Should I Buy and Learn the Sitar?

Question

I'm thinking of buying & learning the sitar, but i need to know a few things,
1. How hard is it to learn if i'm already good on guitar?
2. How much does it usually cost?
3. Do they have any dvd's for it?
4. Do they have any pickups for it?

Answer 1

Buying a sitar is easy... you can get a playable one for under a thousand bucks. A good reliable source is lark in the morning....look for the website, they have all sorts of exotic instruments. You can easily fit a pickup...but it will have to be an acoustic one, as authentic strings are natural materials, not metal.
The real problem is that to learn to play well will take a long, long time.... classical sitar requires beginning at an early age, practising for many hours a day and.... after 20 or so years, you might turn out to be an adequate player. If all you want is the sound, any decent sythesizer can get you the sitar sound. For the real thing however, Your experience with the guitar is irrelevent.... so is any knowlege of western music, as the sitar uses a different scale and different system. It just ain't for screwing around...

Answer 2

you could be like george harrison and just play it like a guitar. i hear it is difficult to pick up though.

cost is about 200 to 1000 dollars. in new york there are stores that sell it for around 100 or a but more and there are schools that teach you to play.

go to youtube and they have videos on how to play, tune, and such. they definately have dvd's on how to play.

and for the pickup question:

"you can use a magnetic pickup on a sitar provided you change the non-ferrous strings for steel strings."

basically change the string to steel strings so that the magnets can pick them up. as is the sitar is like the acoustic guitar. you can get an electric sitar but that might be a waste, it was for me when i got an electric violin since my teacher said it would be best to learn on a wood one first, but maybe that was his preference.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

that is so Moulin Rouge! :)