Reharsing a carnatic raga on guitar to better learn tabbing songs - ShanmukhaPriya ra

Hi Guys,

In this thread, we will learn one carnatic raga. After enough rehearsal, we will be able to play songs that are based on the raga without searching for tabs.
This method makes out frequency identification better. Through practice sessions, we can learn many ragas, which will make our music sense better.
As we are not trying to become masters at playing carnatic on guitar, we need not learn the notes of each and every raga.

Every carnatic raga has an aarohanam - ascending scale, and an avarohanam - descending scale.
If a raga has all the seven notes in both aarohanam and avarohanam, it is called a Sampoorna Raga.
All 72 Melakarta ragas are sampoorna ragas.
There are other ragas which have more or less than 7 swaras (or notes) in their aarohanam or avarohanam and are called Vakra ragas, they are usually derived ragas from sampoorna ragas and hence called janya ragas.

For this thread we will look at a sampoorna raga, Shanmukha priya, which is the 56th melakarta raga.

Shanmukha Priya
aarohanam - S R2 G2 M2 P D1 N2 S'
avarohanam - S' N2 D1 P M2 G2 R2 S

In guitar notes, this can be played as :-

Aarohanam - C D D# F# G G# A# C' (where C' is C in a higher octave)
Avarohanam - C' A# G# G F# D# D C

One octave of Shanmukhapriya can be played as below :

(you can use other frets maybe 1-4, or 9 and above as per your comfort, I feel comfortable in frets 5-8)

---aarohanam------------------avarohanam-----
e>---------------6-8----------8-6---------------------------------------
B>--------7-8-9-------------------9-8-7---------------------------------
G>-5-7-8--------------------------------8-7-5---------------------------
D>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E>-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Complete Aarohanam over the fret board
e>------------------------------6-8----------------------------------------
B>------------------------7-8-9---------------------------------------------
G>-----------------5-7-8----------------------------------------------------
D>--------4-5-6-8------------------------------------------------------------
A>---5-6-------------------------------------------------------------------
E>-8----------------------------------------------------------------------

Complete Avarohanam over the fret board
e>-8-6---------------------------------------------------------------------
B>-----9-8-7----------------------------------------------------------------
G>-----------8-7-5----------------------------------------------------------
D>-----------------8-6-5-4---------------------------------------------------
A>-------------------------6-5---------------------------------------------
E>-----------------------------8------------------------------------------

So guys and Girls, practice these notes... once , ten times, a hundred times if you can.
Will update a reply with an easy to play film song in this ragam soon.

Any doubts or questions, please feel free to comment and ask. Remember, the only dumb questions are those that are never asked. However silly you may feel your doubt is, it will teach you and me something.

Love,
Abhishek

 

Thanks Abhishek , Yes a song will be helpful with the raga . Tell me one more thing u tabbed for lot of songs right how many of them fitted to this raga approximately ??

Thanks,
Gopi .

 

I am traveling this weekend. Will update a song on Monday.
I don't think many songs fit into this raga. More importantly I practice ragas to get better at the "listening" part of music. I want to be able to listen to any tune and play it on Guitar.

 

Song on Shanmukhapriya

Song : Takitha thadimi Tandana
Movie: Sagara Sangamam (1983)
Music Director: Ilayaraja Sir
Lyrics: Veturi SundaraRama murthy
Singer: SP Balasubhramaniam

>>thakita thadimi thakita thadimi thandaana
e>------------------------------------------------
B>------------------------------------------------
G>5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8--5h-7h-8h---------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>hrudayalaya ....jethulla gathula thillana
e>------------------------------------------------
B>------------------------------------------------
G>5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8---5h-7h-8h---------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

Repeat Takita tadhimi once again.

>>thadabadu adugullu .thappani ...thaalaana
e>-------------------------------8h-6h-----------
B>8-9-8-7---8-9-8-7--8-9-8-7----------9h--------
G>------------------------------------------------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>thadisina ..pedhavullu regina ....raagaana
e>-------------------------------6h-----------
B>8-9-8-7---8-9-8-7---8-9-8-7------9h-8h--------
G>------------------------------------------------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>thadabadu adugullu .thappani ...thaalaana
e>-------------------------------8h-6h-----------
B>8-9-8-7---8-9-8-7--8-9-8-7----------9h8-------
G>------------------------------------------------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>thadisina ..pedhavullu regina ....raagaana
e>-------------------------------6h-----------
B>8-9-8-7---8-9-8-7---8-9-8-7------9h-8h--------
G>------------------------------------------------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>shruthini layeni ..okati ...chesi
e>6------------------------------------------------
B>--9-8----9-8-7--8-7----7------------------------
G>---------------------8---8-7--------------------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>thakita thadimi thakita thadimi thandaana
e>------------------------------------------------
B>------------------------------------------------
G>5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8--5h-7h-8h---------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

>>hrudayalaya ....jethulla gathula thillana
e>------------------------------------------------
B>------------------------------------------------
G>5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8--5-7-8---5h-7h-8h---------
D>------------------------------------------------
A>------------------------------------------------
E>------------------------------------------------

I am not tabbing the charanam here. If you've practiced the raga enough, you should be able to tab it easily on your own.
Also there is a beautiful chorus vocal during the end part of the song when Jayapradha comes and holds Kamal Hassan's hand.
Even that portion can beplayed in the same raga.
Until the next post,
Peace Out.
Regards,
Abhishek