The Steel Guitar Forum
Bar Chatter Archive
Indian 'Steel Guitar'
UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone!
profile | register | preferences | faq | search
Steel Guitar Strings Strings & instruction for lap steel, Hawaiian & pedal steel guitars http://SteelGuitarShopper.com |
Ray Price Shuffles Classic country shuffle styles for Band-in-a-Box, by BIAB guru Jim Baron. http://steelguitarmusic.com |
This Forum is CLOSED. |
|
|
The Steel Guitar Forum
Bar Chatter Archive
Indian 'Steel Guitar'
profile | register | preferences | faq | search
|
This topic was originally posted in this forum: Wanted To Buy |
| Author | Topic: Indian 'Steel Guitar' |
|
Larry Bell Member Posts: 4116 |
posted 15 March 2001 07:07 AM
I had a unique experience last night to witness a 2000+ year old 'steel guitar' tradition that many of us are not aware of. The chitravina (also spelled chitra veena) looks like a sitar with raised strings and no frets. It is traditionally played with an animal horn for a slide but the preferred material these days is actually Teflon. The instrument has 21 strings, most of which are drone strings. The plucked strings are either played alone or in octaves and all movement is vertical -- i.e., a scale (or Raga) is played on a single string or pair of octave strings using bar movement. It sounds very much like a bottleneck blues guitar at times and many of the Ragas use a minor pentatonic scale as a basis. The musician whose concert I attended is N. Ravikiran and he has been described by many as 'The Mozart of Indian Music'. Ravi Shankar has the highest praise for his abilities and achievements. His first professional concert was at age 5 and he is a supreme master at barely 30 years of age. He plays Carnatic music, Indian classical music which includes elements of composition and improvisation. He has played concerts with Taj Mahal and other blues and jazz artists. For more info: Search the web for Ravikiran or chitravina for more info. It is a FASCINATING instrument. Ricky, Dave VA and the other Fender tube amp fanciers will also be interested to know that his instrument has a pickup mounted on it and he played through a Twin Reverb. Sounded GREAT. Thought some of you might be interested in this instrument that is so similar to the one we play. LTB |
|
Leroy Riggs Member Posts: 1008 |
posted 15 March 2001 08:46 AM
It is a little hard to document history to the detail of a "steel guitar" that far back but indeed, I've read several stories whose authors have linked our steel to that history. Interesting. |
All times are Pacific (US) | This is an ARCHIVED topic. You may not reply to it! |
Note: Messages not explicitly copyrighted are in the Public Domain.
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46
Our mailing address is:
The Steel Guitar Forum
148 South Cloverdale Blvd.
Cloverdale, CA 95425 USA
Support the Forum
