Hi all,
I know i read this somewhere on the board, but now cannot find it. In Ashwin Batish' first video, does he take you completely thru the tuning of the main and tarob strings.And is it worthwhile and helpful? I need that because it's all so very new and confusing and I don't want to rely on my teacher every week to do it. NealAlso, I got a Sitar! Any recommendations on a Tabla machine? Is there any electronic machine also to tune your sitar to?
The tabla machine my tabla teacher has you can tune the dayan to any note you like. get a tuning chart for you sitar and perhaps use an electronic keyboard or chormatic tuner that produces the tones. When my sitarist friend is over he uses the notes from may Matrix Mr-600 tuner to tune. Very simple.
neal (Jan 06, 2002 08:53 a.m.):
Hi all,
I know i read this somewhere on the board, but now cannot find it. In Ashwin Batish' first video, does he take you completely thru the tuning of the main and tarob strings.And is it worthwhile and helpful? I need that because it's all so very new and confusing and I don't want to rely on my teacher every week to do it. NealAlso, I got a Sitar! Any recommendations on a Tabla machine? Is there any electronic machine also to tune your sitar to?
You really don't need an electronic machine to tune a sitar with! I use a $5 harmonica. Works fine. Look at the last two recent posts on the board under Sitar, Basic Instruction. Good tuning for top and bottom strings. Batish video is OK for someone who is a complete novice, but that's about it. I use the Riyaz master pro machine, sold by Buckingham (advertised on this board). Works fine. Not as good as a real human, but better than beating your foot on the floor.
Neal,
In another post I sort of asked if you played any other instruments. If you do then tuning principles are pretty much the same, listening to the "beating" of the the clashing vibrations subsiding brings you to the accurate tuning. Again under "Basic instruction" Peter gives a very comprehensive method of tuning, the notes to tune to are another story. I would say that if you have a teacher I wouldn't waste any money on Ashwin's video, I was very disappointed, the video has about $20.00 worth of information in it. Based on what was in video #1 I personally wouldn't invest in video #2, although Ashwin is quite pleasant to listen to what I was looking for was knowledge. If you are one who has never played an instrument and have extra money I'd say it might be fun to watch, otherwise pay heed to your teacher and have them spend an entire lesson on tuning technique and don't waste any money on videos. I think the Ashwin videos are only expensive because there seems to be no other videos available. . .also don't waste any money on David's Tanpura tapes as they are not in tune, at least on any of my three tape decks. My tape keeps registering at least 10 cents flat, more like 15. However there is a tanpura CD in "C" available from www.soundofindia.com for the same money that is spot on. As peter says you only need the tonic (Sa) to then tune all the others to, so a nice "C" from any source is good. again good luck. . . ken
Hey Neal, if you're curious anyway about the video there's one on ebay right now at $26 currently. Here's the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1403555007
