r/Tabla

I was confused between learning the guitar and the tabla, but I’ve finally decided to go with the tabla. I’d love some suggestions:

1. What’s a good price range for a decent tabla set?

2. Are there any good shops in Delhi where I can buy one?

3. Any recommended online or offline places in Delhi to learn?

4. Is there anything else I should know before starting out with the tabla?

Any sort of advice/suggestions will help me. Thank you 🎀

Hey everyone,

I’ve been wondering, how do you actually play bayan strokes like Ghe when the tempo gets really fast? Or bayan bols in succession for example "GheGhe" or the famous kaida phrase "Dhige Dhina TRKT Dhina, DhaGe NaDhi GeDhin NaNa"

At slower speeds, it feels much easier because you have more time to execute the stroke properly. So your finger can raise higher and strike with more force. But once the tempo increases, you obviously have to play the syllables much quicker. That makes me think: your finger can’t lift as high to produce a full Ghe, right?

I’m not sure if this is more of a finger strength issue or a technique issue.

When I watch Ustads play at high speeds, it doesn’t look like they’re lifting their fingers as much. It seems more like a controlled press using finger strength, rather than involving the wrist and full hand like you might see at slower tempos.

I've also noticed when I try to play compositions faster, things like "GheGhe" the sound becomes very closed on the bayan, and my left hand tenses up. I also cannot play Ghe with my middle and ring finger once speed is fast, I have to switch to using the middle and index finger only.

Hope that makes sense. If anyone can suggest tips and things to play to practise it would be appreciated. 🙏

One thing I’ve struggled with while learning Tabla is properly documenting compositions and practice material after lessons — especially with a busy work life.

A lot of times I’d learn something from my teacher, quickly note it down somewhere, and tell myself I’d clean it up later. But after a long workday, that “later” usually never came.

Weeks later I’d end up:

forgetting parts of the composition

struggling to read my own shorthand

or digging through notebooks, PDFs, screenshots, and random documents trying to find old material again

Over time I realized the actual learning wasn’t the hard part — consistently organizing and revisiting the material was.

So I started building a desktop tool called SwarTaal mainly to make Tabla notation faster, cleaner, and easier to revisit during riyaaz sessions.

Still refining it, but before going further I genuinely wanted to ask the community:

How are you all currently documenting and organizing your Tabla material?

And what part of the process feels the most frustrating or time-consuming?

I’m from Europe and there isn’t really any Indian music stores near me so I have to go the online route. I’m looking to spend between 100-150 euros

hello! i know that tabla has kinds like mumbai tabla, varanasi tabla, bengal tabla.

i'm curious in here, there's kinds dholak too.

there are dholak playing styles but except this, are there categories about dholaks by region?