Carnatic music is Indian classical music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. Carnatic concerts (kutcheri) are performed by small ensembles and usually centered around a vocalist. In recent times solo instrumental concerts have also gained a lot of popularity. There are several instruments used in solo concerts including violin, veena, bamboo flute, mandolin etc.
Both violin and mandolin are instruments of western origin that have been successfully adapted to Carnatic music. In fact there is probably no modern kutcheri without a violin. The electric guitar is a relatively recent entrant and there are not many Carnatic guitarists of renown (yet).
Sukumar Prasad, who played in the 70’s, is widely recognised as the first musician to play carnatic music on an electric guitar. His recordings don’t seem to be easily available. Here is one online that is simply outstanding - Brova Barama. Currently R. Prasanna, who IMHO is superb, plays kutcheris in Chennai during the music season.
Since there aren't many carnatic guitar performers it has been difficult to identify a teacher. Therefore, I have been attempting to learn to play Carnatic on guitar using teaching material that was intended for vocalists along with attempts at transcribing from vocal/instrumental recordings. The material in site is collated from my journey so far.
Getting familiar with the guitar by playing other genres for a couple of years before attempting to play carnatic would be a very good idea. Also, knowing basic music theory and some ability to read music notation and tab would help in understanding the material on this blog.
Disclaimer: I am not trained in Carnatic music and despite my best efforts, there may be errors in this material. I try to describe the music using tabs/notation, but carnatic cannot be written accurately using notation. So the timing of the tabs and music may be off. Best would be to use the notation as a guide and rely on the audio clips for timing.
