KARNATAK UNIVERSITY DHARWAD ‘The Role of Hawaiian Guitar in the Present Context of Hindustani Classical Music – A Practical Analysis’ A thesis submitted to the Karnatak University, Dharwad for the award of the degree of ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ in performing arts Research Student PRAKASH SONTAKKE Research Guide Dr. Smt. MEERA SHIVSHANKAR GUNDI Associate Professor (Retd.) MA Sangeetha & Phd P G Department of Music and Fine Arts Karnatak University, Dharwad January 2015 Sculpture depicting Lord Ganesha playing the ancient Indian slide veena CONTENTS Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ vi Certificate ............................................................................................................................................ ix Declaration ........................................................................................................................................... x Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1. The Hawaiian Guitar .................................................................................................................. 11 1.1. The History of the Hawaiian Guitar .................................................................................. 11 1.2. The Development of the Hawaiian Guitar as a Main Instrument ..................................... 15 1.2.1. Arrival of the Electric Hawaiian Guitar ...................................................................... 18 1.2.2. Evolution of Slide in mainstream music concerts ...................................................... 22 1.2.3. India International Guitar Festival ............................................................................. 23 1.2.4. Equipment and Technique ......................................................................................... 26 1.2.5. Early Pioneers ............................................................................................................ 34 1.2.6. Origins of steel guitar playing in India ....................................................................... 40 1.2.7. Adaptation of Hawaiian Guitar techniques in context to Hindustani Classical .......... 41 1.2.8. Eminent Indian Guitarists .......................................................................................... 42 1.3. Popular techniques in Hindustani Instrumental Music .................................................... 59 1.4. The Techniques and Sounds associated with the Hawaiian Guitar and an introduction to Music Theory ............................................................................................................................... 73 1.4.1. Important techniques used while playing the Hawaiian Guitar ................................ 73 1.4.2. Music Theory in Western Notation ........................................................................... 81 1.4.3. Basic approach to play Hawaiian Guitars .................................................................. 83 1.5. Choosing a guitar and perfecting the tunings for playing slide ........................................ 90 1.5.1. Choosing a guitar ....................................................................................................... 90 1.5.2. Perfecting the Tuning Techniques ........................................................................... 105 1.5.3. Which strings should be used? ................................................................................ 109 1.5.4. Using the Slide on the Hawaiian Guitar ................................................................... 112 1.5.5. Using a fingerslide to play Hawaiian Guitar ............................................................. 113 1.5.6. Advanced Techniques .............................................................................................. 115 1.5.7. Slack Key .................................................................................................................. 117 1.5.8. Some General Techniques ....................................................................................... 119 1.5.9. Techniques for Improvement .................................................................................. 122 1.6. Social misconceptions regarding the guitar and the difference between the Spanish guitar and Hawaiian guitar ........................................................................................................ 129 i 2. The Hawaiian Guitar and the Popular Instruments in Hindustani Classical like Sitar, Vichitra Veena, Rudra Veena, and Santoor - A Comparative Study .................................. 143 2.1. The Sitar .......................................................................................................................... 145 2.1.1. Design of the Sitar ................................................................................................... 147 2.1.2. Prominent players of Sitar and their approach ....................................................... 151 2.1.3. Comparison of Sitar with Guitar .............................................................................. 159 2.2. The Vichitra Veena .......................................................................................................... 161 2.2.1. Design of the Vichitra Veena ................................................................................... 162 2.2.2. Eminent players of Vichitra Veena .......................................................................... 163 2.2.3. Comparison of Vichitra Veena and Hawaiian Guitar ............................................... 170 2.3. The Rudra Veena ............................................................................................................ 171 2.3.1. Comparison between Rudra Veena and Hawaiian Guitar ....................................... 172 2.4. The Santoor .................................................................................................................... 173 2.4.1. Comparison of Santoor with Hawaiian Guitar ......................................................... 174 3. An additional study to explore how stroke instruments in Carnatic music such as Tanjore Veena and Gotuvadyam compare with the Hawaiian guitar ................................. 176 3.1. The Tanjore Veena .......................................................................................................... 177 3.1.1. Design of Tanjore Veena .......................................................................................... 179 3.1.2. Playing Technique .................................................................................................... 181 3.1.3. Eminent Players of the Tanjore Veena .................................................................... 181 3.2. The Gotuvadyam ............................................................................................................ 182 3.2.1. Early History ............................................................................................................. 183 3.2.2. Prominent Players of Gotuvadyam (Chitravina) ...................................................... 184 3.2.3. Comparison between Tanjore Veena, Gotuvadyam and Hawaiian Guitar .............. 190 4. The Hawaiian Guitar and Sarod - A Comparative study ...................................................... 192 4.1. Origin of Sarod ................................................................................................................ 192 4.2. Design of Sarod ............................................................................................................... 196 4.3. Eminent players and techniques .................................................................................... 199 4.4. Comparison between Sarod and Hawaiian Guitar .......................................................... 205 5. A Comparison of the ‘Sustain’ achieved by Bow Instruments such as Violin, Sarangi, Dilruba and Esraaj with that of Hawaiian Guitar ................................................................ 207 6. Advanced Approach to Hawaiian Guitar Techniques ........................................................... 210 6.1. Techniques of western instrumentalists in various styles such as Jazz, Country, Hawaiian, Rock and Classical ..................................................................................................................... 211 6.2. Guitar Tuning: Western vs. Indian Tuning ...................................................................... 248 6.3. What Are Ragas and How are They Different From Scales? ........................................... 248 ii 6.3.1. The Indian Equivalent for the 12 Semitones ............................................................ 254 6.3.2. Melody vs. Harmony ................................................................................................ 255 6.3.3. How to Play Pentatonic Scales ................................................................................. 256 6.4. Hawaiian Guitar techniques that can be adapted in Hindustani Style ........................... 258 6.5. Some techniques of Carnatic musicians that can be adapted to Hawaiian Guitar ......... 260 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 264 Appendix