Indian Classical Music

The music of India sounds quite exotic to most Western audiences.
Two major reasons for this are the differences between the two traditions in tuning and scales.......

The term Indian Classical Music encompasses two distinct but related traditions.
The Northern Indian tradition is called Hindustani, the Southern Indian Tradition is called Carnatic.
WE will be focused on the Hindustani tradition........

The interest and complexity of its music lies in its melodies and its rhythms.

The sitar is...

The sitar is one of the most well known of Indian music instruments and has gained popularity , both in India as well as the West , over the last few  decades.
The sitar consists of a hemispherical base, a neck that runs into the long stem and the stem itself.
The base, which is made out of a dried large  gourd, is called "tumba" and acts as the sound base or resonating chamber......

concerto New York City 2011

one of our favorites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as3-fDCiU6E&feature=share

tampura

guitar tuning, 1

a nice easy slide guitar tuning, ccGCGC. Especially resonant on dobro. In any case, raise the nut and use a heavy slide. More about nuts and slides later.

indian guitar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmZqownOHU

Here is Brij Bhushan Kabra. Note the nice big Gibson hollow-body, highly modified. I will post some slide and finger tunings for guitar, dobro, and banjo shortly. 

Browsing for sitars

http://www.sitarsencat.com/cont-sitar-sitars-tabla-india/108/sitar-home

an interesting site, with an idea of woods, finishes, and prices. We cannot recommend these instruments. The only guarantee is to play an instrument before buying. And then, as we will discuss, this is still no guarantee...

Ravi and George

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t79aI-I6ucA&list=FL7ZT_nuqHPTrq1cnYf9pi3g&index=2&feature=plpp_video

welcome

Here we wish to share some information about acquiring, holding, and playing the sitar. Much of the information we post, and more, will be compiled in our new book. Please contact us with suggestions or criticisms. Subscribe.