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"Tabla"

Started by Misterkamikazi, July 28, 2008, 04:52 AM

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Misterkamikazi

Any Tabla players here? Another instrument I'd love to get my hands on. I noticed most percussionists that aren't from India don't include these drums as part of their setup. Perhaps, it's because most of them specialize more in Latin oriented percussion instruments. Still, a pretty cool instrument.

Bart Elliott

We have a number of Tabla players here at the Drummer Cafe. I play Tabla, but don't incorporate the drums in my normal live set-up simply because of the volume issues. It's tough to mic Tabla for live situations and not have anything else on stage bleeding through.

I use a HandSonic for Tabla and Udu ... unless the gig is really acoustic with low stage volumes ... and having to constantly tune throughout the gig isn't going to be an aesthetic issue.

I wish I had more opportunities to play Tabla so I could devote more time on the instrument.

Dave Sharma

I play tabla; have had them on tour this summer for a bunch of European festivals.  They sit right next to my djembe, so i can (in theory, at least) play the high tabla (dayan) with my right hand while continuing a groove on congas/djembe with my left.

  I did a bit of rigging a few years ago and installed sennhesier e604's inside both the dayan and the bayan, so all that an engineer has to do is plug in his XLR cables to the drums and we're good to go (albeit with some hefty eq-- the dayan rings like crazy around 1khz).  providing the monitor situation is good (i'm using shure e5 in-ears on this one, so it is), it's a really well-working system--you can get tons of gain before feedback and really well-isolated signals, which are the 2 main problems one gets when using tabla in a mic'd setting.

i also moved the tuning mechanism on the dayan over from straps-and-blocks to a much more tour-friendly nut-and-blot system.  Toss the drums into some piccolo snare stand baskets set inside cymbal stand bases, and you're good to go.

tabla is a great, great instrument that's absolutely changed my life as a musician-- i've been playing for about 10 years and it is, without a doubt, the most significant thing to happen to me as a drummer since starting to play when i was 10. 

I can't stress enough the importance of having a teacher, ideally one with whom you have a great rapport.  One who gets the fact that you're already a musician and have certain goals beyond learning in the traditional student-teacher parampara is an even better boon.  Learning from a book is, in my mind, impossible.  You really need to sit and study the technique with your own eyes; it took me months to learn 'na,' the most basic tonal stroke on the drum, and i'm still working on getting it to be better-than-mediocre.  Like anything else with refined technique, 'mastering' tabla is a life-long pursuit.

If it's scratching at your gullet, then you should definitely go for it-- but be forewarned, there's very few drummers i know who studied tabla, took to it, and came out on the same path they were on before.  it definitely DOES take over your mentality!

carmstrong1959

Quote from: Misterkamikazi on July 28, 2008, 04:52 AM
Any Tabla players here?

I've just joined the forum and I've been playing tabla for 30 years. Here's a recent video clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mnyfm8k0C8