I do tabla myself, and after a really difficult two years, I get the feeling that I am actually understanding what goes on. Been playing 3 years with a Sitar player who thinks he`s great, but I get the feeling he copies Kushal Das more than play the Raggas. Am now playing for a couple of singers, which is far more interesting, and I can feel the Ragga work a lot better.
If Alex fancies it, I can send him some scales as a graphic, or post a page full (copymachine from a book).
when playing in different timings (for western ears) you should think in smaller groups, like a Campak (11/4) is really 2,2,2,2,3 as a cycle,, or a Dipchandi (14/4) is 3,4,3,4....
and so on.
If you are looking for tabla loops for your sounds, please feel free to get in touch, and I can play some in for you (I have a couple of nice sets, and decent recording gear).
A very interesting man in the creation of modal music is a chap called Tansen, who died about 400 years ago, but created some beautiful scales, which are still used in one form or the other. Is really the backbone of what we know as Hindustani Classic.
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