Tabla, My Way
As you can see from the YouTube link above, I'm playing tabla is what diehards will surely call an unorthodox style. The tabla is an intimidating instrument to buy, to learn, and to maintain. The buying process. When I first looked into buying a tabla, I looked at the usual places. I first bought a tabla from eBay for ~$200. It was so out of tune or poorly constructed that I could not get the Na or Tin sound out of it. This is the sharp and resonant sound you get from hitting the edge or the maidan/middle ring of the dayan/right or treble tabla. I then tried Facebook's marketplace, thinking that there's no way I'm going to try to make another purchase without trying it out first. I drove almost 40 minutes to a lady living in a nice house. She brought the tabla out to the front deck instead of inviting me in. Again, she was asking around $200. I took the dayan out and tried the Na/Tin sound. Nothing. Just like the eBay tabla, I got a dull thud. No sharp sound. Obviously...