My wife gifted me with a 38" six-string tambura, an Indian drone instrument.
I know how to tune four of the strings
(B b b F#), possibly the fifth (A#), but can't find tuning info on a six-string.
Thanks,
Drew
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<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Drew Howard on 23 November 2006 at 08:44 AM.]</p></FONT>
It's traditionally tuned to just the root and fifth of the pertinent raga, but there's no reason you couldn't add a third or sixth or something if you had a specific musical need - I've even heard of them being used as slide instruments, those Indians are wackier than you might expect. From Wikipedia:
<SMALL>For ragas that omit the fifth, the first string will be tuned down to the natural fourth.</SMALL>
<SMALL>In Indian culture, for a musician, to have someone play tanpura at one's need was a reason for procreation in itself. Formerly, all musician's offspring would sit behind father on the stage with a tanpura....</SMALL>
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by David Mason on 25 November 2006 at 01:36 PM.]</p></FONT>
I plucked one in a store one time when I thought no-one was looking. A salesman appeared out of nowhere -- "Can I help you ?"
It sounded like "plunk, plunk, plunk" when I tried it but he got it down, tuned it real fast, and then adjusted these little pieces of thread where the strings crossed the bridge (which is really wide). He moved them up slowly until he hit the "node". It sounded "plunk, plunk, plunk" and when he got the thread to exactly the right spot "wwrroowwwzzzzzzzzz"
I managed to leave without buying it but, I was thankful for the demonstration.
I've seen classical Indian music in concert so I'm familiar of the sound of these things and I'm familiar with how it looks when a person is picking the strings. But it is a strange disconnect, watching the fingers work the strings and hearing the drone that ensues. You look around to see where the sound is coming from even as you watch it being played.
You gonna tune that ET or JI?
Jon. You were probably just kidding about the ET or JI tuning. What's so cool about drones that use only the tonic (1) and the fifth is that the JI fifth is only 2 cents sharp of the ET. That's why many of us will tune our E's and B's straight up. Thats also why those 1 5 1 power chords sound good with distortion tuned straight up. Pretty much in tune without beats. The Tanpura or Tamboura is the same idea. It gives the general key as a constant drone while the sitar or surbahar or whatever without dictating much or any coloration. Then the melodic instrument can find all those non-ET intervals and they make great musical sense.
I've seen more and more in recent years that Indian classical performers, even very big players, will use electronic tambouras instead of humans. They're cheaper and also non-union.
