wanted guitar to play carnatic music

Discussion in 'Carnatic Music of South India' started by ashok kumar, Jan 20, 2007.

  1. ashok kumar

    ashok kumar New Member

    hi,

    i am Ashok from chennai looking for an electric guitar to play carnatic music like prasanna. can any one suggest the right model and the strings?

    regards
    ashok
     
  2. srini_fox

    srini_fox New Member

    guitars in india

    R Prasanna uses a strat-model with dual humbuckers (I don't know which though). I'm guessing you're a beginner to electric guitars, so I'm giving some general comments too. Please refer to the 'buying your first guitar' thread for acoustic vs electric guitar discussions (don't restrict yourself to an electric-alone mindset). An electric is much costlier, and much more versatile, but it also heavily depends on the guitar you buy.

    In India, Samick have a few models that happen to be pretty good. I suggest you grab some friends who know better, or join a guitar class and ask around before you buy - the right first guitar makes a lot of difference. My suggestion - invest in a good amp - compromise on the guitar if you must, but not on the amp... And start with a HSS or HSH models - it doesnt have the purist sound, but serves well to find the sound you like.

    On playing and tuning:
    I know a guitarist who tunes his guitar to S-P-S-P-S-P to play better (he was a violinist), but Prasanna does not believe in that.

    In a write-up where he discussed the versatility of the guitar, he discusses the guitar's design based on tempered (discrete) notes and the philosophy of its adaptation to carnatic music (which has a lot of quarter and eighth notes, not to mention gamakas). Googling "carnatic guitar chembur prasanna" should get you the article.
     
  3. Sastry

    Sastry New Member

    Ashok,
    I am in US recently bought a Aucostic Guitar. The guy tuned my guitar. The first string, open note is "C" and the enxt one open note as "A". Then I used the guitar as follows:
    C - Sa D-Ri E-Ga F-Ma G-Pa A-Da B-Ni & C (HIGHER)- Sa (higher).
    Right now I am practising Janta Swaralu and could play Vara veena using the above notations.
    Good Luck,
    Sastry
     

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