Classical Indian flavored music

[sitardude2000]

Just seeing if there's any musicians out there with a desire to play Indian flavored music. I have created my own sitar-guitar and needless to say its an esoteric interest so far, and particularly hard to find interest here in the South US, even among Indian-Americans.

[jvwgtr]

Do you have any pics of your guitar? I've always wanted a sitar-guitar, ever since I saw one in a guitar shop in Tacoma, Washington a few years back.
How did you make it?
I love Indian music, but I don't know anything about it.

[sitardude2000]

I will try to post a pic soon. Its just a pawn shop strat copy that I jigsawed into a tear drop shape but what gave it "life" was simply buying a sitar bridge online and adding it. I love classical Indian music too, and emulating Ravi Shankar is a challenge.

[The Nightfly]

I studied North Indian Classical music for a year, and I love it. Indian music theory has always felt much more natural and organic to me than western music theory.

I tried playing slide guitar like Vishwa Mohann Bhatt, or Debashish Battacharya (check them out if you don't know them), but quickly realised that you need a good teacher if you're ever going to get anywhere doing that.

While we're on the subject of Indian flavoured guitar music... have you heard Nadia by Jeff Beck?

[sitardude2000]

Debashish Bhattacharya played on a CD with Shakti. My guitar hero of all time is John McLaughlin. I haven't or don't remember hearing "Nadia" but will check it out. Bhattacharya is great. I am already discovering limitations with the sitar-guitar and am fixing up my sitar. An instrument I own but don't "play". I appreciate that I would need a "pandit" to sit under to ever attempt the microtones and voicings of Indian music.

[sitardude2000]

Checked out "Nadia". Very nice. Jeff Beck is awesome. Derek Trucks also can do some nice things as on "Sahib Teri Bandi". Ravi Shankar still has everybody's daddy.

[roachboy]

microtones are not a big deal in themselves--they're just pitches that fall between steps in an equal temperment tuning (equal temperment=standard piano tuning). any other tuning system necessarily involves microtones. a tuning system is internally consistent/coherent, so you can just work with a system and learn its possibilities. and these systems are legion.

http://bostonmicrotonalsociety.org/

here's some of la monte young's "well tuned piano" piece



which is done in a particular tuning system of his own devising:

http://www.kylegann.com/wtp.html

that said, i'm personally kinda obsessed with microtones and manipulating them.

la monte young is an interesting cat in the cross-over space that you're interested in--he studied for many years with pandit pran nath...
this is a kinda interesting essay by henry flynt, who was around young and also studied with pran nath.

http://www.henryflynt.org/aesthetics..._pran_nath.htm

like sun ra said, there are other worlds they've not told you about, and they want to speak with you...

[sitardude2000]

Currently restringing and fixing my sitar up. I was in love with my sitar-guitar but am feeling the limitations now. I own tabla and they are a nice conversation piece. Especially after seeing Zakir Hussain and his percussion masters Sunday night. Awesome concert.