Tag Archives: raga yaman

Most Difficult Sitar Gamak Exercise Ever: Part 2

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Around September 2016, my teacher gave me this new sitar gamak exercise and told me that it would take a year to master it.

I figured this would make for a great series of videos and I would document my progress.

You can watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/Uyn_DP35Bfo

This has been one of the toughest tasks I have faced with the sitar.

Playing this with even tempo and in pitch has been brutal. In addition, I feel like every time I ask my teacher to review I learn that I have been practicing it slightly wrong (or completely wrong) as the subtle elements are beyond my grasp.

Hopefully I am now on the right track. Let’s take a listen and see how I am doing.

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Learning Raga Yaman Alap, Update December 2016

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Here is a video of me practicing Alap for Raga Yaman.

As many of you already know, sitar is really hard to play!

Raga Yaman Alap is something I have been slowly learning over the years. For the past few months my teacher has been having me focus a lot of Gat and Taans. Then over the past few weeks we started spending more time during my lesson discussing and playing Alap.

Since I was traveling this week I figured I would shoot a video playing alap to document my current progress compared to the previous videos I have posted. You can see those in the links below. I hope I am getting better. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Old Alap Videos:
October 2016: https://youtu.be/ohiPO4el_D0
July 2016: https://youtu.be/AZ7mkE4LKpA
April 2016: https://youtu.be/s29hjlDTghI

If you want to learn more about the sitar I am playing you can watch this video:
https://youtu.be/PUA3P_YwMOA

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Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/notbadfilms?sub_confirmation=1

Like these videos?
Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

Sitar Paltas

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A viewer recently asked how often I practice my Paltas so I wanted to make a video to show what that part of my practice is like. For those wondering, I always include Paltas as part of my warm up.

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Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/notbadfilms?sub_confirmation=1

Like these videos?
Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

Improving Sitar Hand Technique and Endurance

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Improving my sitar hand technique and endurance has been a long and difficult task.

As most of you know, I have been working to increase my speed, so while I can play this sitar taan really well at 150 beats per minute, my teacher has given me the goal of playing it at 200bpm. So far 170-175 has been my max speed for this one. Tonight I wanted to push myself so I set the electronic tabla at 180.

This was also a great test of endurance. After doing all of my normal practice, I then focused on this long Taan for about 30 minutes. My hands were exhausted by the end!

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Long Sitar Practice: Paltas, Gat & Taans

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It’s been a busy week and sometimes life get’s in the way.

I needed to get in a decent sitar practice before my lesson so this video includes paltas, a gat and taans in raga yaman.

I am quickly approaching my 5 year anniversary of playing sitar and I’ve been struggling recently to find time to practice and it has slowed down my growth.  It’s been frustrating.  This isn’t some of my best playing, but I wanted to be honest about my progress and post the good with the bad.

For those new to this series, I am working to build up my speed. My teacher wants me to eventually play at 250 beats per minute (BPM). Let’s see how fast I can get today!

New Tough Sitar Taans

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Hi, I’m Jeff Starr, a sitar student and filmmaker. Last week my sitar teacher revised one of my existing taans to expand it further.

It’s not super complicated, but he wants me to build up my speed so that I can play my sitar taans at 250 beats per minute (bpm). And, this one started getting really hard at at 175 bpm.

I give all my my Taans nicknames and I call this one “3P.”

Let’s see how fast I can get today!

I took my first sitar lesson on January 27th, 2012.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/notbadfilms?sub_confirmation=1

Raga Yaman Gat and Taans

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Here is a video of me practicing gat and taans for Raga Yaman.

I am working to build up speed. My teacher wants me to play at 250 beats per minute (BPM). Although I’ve been able to play a handful of taans at 200bpm, tonight I stayed at 170 BPM to try and clean up the technical errors in my playing.

If you like this video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/notbadfilms?sub_confirmation=1

You can watch more of my sitar videos at this YouTube Playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaTbnoUuEbU3lBS56ci0HIf59ICXdwnhx

Raga Yaman Alap Practice 10-27-16

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In this video I am practicing my opening phrases to the Alap for Raga Yaman.

This is difficult stuff!

I struggled with some pitch issues and my attack on some notes is a little rough but this is all part of the learning process. Hopefully this is an improvement over my last Alap video.

Please leave comments and let me know what you think. I love to read feedback.

If you like this video and want to follow my progress learning the sitar, please subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/notbadfilms?sub_confirmation=1

How to play Sitar Fast: playing sitar at 200 beats per minute!

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Do you want to learn how to play sitar fast?  So do I!

I am working to build up speed as my teacher wants me to play at 200 beats per minute (BPM). Let’s see how fast I can get today!

Here is a video of me practicing one of my Taans for Raga Yaman. I give all my my Taans nicknames and I call this one “Confused #1.”

I took my first sitar lesson on January 27th, 2012.

My Newest Sitar Taan!

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Here is a video of me practicing my newest Taan for Raga Yaman.

I give all my my Taans nicknames and I call this one “Chikari Pauses.”

I am working to build up speed as my teacher wants me to play at 200 beats per minute (BPM). Let’s see how fast I can get today!

I took my first sitar lesson on January 27th, 2012.