Guitar Gear

I just finished reading an interesting article in Premier Guitar entitled, “The Secret World of Hindustani Slide,” that talked about slide guitar playing in India. Yes, slide guitar. Apparently, slide guitar was introduced in India by Tau Moe, a Hawaiian slide guitarist that moved to Kolkata (Calcutta) in the early 1940’s. His performances and recordings sparked a fairly large following, to the point where slide guitar is now a staple in Hindustani music, with several manufacturers and schools devoted to slide guitar.  Cool.

Admittedly, my experience with Indian music in general has been limited to background music or Bollywood videos played in Indian restaurants. Given that, to me, Indian slide guitar to me has always been about the sitar, which I never really liked that much because of its (to me) overly thin tone. There have been times when I’ve heard some deeper-toned string instrument being played in the songs I’ve heard that I thought were pleasing. I had no idea that they were from a guitar.

Here’s a video of a very nice song being played with a Hindustani slide guitar…

Very cool in my book! The musicianship and instrument mastery of the player is awesome. Musically, it’s not my cup of tea, but I appreciate great musicianship when I see it.

After I saw that video, it occurred to me that it would be cool if there was an electric version of a Hindustani guitar. After all, the bodies seem to be predominantly archtops. But I couldn’t find a single video where I saw a Hindustani slide guitar plugged into an amp. Hmmm… In any case, throw on a couple of P-90’s and you could add all sorts of effects. I’ve heard some really moving (as in up-tempo) Indian music in the past, especially stuff from Goa where there is a heavy rhythmic vibe. Imagine getting some of those rhythms then playing some distorted slide on top. But irrespective of the distortion, pickups would open up a whole new palate of tones.

That could open up a whole new genre of music. You definitely couldn’t call it traditional; nor could you call it “world.” But perhaps that new genre could be called “Hindi-Rock,” playing off the whole Indie Rock thing…