Sitar Speed Breakthrough

My teacher has been pushing me to increase my sitar speed so that I can play at 200 beats per minute (BPM).

I was traveling a while back and using my secondary sitar when I had a breakthrough in speed… Here is a video of my progress.

Here is an old video about the sitar I am playing, I have improved a lot since it was recorded: https://youtu.be/PUA3P_YwMOA

For those curious, I took my first sitar lesson on January 27th, 2012.
———-

Like this video?

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

Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

 

 

 

Lots of Alap (and thoughts on my sitar lesson)

Hi, today I had a 2 hour sitar lesson! I wanted to practice more alap tonight before I forgot everything.

Here are links to the videos I reference:
Sitar Speed Breakthrough: https://youtu.be/BEP9cmqayiU
I bought a Sitar! Is this Ravi Shankar Style? https://youtu.be/PUA3P_YwMOA

Like this video?

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

Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

Blues Music on Sitar? You asked for it!

A while back I asked everyone to suggest sitar videos I should make.

The overwhelming favorite idea was to record a song playing Sitar and Guitar together.

This is the resulting video!

Want to learn more about the “Sitar Guitar” in the background? Watch this video: https://youtu.be/ZSJn_k-FGFQ

———-

Like this video?

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

Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

 

 

 

Raga Yaman Alap, Sitar Practice

Practicing Raga Yaman Alap, live stream.

…some tuning issues.

———-

Like this video?

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

Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

Interview with American Sitarist Chris Stephens

Hi, I’m Jeff Starr, a sitar student and filmmaker. This is my interview with Chris Stephens, an American who has been playing sitar for 15 years. You will hear a 1 minute clip of his playing before we discuss learning the sitar.

Aside from occasional lessons with Ustad Imrat Khan, Chris is primarily self taught. He is extremely dedicated to Hindustani music and has spent countless hours learning about its deep intricacies.

You can learn more about Chris at the following links:
http://www.chrisstephensmusic.net
https://chrisstephens.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisitar
https://www.patreon.com/ChrisStephens

If you play sitar, please visit https://www.reddit.com/r/Sitar/ and contribute to the discussion on Reddit.

You can find the Bela Fleck album we discuss at this link:
http://amzn.to/2lvY0jo

——————————- ——————————- ——————————-

Like this video?

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

Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

The Self Taught Sitarist. Can you learn sitar by yourself?

Frequently I am asked, “Can I teach myself to play sitar” and, “I can’t find a teacher, should I even bother trying to learn sitar on my own?”

Well, thanks to YouTube, I have met many amazing sitar players from all over the world. One of them is Manjit Singh. After he and I chatted a bit he offered to shoot a video talking about his experience learning the sitar on his own and teaching himself.

So, if you want to learn sitar but you can’t find a teacher, let Manjit serve as an inspiration.

Please visit his YouTube channel for the full interview and to watch his other performance videos.
Manjit Singh: https://www.youtube.com/user/1966Manjit

———-

Like this video?

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

Help support me on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/JeffStarr

Learning Raga Yaman Alap, Update December 2016

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

———-

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

New Tough Sitar Taans


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

Debut sitar performance in NYC

My teacher said that he booked me for a sitar performance in NYC this December!

I am stressing out!  Back in November 2015 I had my first public performance. I was background music for an event at the Pakistan Mission to The United Nations. It was an honor to be invited to play there, but I was REALLY nervous about it.

In tonight’s video I reflect on that performance, where I am now with my training and I show a super old clip from 2012, after I had taken my third sitar lesson.  I’ve come a long way since then!


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