Demonskates
Mar 2nd, 2007, 12:05 PM
Ive played music my whole life just about. I play mostly bass now, but I am not a half bad blues harmonica player either.
Im really considering getting a Sitar. For one, they are gorgeous instuments as far as looks go.
The more i read about it the more interested i am in getting one.
For one thing thier scales, or Thaats, are only seven Swaras or notes, rather than 12 here in the west. Early sitar music only had three notes in the sacle, but later worked out to seven. There are 22 intervals none of which are equal in relation to the scale. They look at music much diffreent than we do. If you are in a room with a sitar, youre shoes should not be worn, even if your not the one playing it. The instruments themselves are considered holy. Plus certain times of the day, you are classicaly only allowed to play certain notes.
where we are like, do, re, mi, so, fa, la, ti, do, they are like
sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni.
So during the morning hours you can only play raga's with the notes Ra and dha within the scale. ra and dha are the base notes of the entire composition. They call this type of raga a Sandi-Prakash or twilight raga.
they feel that muic is energy, and that during diffrent times of day, you should use certain notes. if you dont, they feel that it is actually harmful to youre well being.
An interesting concept.
To make a true raga you must have at least 5 notes, one of which is the primary note or king note, another important or secondary note, and a few helping notes.
So depending on what time of day, night, or season you are in, is what dictates what notes your raga is based on.
the instruments themselves are a work of art.
They have 20 strings. The under side strings are sympethetic tone strings that ring when the upper seven strings are played.
The upper seven strings are the ones you actually play, which are above the 13 sympathetic strings. thats where a sitar gets the ethereal sound from.
Of the seven top strings, 5 are drone strings, and the other two are the ones that you actually do the scales on or do bends on(meends)
Im gonna go for the double tumba model.
The bottom of a sitar is a gourd, and on the back of the neck or Dandee is somtimes a second gourd which helps resonate the sound and project it better.
i found this site selling some really exquisite sitars.
www.karaseksound.com
Im interested in the A v1 model, its the last one on the right of the bottom row of pics.
They tend to play their sitars in open tunings. so when you hit all the strings, its already a chord. really you are only truely playing two strings for the scales, and struming the others on the return stroke for chord accompanyment. Its pretty complex but still amazing to me. every time i hear one it just moves me, so i think im gonna learn how to play one. that should keep mw busy for a decade or so, LOL>
Im really considering getting a Sitar. For one, they are gorgeous instuments as far as looks go.
The more i read about it the more interested i am in getting one.
For one thing thier scales, or Thaats, are only seven Swaras or notes, rather than 12 here in the west. Early sitar music only had three notes in the sacle, but later worked out to seven. There are 22 intervals none of which are equal in relation to the scale. They look at music much diffreent than we do. If you are in a room with a sitar, youre shoes should not be worn, even if your not the one playing it. The instruments themselves are considered holy. Plus certain times of the day, you are classicaly only allowed to play certain notes.
where we are like, do, re, mi, so, fa, la, ti, do, they are like
sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni.
So during the morning hours you can only play raga's with the notes Ra and dha within the scale. ra and dha are the base notes of the entire composition. They call this type of raga a Sandi-Prakash or twilight raga.
they feel that muic is energy, and that during diffrent times of day, you should use certain notes. if you dont, they feel that it is actually harmful to youre well being.
An interesting concept.
To make a true raga you must have at least 5 notes, one of which is the primary note or king note, another important or secondary note, and a few helping notes.
So depending on what time of day, night, or season you are in, is what dictates what notes your raga is based on.
the instruments themselves are a work of art.
They have 20 strings. The under side strings are sympethetic tone strings that ring when the upper seven strings are played.
The upper seven strings are the ones you actually play, which are above the 13 sympathetic strings. thats where a sitar gets the ethereal sound from.
Of the seven top strings, 5 are drone strings, and the other two are the ones that you actually do the scales on or do bends on(meends)
Im gonna go for the double tumba model.
The bottom of a sitar is a gourd, and on the back of the neck or Dandee is somtimes a second gourd which helps resonate the sound and project it better.
i found this site selling some really exquisite sitars.
www.karaseksound.com
Im interested in the A v1 model, its the last one on the right of the bottom row of pics.
They tend to play their sitars in open tunings. so when you hit all the strings, its already a chord. really you are only truely playing two strings for the scales, and struming the others on the return stroke for chord accompanyment. Its pretty complex but still amazing to me. every time i hear one it just moves me, so i think im gonna learn how to play one. that should keep mw busy for a decade or so, LOL>