guitarist Armik is considered by many in the profession to be a prodigy. At the age of seven, he began learning guitar, and before he was even 15, he had become a professional recording artist.

In the 1970s, he discovered the flamenco guitar and focused on that instrument instead of the traditional guitar, leading him to move to Los Angeles to pursue his passion in the genre.

His first album was released in 1994, and he has since released numerous albums, his latest being in 2021.

Armik’s influence on flamenco music is well-known due to his delicate style fused with jazz and classical sounds—a departure from traditional flamenco.

7. Sabicas

Born Agustín Castellón Campos, Sabicas was a Spanish flamenco composer and guitarist most known for introducing flamenco to the world outside of Spain.

He brought flamenco music to the world at large by composing amazing works of art for the public to enjoy at concert halls and various events, influencing many of the guitarists on this list, including Paco de Lucía, Tomatito, and Vicente Amigo.

Historians consider Sabicas to have had perfect pitch, a feat that is extremely hard to achieve, and his rapid-fast fingerpicking of scales and arpeggios is legendary.

8. Manitas de Plata

French-born flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata came to fame when he performed at a concert at Carnegie Hall and followed this with the release of his first LP in 1967.

Touring and recording discs helped extend de Plata’s music and popularity to various reaches of the world, from London to Australia. And despite being notoriously unheedful of the traditional compás of flamenco as he created his own sound, he gained a wide following.

De Plata’s legacy extends beyond his impressive flamenco guitar skills. He is the uncle to the members of Gipsy Kings, a Catalan Rumba band. He also had many family members who were notable flamenco musicians, including his brother and two sons.

9. Juan Martín

An author of flamenco guitar method books as well as a prominent flamenco guitarist, Juan Martín is a Spanish-born artist who learned to play guitar at age six.

His flamenco guitar-playing career began in his early twenties in Madrid. After this, he began to play in clubs all over Spain. Martin then settled in London to focus on his career there and continued with an impressive discography that spanned from 1974 to 2009.

Martín now focuses on education, teaching aspiring guitarists the flamenco. He has written instructional books on flamenco guitar that have music sheets to practice with.

10. Pepe Romero

Celebrated guitarist Pepe Romero is the son of the famous guitarist and composer Celedonio Romero. While his father was known for his classical guitar music, Pepe is well-known for his skill in both flamenco and classical guitar.

In 1957, Pepe left his native Spain to move to America with his wife and children and pursue music. He is most famous for being a part of the Romero Guitar Quartet, which his father had formed shortly after their emigration.

With the quartet, Pepe gained fame in American culture. Over his career, he recorded over 60 albums and has also taken to teaching music at many universities in California.

11. Ramón Montoya

Being the oldest on this list (born in 1880), Ramón Montoya may be the man who influenced many flamenco guitarists here, as well as others not mentioned. He is credited for helping develop the traditional palos (flamenco song styles) we now know.

During his time, flamenco guitars were used as an accompanying role. A strong guitarist, Montoya’s playing often overpowered the sound of other leading performers and any vocals.

His solution was to start performing solo, thus establishing the role of flamenco guitars and influencing many famous solo performers who followed in his steps, like Manitas de Plata and Sabicas.

Summing Up Our List Of The Greatest Flamenco Guitarists 

Flamenco has a rich history in music, song, and dance. Its spirit lives on in the musicians of the current day as well as in the footprints left by the musicians of the past.

The elaborate and intricate playing of flamenco guitarists is a skill like no other, and these men we’ve listed learned the genre and improved upon it to create their own sound.

Give this Spanish tradition a listen, and open your ears to the passionate world of Flamenco.

Photo of author

Dan Farrant, the founder of Hello Music Theory, has been teaching music for over 15 years, helping hundreds of thousands of students unlock the joy of music. He graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in 2012 and then launched Hello Music Theory in 2014. He plays the guitar, piano, bass guitar and double bass and loves teaching music theory.