Guitarगिटार

To start Indian classical music on the guitar, learn with KalaSudha online or in a workshop, beginning at Foundation level. The first stage settles your sitting position and right-hand technique, whether you fingerpick or use a plectrum. We teach children as well as adults: ask us about a starting age and about a guitar size for a younger learner.

Guitarists returning after a long break start again where they left off. Our courses run in levels, so your teacher reviews where you stand first.

Yes, Indian classical music is played on the guitar. Hindustani guitarists mostly play lap-slide instruments that grew out of the Hawaiian guitar, following Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra, who laid a modified Gibson archtop flat and played it with a slide; Barun Kumar Pal also plays Hindustani slide guitar. In Carnatic music, R. Prasanna plays a fretted electric guitar in his own Carnatic tuning, B E B E B E, and renders gamaka through slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Other guitarists use open tunings for some Indian classical work.

An Indian slide guitar grew from the Hawaiian lap-slide tradition: Brij Bhushan Kabra modified a Gibson Super 400 archtop guitar with a drone string and a high nut that lifts the strings off the fretboard. He played it seated and flat, with fingerpicks and a bar. He also added more chikari (high drone strings) and tarab (sympathetic strings).

A classical guitar carries nylon strings, and nylon's lower tension lets it use lighter internal reinforcement than a steel-string acoustic guitar. The bracing pattern is one of the main differences between the two. Classical guitars also generally lack an adjustable truss rod, which steel-string necks typically carry, though some modern nylon-string models, Taylor's among them, include one adjusted at the soundhole.

Taylor, the guitar maker, recommends keeping a guitar at 45% to 55% relative humidity, and builds its own guitars at 46%. Keep a digital hygrometer in the case to measure it. Taylor advises against humidifiers that seal the soundhole unless one is paired with a second at the headstock; two-way humidity packs hold 45% to 50%.

Most classical guitars have no adjustable truss rod; nylon's lower tension lets them use lighter internal reinforcement. Steel-string necks typically carry a truss rod. Some modern nylon-string models, Taylor's among them, do include one, adjusted through the soundhole. Check which kind you have before attempting any neck adjustment.

To adjust a guitar's truss rod, first tune the strings to pitch. Aim for a very slight forward bow in the neck. Tighten the rod clockwise if the neck has too much relief, and loosen it anticlockwise for back-bow and buzz. Most classical guitars have no adjustable rod, while steel-string necks carry one, so check yours before you start.

Taylor lists the signs of a guitar that is too dry: low action and buzzing, fret ends that protrude from the fingerboard, cracks, a sinking top and a lifting bridge. Taylor advises measuring humidity with a digital hygrometer kept in the case. It recommends 45% to 55% relative humidity, and two-way humidity packs hold 45% to 50%.

You can buy a guitar for Indian classical music from KalaSudha, by quote or made to order, wherever you live: we deliver worldwide. We pack every instrument for international shipping and can advise on cases and insurance; ask us.

Any guitar can come to us for service or repair, in any country, wherever you bought it. We also supply strings and spare parts. For help with your guitar after the sale, ask us through the chat on any page or at [email protected]. We arrange gift vouchers, class sets for schools and flight cases for travel on request.

You can book an Indian classical guitarist through KalaSudha for a concert, event or recording. Tell us what the occasion needs through our page to book Indian classical musicians. Before you choose, hear our artists in KalaSudha's recordings and concert videos.

Indian classical guitarists include Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra (1937 to 2018), who took the guitar into Hindustani raga, laid flat and played with a bar, and R. Prasanna, who has played Carnatic music on the electric guitar since the 1990s.

Kabra studied with Ali Akbar Khan, whose fretless sarod he emulated with a slide, and his line led to the Indian slide guitar. Prasanna renders gamaka through slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs.

A guitar's standard tuning runs E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4, low to high, and some Indian classical work uses open tunings instead. In Carnatic music R. Prasanna plays in his own "Carnatic tuning", which sets every string to E or B.

Fingerpickers hold a drone under the melody, as a tanpura would.