Forget guitars, buy a Sitar!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Halion
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Halion

Halion

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A while back, I saw a second hand Sitar on a dutch auction site for only 70 euro's, and I grabbed it. Man that thing has a sound! Resonance you won't belief and richness that can't be beat.

For those that don't know what a Sitar is, it is a traditional stringed instrument from India. It has 29 (no, that's not a typo) strings, of which only 2 or 3 are actually played. It has a small body made out of a gourd and a hollow neck made of mahogony. The frets only touch the neck at the sides, and are very rounded. About 5 strings are drones, they are tuned (most of the time) into 2 notes, over a couple of octaves. Then there are 2 strings that are tuned with a forth between them (like a guitar), and then there are a whole lot of strings that sit under the frets (yes, under) that just vibrate along with the music. They are tuned in the scale of the song, so they have to be retuned everytime the scale changes.

Made a recording with it a while back, turned out pretty well, but that thing is really, really hard to play.
 
Aside from the bag-pipes, the Sitar has got to be THE most annoying instrument on the face of the planet! :mad:


:D
 
What do a set of strings cost? Can you get Elixers :-).

rpe
 
rpe said:
What do a set of strings cost? Can you get Elixers :-).

rpe
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I don't remember exactly, but I think the last time I ordered a set of Sitar strings for someone, I charged him like $75. And no, you can not get Elixers for them.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Whhhhhooooooooo Dude like..farout man


I see a red door and I want to paint it black...or something :o

I'd love to get a electric


Peace man :o
 
I cant remember the Brand but musicians friend carrie a 6 string electric Guitar with some sort of resonator bridge AND a section of 12 or so drone strings! They call it an electric "Sitar" and it sells for about $300. sounds pretty nifty for the price.
 
Rogue is the company that makes the MF electric sitar, but they're (most likely) crap. The only electric sitars that I am aware of which offer a good value are the Jerry Jones, and I've never actually played one.

But for the record, bagpipes rock.
 
While we're on the subject of wierd instruments... have any of you guitar players ever tried tapping on a banjo? you get a crazy sound, the resonance makes it sound even faster.
 
hehehe, no I haven't, should be cool :)

The strings didn't cost that much, like, 30 bucks are something (don't remember exactly). The only brand that had them was Pyramid (they seem to make strings for pretty much every stringed instrument).

I know how the Jerry Jones electical sitars sound, basicly like a danelectro, but with the resolating sound of a sitar (has to do with the bridge). Nothing like a real sitar though.
 
The electric Sitar that Brian Jones played on the Stones track "Paint it Black" was a Coral..If I only had a elect. sitar...Man,that thing would make me money!I record alot of '60's garage type 'O bands..The clock would be flying while they tried to figure it out :D Besides it would prob. sound really good :)
 
While we're on the subject of weird instruments... have any of you guitar players ever tried tapping on a banjo? you get a crazy sound, the resonance makes it sound even faster.

Hell, I bet at least 50% of a banjo players notes are hammer-ons anyway, tapping is the next step for them I suppose~I'm sure Bella Fleck is up on it for sure!
 
Zona Mona said:
Ever heard of Béla Fleck??
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sheesh I've just got a double live album with Vitor Wooten on bass & also the bluegrass acoustic planet album OMIGOD :eek:

unbelievable..........

LINE 6 VARIAX 700 it has a wicked sitar sound. I know some of you are itching to through the "it'll never be as good as the real thing" at me but it is convincing enough on what I've used it for (& it's a guitar :rolleyes: ) & to get the other 27 guitar models is unbelievable

no pick ups= no hum if you're poor & don't have LCD monitors

LOL
S :D
 
Halion,
you're my man!

I went to India for some months and I stayed 2 of them in Rishikesh and took sitar lessons. And I agree with you - sitar rocks more than any other instrument. I can really recommend taking some lessons. The learning curve is pretty steep so after just a few weeks of lessons you will feel comfortable with the instrument. But to really master the indian music i guess takes a lifetime... :(

Here is a great online resource for Indian music where you can buy strings and so on:

http://www.buckinghammusic.com/

Good luck with your sitar!
 
Michael Jones said:
Aside from the bag-pipes, the Sitar has got to be THE most annoying instrument on the face of the planet! :mad:


:D
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Yup...and then there's the guy that plays them. OK, OK...it was JUST a joke!
 
Michael Jones said:
Aside from the bag-pipes, the Sitar has got to be THE most annoying instrument on the face of the planet! :mad:


:D
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I almost never agree with you......but, this time you are dead on the money!!!! :eek: :D
 
Howdy y'all.

Some angry foreign fella walked into ma store one day and demaynded I sellum a shit-tar. I tole em, "I don't udnerstaynd whut da hell yer sayin you dumb bastard".

He goes, "Shit-tar!!" I want shittar American!! Give me shittar NOW!!"

I says, "This aint no plummin outfit you dum bastard! If you want a shitter ya'll gotta take yerself down to Harveys Dixie Housewares!"

Then he goes on screamin at me in broken English about the President, Jihad and such.


We took em downstairs to the gimp.
 
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