Sitar Practice: Gat and Taans 09.23.16 – Practice makes perfect

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 “Triplet with Stairs.”

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.

Sitar – after 1 year of lessons

I recently passed the 1 year milestone of formal sitar lessons.  A lot of friends had asked me for a video update so I recorded this the other night.  This is the Gat with Taans for the Raga Yaman that I am studying.  The Taans start a little after the 1 min mark.  I kept it pretty slow to avoid mistakes and to hopefully keep better rhythm.  I was using a metronome too, something I just started doing and something I recommend.  I still have a long way to go! But, you can get the basic idea.   I didn’t record any Mizrab and Pulta exercises, but those are part of my regular practicing.  I am playing a student model Radha Krishna Sharma sitar.  It’s an okay starter sitar.  It is tuned in the style of Ustad Vilayat Khan.  Video shot on the Zoom Q3HD.