Good teaching material for self-study of musical instruments requires a deep knowledge of the instrument and its music tradition, a solid educational concept, answers to common practical questions and an intelligent combination of different media. All these features come together in Sitar Method by Josh Feinberg. That makes this combination of training book and audio access highly recommendable, for absoute beginners as well as for people who have already been playing sitar for a while and want to refine their technique and / or get into the world of the Indian classical music tradition in more detail.

The book begins with a description of the instrument's parts and an introduction to the Indian Sargam notation system that is used throughout. This notation is quick and easy to understand for beginners without background in Western classical music reading and is ideal for representing Indian music. Then it goes on to tuning and holding the sitar and to basic techniques for left and right hand - all described in clear language and well illustrated in photos and graphics. From page 22 onwards you get mostly notations of increasingly complex technical exercises and compositions in the ragas Yaman-Kalyan, Madhuwanti, Megh and Khamaj. Interspersed are small chapters on buying an instrument, ragas in Indian classical music, form, recommended listening, moving frets and changing strings. The book is completed by a glossary at the end.

Sitar Method truely comes alive in conjunction with the accompanying audio access. Almost all of the notated material for sitar can be heard on it in commendable examples, performed clear and clean by author Josh Feinberg. In addition, the audio access also demonstrates the tabla rhythms presented in the book. The tabla tracks and a tanpura track can be used as accompaniment for your practice. And the tracks of the compositions with tabla and tanpura accompaniment are a great inspiration to play along. The audio files include PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.

Josh Feinberg is a sitarist and double bass player. He learned classical Western music from childhood, first on the piano, then on the bass. At 15, he bought his first sitar and took lessons from Peter Row. Since 2005, he has been studying classical Indian music in the style of the Maihar tradition with Ali Akbar Khan, Aashish Khan and Anindya Banerjee.