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A Sitar
Sitar, late 19th Century, unknown, MET museum · CC0

From around the world · plucked

Sitar

Learn the Sitar with a teacher who plays it. Most people are playing a tune they recognise in about 10 weeks, at 30 minutes a day.

A2-G6 · about 3.8 octaves

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How a Sitar makes sound

Hover to watch it, tap to hear it

A Sitar sounds because a string is pulled aside and let go. Everything happens in that instant: the note is loudest the moment it starts and only ever fades from there, so the craft is in the release, not the hold.

A Sitar note starts and then leaves. You shape it at the moment you make it; after that, it is gone.

Overtones you can hear
8
Loudest overtone
×2
Speaks in
5 ms

What learning the Sitar actually looks like

At 30 minutes a day. Short and daily beats long and occasional. That is not encouragement, it is one of the most replicated findings in how people learn physical skills.

  1. Week one

    You make a sound on purpose. It will not be a good sound. Everyone’s first one is bad, including your teacher’s.

  2. About 10 weeks in

    You play something another person can recognise. This is the moment most people say it stopped feeling like homework.

  3. Around six months

    You choose the next piece yourself, and you can hear what needs work without being told. The plateau usually lands somewhere near here. It is normal, it passes, and it is why having a teacher matters more now than it did in month one.

  4. A year

    You play with other people. That is the point of the whole thing, and it arrives sooner than almost anyone expects.

The honest specification

Getting started
●●●●●
The first month
The messy middle
●●●●●
Months three to nine, roughly
How far it goes
●●●●●
If you keep at it for years
Can start from
age 10
Chords
Yes, you can accompany yourself early on
Portable
It stays where it is
Tuning
You tune it before you play
Practice volume
75 dB
About as loud as conversation in a busy room.
Recommended practice
30 minutes a day