Make a guitar sound like a sitar

[Alex Frias]

The Gotoh does fine the job, but Eyb guitars made it better:
Sitarbridge

[lowfreq33]

Musician's friend used to sell a cheap one. Don't know if they still stock it though.

[Steffmo]

This one is a bit wierd..I used to play with this trendous guitar palyer from Hartford CT. Being a typical starving musician, he had an ES125 with unbelievably worn frets.

He could play the thing...and then push the strings a tiny bit left of right which caused them to vibrate against the other frets just enough to sound exactly like a coral Sitar.

My fav Coral part is the solo in Steely Dan's Do it Again.

[santibanks]

Originally Posted by JTR

When you win the lottery...


http://www.manzer.com/results.tmpl?c...ioritytype=num

I can't remember those sounding like a sitar but more harp like with lots of hi end.

[centurymantra]

There's a pretty amusing radio ad from the late '60s for the Vox Wah pedal that features the endorsement of the Electric Prunes, in which the over-animated announcer proclaims that you can "make your guitar sound like a sitar!!!" It's a pretty classic snippet. I've got it on one of my Pebbles garage comp records, but this should be a link to it for anyone that cares.

wah_ad - eSnips, share anything

[chandlersonic]

I've gotten some pretty interesting sounds with a standard acoustic or classical guitar and matches.
Take two matches, place the matches between the strings towards the bridge (1 string under the match, one string over and the 3rd under, do the same with the second match).

Come mix time add a little sans amp and reverb and you get some really wild effects.
Doesn't sound exactly like a sitar obviously, more like a mix between a sitar, an oud and a guitar, it's damn cool and really cheap.

A lot the sound comes from your fingers too, working on your slide work and vibrato will get you some very interesting textures.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by lowfreq33

Musician's friend used to sell a cheap one. Don't know if they still stock it though.

I have one it's pretty cool

[CompEq]

I remember seeing one of these in GC Hollywood a long time ago. There was a flat piece that lookied like a knife sharpening stone beneath the strings that gave it that sitaresque sound. It was about the size of a humbucker pickup but mounted below the pickups closer to the bridge. You can probably find a small sharpening stone at REI if you want to experiment with the sound.

[Kiwiburger]

I wonder if it's possible to deconvolve an impulse of a sitar note, or something rattly, and process guitar sounds with a convolution reverb ...

[igtmfo]

The J Jones is a pretty tight axe. I probably should have bought the cheaper Rogue because I end up detuning the thing a step for more sustain and bendies (hey fret buzz, what the heck ... adds to the buzziness ...). The sympathetic strings are REAL subtle, so much so I wonder if I shuda bought the JJ Baby Sitar ....

Best to also mic these with a condenser around the bridge for more "woody" resonances and more buzzy sound ... I've heard a contact mic glued around the bridge helps too. Very light picking touch.

Joe South just used this baby to death for even regular guitar parts, rhythm and stuff. The voice-like quality of it is just kind of compelling in that mystical Indian/Eastern philosophical way ... there's something "not of this earth" about it ....

Important note: FYI all the Thom Bell stuff ... Delfonics, Stylistics and maybe some Spinners used a REAL sitar, not an electric sitar, per recent interview with Mr. Bell. Anybody here buy a real sitar off Ebay? I get afraid when I saw those Indian DVDs at $40 a pop ... one teaches you how to string the sitar, another $40 teaches you how to intonate, etc etc. etc. Pretty intimidating learning curve .... ?

The Variax ain't too bad with the sitar setting, it kind of gives the flavor.

[igtmfo]

Remorse per my earlier thread ....

Remember the Jerry Jones and Rogue are semi-acoustics, have some semblance of a cavity ... any guitar designers out there who want to expand this design and put an f-hole on an electric sitar?

I wanted to tout the great Joe South, his best-of is better than the 3-4 standard tunes everybody knows he wrote .... brilliant playing on this axe too.

I just Googled the following: The most famous elec sitar player should be a Nashville cat named Reggie Young. He's still going strong apparently at

MySpace.com - Reggie - 62 - Male - Tennessee - www.myspace.com/youngguitar

To quote: "Reggie's Young's signature sound (on the electric sitar) can be heard on classic Memphis recordings such as the B.J. Thomas hit "Hooked on a Feeling", The Box Tops "Cry Like a Baby", Dobie Gray's "Drift Away", and "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds" sung by Elvis Presley."

Hell yea and thanks, Reggie! The best is yet to come!

[alfonso]

Check this guy (and his incredible instrument), he was the AREA's guitar player, in the '70's he used a lot a Gibson through an EMS modular, now he became buddhist and his music too....

Music Video

[crypticglobe]

Just buy one:

Buy Rogue STR-1 Pro Electric Sitar Guitar online at Musician's Friend

They are cheap.. sound very cool, and will totally solve your problem.

Or the Jerry Jones ones, which I hear is amazing:

Coral sitar

I played one (the rouge) recently on a track I produced for an artist I am working with. I attached an Mp-3 file. It's blended with the guitar on the right side in the verses.

Anyway... it's much easier just to play it on an electric Sitar.

[willythekid]

For a real sitar and other Indian instruments, check out this awesome online store:'



Sitar, Tabla, Tanpura and more Indian instruments from Buckingham Music.


-wtk

[Alex Frias]

Finally I put the Gotoh Buzz bridge and became pretty satisfied with the results.
A short video containing its sound recorded directly to the laptop using a clean amp modeler:

YouTube - Dano 56-U2 Electric Sitar Converted

[rack gear]

lots of info here:
Any good Sitar effects?

I have the rogue and I view it more as an effect than a guitar, and at that it does a good job when needed for that sound... here's a youtube video that's pretty much represents what you'll get out of it:






http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/p...ELAID=26044830