---
url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-gb/faq/workshops-learning/can-a-western-guitarist-violinist-or-pianist-learn-to-play-indian-classical'
title: 'Can a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist learn to play Indian classical music?'
author:
  name: rajeevk
  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-gb/user/0f961cccc99524ed'
date: '2026-10-27T01:39:26+00:00'
type: website
summary: 'Yes, a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist can learn Indian classical music; KalaSudha teaches it online in live one-to-one lessons from Foundation.'
tags:
  - 'Workshops & learning'
image: 'https://kalasudha.com/themes/custom/music_agency/assets/icon/logo.svg'
published: true
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  site_name: KalaSudha
  'image:url': 'https://kalasudha.com/themes/custom/music_agency/assets/icon/logo.svg'
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  'image:type': image/svg+xml
  'image:alt': KalaSudha
---
  [  Help ](/en-gb/help)     Can a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist learn to play Indian classical music?  

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  FAQ · Workshops & learning

# Can a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist learn to play Indian classical music?

 Updated 27 October 2026

 Yes, a Western guitarist, violinist or pianist can learn Indian classical music; KalaSudha teaches it online in live one-to-one lessons from **Foundation**. We add workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up. The new part is the **raga**, a melodic framework of set notes, stressed notes and characteristic phrases.

On the [Hindustani violin](/instrumental/hindustani-classical/violin), fingering and bowing join the notes. On [Indian slide guitar](/instrumental/hindustani-classical/indian-slide-guitar), a bar glides between them. The [piano](/instrumental/hindustani-classical/piano) cannot glide, so pianists learn to suggest **meend**, the glide between notes. In South Indian music, Ludwig Pesch writes, each note's ornament, its gamaka, depends on its melodic context.



 

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