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Tres Tarantas Tres

by Matthew Montfort

Guitar Trek

Tres Tarantas Tres is the first EP release from Matthew Montfort’s upcoming third solo project, Guitar Trek, a trip around the world via the guitar. "Tarantas Alap" is Matthew Montfort's improvised intro to his composition "Tres Tarantas Tres," which was recorded in hi-res audio for the fan-funded Archive of Future Ancient Recordings.

Biography

"Matthew Montfort conjures lovely Asian zither-like inflections with a scalloped fretboard guitar." – Guitar Player Magazine

Matthew Montfort is the leader of the world fusion group Ancient Future. He is a pioneer of the scalloped fretboard guitar, an instrument combining qualities of the South Indian vina and guitar, on which he has two solo releases: Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar and Sympathetic Serenade. He is recognized as one of the world's 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists by DigitalDreamDoor.com, joining luminaries such as Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, and Merle Travis. Many tracks featuring him on flamenco guitar have been released including "Frogorian Trance" and "Frog Orient Chance" on Natural Rhythms; "Mountain Song," "Hillside View," "Candlelight," "Charukeshi," and "Quiet Fire" on Quiet Fire; "April Air" and "Gopi Song" on World Without Walls; "The Trader" and "Sunda Straits" on Asian Fusion; and "Semara" on Planet Passion. He is also known for his work on electric guitar, sitar, ukulele, charango, mandolin, gamelan, and glissentar, an 11-string fretless guitar he acquired via a 2006 artist deal with Godin Guitars. The December 2009 commemorative Les Paul issue of Guitar Player Magazine includes a feature with a photo of Montfort superimposed over psychedelic artwork portraying Jimi Hendrix and an interview with Montfort linked to a GuitarPlayer.com lesson entitled "The Music of Jimi Hendrix Applied to Indian Raga" with a video of Montfort playing glissentar.

The Concept

Matthew Montfort on the Process of Creating Tres Tarantas Tres

When I entered 7th grade at Baseline Jr. High in Boulder in 1970, I decided to study jazz and classical music with the goal of combining them with rock. Soon thereafter, progressive rock and jazz-rock fusion emerged on the scene. I thought why not include the music from the whole earth?

One day a fellow student cornered me in the hall at Boulder High School, introduced himself as David Easley, and requested guitar lessons, starting with “Mood for a Day” by Steve Howe, which was influenced by flamenco. David couldn't play the first chord, which is a barre chord, so I tried to dissuade him. But he asked me to show him that first chord. He soon mastered it, and came to me every day in the hall learn the next section. Within a month, he could play the entire piece! Over time, he became an accomplished guitarist, and began to perform with me at local acoustic music venues. We were both interested in flamenco, and went to the few flamenco events that came to town and played along with recordings. In my last year of high school, David’s mother passed away from ALS and he used his inheritance to travel to Spain for six months to study flamenco. When he returned, he provided me with valuable insight into the flamenco tradition. I learned as much from him after he returned as he had learned from me before he left for Spain.

I was also researching other traditions including Indian classical music. That accelerated after my friend since fourth grade, Benjy Wertheimer, took up tabla. After high school I was off to college to study jazz at the University of Colorado, Denver, Metro Campus. In the summer of 1977, I took the opportunity to come to the San Francisco Bay Area with Benjy Wertheimer to study at the Ali Akbar College of Music. I learned more about music in that one summer than I had in my first three semesters at the University of Colorado, so in 1978 I moved into the house that Benjy had moved to in San Rafael, which happened to be where the Diga Rhythm Band rehearsed. Later that year we formed Ancient Future. Through my work with Ancient Future and my studies at the Ali Akbar College and the Center for World Music, I ended up specializing in the scalloped fretboard guitar.

David Easley moved to the San Francisco Bay Area a few years after I did. We kept in touch and he offered some helpful feedback when I recorded pieces on flamenco guitar for Ancient Future’s Quiet Fire release. David Easley had a profound effect on the early development of Ancient Future. He kept growing as a musician ensconced in the flamenco tradition. He performed many concerts sponsored by the Flamenco Society of San Jose, and in the 1990s spent time performing in Santa Fe, NM, the flamenco hotspot of the Southwest. Sadly, David Easley passed away in September 1996 at the age of 39. He didn't release any recordings, but a video of him performing at the San Jose Flamenco Society Juerga on June 24, 1995, was posted on YouTube.

David Easley at San Jose Flamenco Society Juerga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3GU-5p4JiY

Tarantas was one of the main flamenco forms that David and I worked on after he returned from Spain. It’s toque libre, a free form expression that lacks compás (rhythmic cycle) and a regular beat, so it could be characterized as rubato. Tarantos is a related palo (form or style) in duple meter that is danceable. They share the F# Phrygian modality and the harmonic progression Bm-A7-G-F#. Both palos include dissonances that result from the use of the guitar's first three open strings in combination with harmonies and melodies in the F# Phrygian mode.

My piece "Tres Tarantas Tres" was inspired by tarantas and tarantos. It was also influenced by Indian classical music, and uses some slide techniques from South Indian vina music. As the name implies, the piece features three series of phrases of three beats, some in tempo and some rubato. It even makes a foray into impressionism à la "Gymnopédies" by Erik Satie.

