I am interested in learning the guitar and have recently purchased an Ibanez cutaway steel string accoustic. I can play a few notes and a few chords but that's where it ends. I have been following the threads out here for a while and see quite a few knowledgeable guys and gals in the sphere of Carnatic Classical music. I am inclined towards learning how to play carnatic music on the guitar and have been listening to carnatic music all my life. I must confess I have no formal knowledge and education and cannot identify / differentiate between ragas! The question I have for the learned people out here is - how do I get started on the path of gaining this knowledge? I know that it's going to take a lifetime to do it (!) and am quite interested in pursuing it. Please suggest any books /reference material / online references that I can use to get started. Many thanks for your help in advance!
Hi again! Hi All, Reading the Carnatic posts / threads out here, I do realize that the best way is to learn from a teacher. I live in Raleigh, NC, US and I dont believe there's anybody teaching Carnatic classical music, specially for the guitar. My hope is to learn from the basics up and not just know how to play a few songs by heart....hence the request. Looks like fridays are slow on these boards....will come back Monday! Cheers! and Thanks again!
Welcome to the forum DeSilva! The ebst way to learn carnatic (or any music) is through a teacher. For carnatic it is more so, because of the intricacies that are hard to document. I suggest you take vocal classes. That will surely help you learn guitar, and most of all, improve your understanding of the music. Sites like karnatik.com, musicindiaonline etc have some carnatic lessons you can follow. This board is better at answering specific questions. Hope you have fun learning to play the guitar. good luck!
Thanks Ananth! Hi Ananth, Thanks a lot for the info! I had an inkling that the best way to learn Carnatic is through a teacher...did not realize that I had to learn vocal to be able to play the guitar better as far as Carnatic music was concerned... Also thanks for the links to the sites..I will check them out. Cheers.
Hi Jay, I hope I can call you that....I am not sure why buddy! It's difficult enough to pick up a few chords and notes....vocals too? Hmmm....I will have to re-think my goal here it seems like! :think: Having read some of the posts here from Ananth and given his knowledge, I would not question his suggestion....am wondering if I can really do that in terms of time and ability.... Cheers.
learning vocals helps you play any instrument. it gives u a better understanding of the music, taking you closer to the music in a way. for instance, you may be able to hum a tune and then know exactly how to play it on the instrument. vocally performing a tune also gives you better understanding of how the sound travels from one pitch to another etc. Of course, you can eventually learn to do all these things if you tinker with music long enuf, but for a beginner vocal training will surely help a lot in learning music (and rhythm) in general.
cool. i can undertsand why this is the norm in carnatic music. i only asked the q because there might be people like me who r hopelessly bad in singing vocals.. and have no interest in learning vocals, but might be interesting in learning an instrument. but your explanation makes sense.
jay u r a great singer, no two ways abt it! ur rhythm sense is amazing I'm sure singing should've helped ur rhythm too.
