Real basic question. . how does one play sharps and flats on the sitar? and is that the same as a half tone? Do you move the frets? or do you play the adjacent fret?
Hi Neal, You set your frets for whatever Raga you're playing. You move the 8th and 14th fret back one note in various combinations for raga(s) like Bhairav, etc. So RE (8th) would become komal RE (Dflat) and Dha (14th) would become komal Dha (Aflat).
On a Raga like Marwa you would only move the 8th fret back to Komal RE, and so on. . . . .
Yup, what Lars says is right. That's one cool thing about sitar. You can move the frets, can't do that with a guitar. Another way to play them is with meend, but that's one we'll reserve for later on. BYW, good idea to begin using some of the Indian musical terms such as tivra for sharp, komal for flat. If you ever use manual, makes it much easier.
