Can I Learn To Play The Tabla?
Looking to learn the Tabla? The Tabla is a traditional Indian instrument, and whether you have cultural ethnic roots you want to explore with music or simply want to know an exotic instrument to broaden your knowledge of the musical art form, learning the Tabla can be a highly beneficial experience to you. Due to being a traditional cultural instrument that is not often taught on a broad scale like piano or guitar, finding a teacher to learn the Tabla from can be quite a pain to find. You local yellow pages might yield a Tabla teacher if there is a strong Asian community in your area, but if not you are going to have to look further afield than that. If at all possible, getting a Tabla teacher nearby is essential to reduce the cost of you having to travel. While some musical teachers themselves sometimes do indeed travel, there are limits to the distance unless you are willing to pay high premiums for the cost of having them drive to you. The cost of Tabla lessons should be on the same average as regular music lessons, even if it is an unusual instrument, so don’t be conned into paying dramatically more than you would a piano lesson.
You are however going to find yourself paying overall more due to taking more lessons to learn the instrument due to the complexity of the Tabla. If you have previous experience in music such as knowing the guitar you should still find the Tabla something of a difficult instrument to learn due to changes in the scales used to play musical notes. Understanding these shifts with the Tabla is important when it comes to getting your head in the game and mastering the Tabla at least to a level where you can play songs fully and concisely on it. Being able to go above this level with the Tabla will show true mastery of the instrument but can take several years for you to reach this level. Be patient and practice as much as possible, and maybe then you will be able to master the Tabla.
Guru Soundz is a store in London that specialises in selling Indian instruments such as the tabla. If you’ve ever wanted to learn to play the sitar, visit our website to see our product range.