There’s some similarity between flamenco palos and Indian ragas. Flamenco music is perhaps a product of the cross-cultural exchange that resulted from the Calé people migrating from India to Andalucia. The toque libre tarantas has similarities to the alap section of an Indian raga where the mood of the raga is thoroughly explored without tempo before the tabla enters. "Tarantas Alap" is an improvised alap style introduction to "Tres Tarantas Tres."

Track List

Tarantas Alap Pre-Save Double Single: https://orcd.co/tarantasalap (Participating Digital Music Platforms)

Digital Single Sales Date: Friday, December 12, 2025.
Catalog Number: Ancient-Future.Com Records AF-20801. UPC: 825336208018. ISRC: US-N9P-25-20801
Composition: "Tarantas Alap" by Matthew Montfort © 2025 Ancient Future Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Recording Copyright: ℗ 2025 Ancient-Future.Com Records. © 2025 Ancient Future Music (BMI). All rights reserved. Formats: Audio Download, Video, Streaming.

Tres Tarantas Tres Double Single Action Page: https://orcd.co/tarantas (Pre-Add, Follow Playlists, etc.)

Tres Tarantas Tres Pre-Save Double Single: https://orcd.co/3tarantas3 (Participating Digital Music Platforms)

Digital Single Sales Date: Friday, February 13, 2026.
Catalog Number: Ancient-Future.Com Records AF-20800. UPC: 825336208001. ISRC: -US-N9P-25-20802
Composition: "Tres Tarantas Tres" and "Tarantas Alap" by Matthew Montfort © 2025 Ancient Future Music (BMI). All rights reserved.
Recording Copyright: ℗ 2025 Ancient-Future.Com Records. All rights reserved. Formats: Audio Download, Streaming.

1. Tarantas Alap (Montfort) 6:40 >Spotify (Coming Soon). Matthew Montfort (flamenco guitar). This improvisatory introduction to "Tres Tarantas Tres" combines the flamenco tarantas form with Indian alap.
2. Tres Tarantas Tres (Montfort) 4:32 >Spotify (Coming Soon). Matthew Montfort (flamenco guitar). Based on the flamenco tarantos form, but instead of groups of two, it's based on three groups of three. It combines aspects of Indian music, tarantos and tarantas, and impressionism.

Quotes

"I first realized Matthew Montfort was a true guitar wizard when he called me on the phone and played me one flawless Hendrix riff after another. We were in the seventh grade. By the time we escaped high school, Matt had gone acoustic, turning coffee house basements into his own planet with fierce improvisations touching on an occasional Spanish or Celtic launching pad. Now a pioneering master of world fusion, Matt continues to travel, study, absorb and immerse himself in musics and traditions all over the globe. His knowledge and depth are staggering, yet he doesn't let it get in the way of the joy and spirit and soul that we like about music in the first place."– Jello Biafra, (seminal punk rock singer, Dead Kennedy front man turned spoken word activist) Alternative Tentacles

"Matthew Montfort's synthesis of styles and sounds isn't superficial – he plucks the essential musicality of several traditions without discounting them. Beautiful world fusion music." – Roger Carlberg, Electronic Musician

"A giant, a leader, a bound-and-determined self described fanatic for world music." – New Colorado

"Guitarrista multipremiado, Montfort es un pionero de la scalloped fretboard guitar." – Putumayo Records

"When this level of mastery is reached, there is no need to rewrite. The first improvisation has the depth of a reworked composition." – Teed Rockwell, India Currents

"Matthew Montfort is an American Ravi Shankar on guitar." – Pandit Habib Khan, sitarist

Sheet Music

"Tres Tarantas Tres" is Matthew Montfort’s first recording to be transcribed exactly as recorded. The complete chart is available here in staff notation with and without TAB starting 11/14/2025 for only $5.95. To purchase, send an email to lessons@matthewmontfort.com and a payment link will be sent to you.

Official Score Video:
Tres Tarantas Tres Guitar Score by Matthew Montfort (Montfort. 4:31 Apple Music. YouTube 4:44). Featuring Matthew Montfort (scalloped fretboard guitar), Mariah Parker (santur), and Benjy Wertheimer (tabla).
Video Release Date: Friday, February 13, 2026. Catalog Number: Ancient-Future.Com Records AF-90800. UPC: 825336908000. ISRC: US-N9P-25-90800. Composition: "Tres Tarantas Tres" by Matthew Montfort © 2025 Ancient Future Music (BMI). Recording Copyright: © ℗ 2025 Ancient-Future.Com Records. All rights reserved.
Producer, Editor, Composer: Matthew Montfort. Formats: Guitar Score Video
Apple Music Video: (Coming Soon)
YouTube Video: (Coming Soon)
Description: Combining aspects of the flamenco forms tarantas and tarantos, Indian classical, and impressionism à la Erik Satie, “Tres Tarantas Tres” has its own unique compás (rhythmic cycle) of three series of three beat phrases. The guitar score flows across the screen in sync with the rubato and in tempo passages as the music plays. You can get a copy now bundled with every other video release from Ancient Future by signing up to support Ancient Future's new recordings:

Add to Cart. Support Now.

Digital Liner Notes

Digital Liner Notes- $1.98 (SALE $1): Add Liner Notes to Cart. Buy Liner Notes Now. This download is a 8 page .pdf of liner notes for Tres Tarantas Tres by Matthew Montfort. It features CD cover art, Matthew Montfort's biography, and explanations of the musical concepts behind the release. Also bundled with the release at select digital download retailers.