Customer Reviews

Mel Bay Learning the Tabla Book/CD Set

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The popularity of the tabla is evident in many forms of music today be it Indian or some form of contemporary, jazz, or fusion. This book is designed for the beginner to intermediate student and features an indexed CD that lets you hear the correct sounds of the tabla notes as well as sample exercises. The book is not bloated with excess details but gets right down to the important fundamentals of how the tabla is played, the finger stokes, the word for that stroke and the concept of time as the notes are played together. Not everyone has access to a teacher and this book will do an excellent job of introducing the student to the tabla as well as providing a reference for advancement. Finger positions are illustrated in the book and the 95 sound samples on the CD help to make this book an enjoyable, affordable, and valuable introduction to the tabla.

I have been searching for a good tabla book for the past serveral years and this is by far the best one. Of course, a DVD should be included in the future, but for now, this is a great start. David goes into detail about the histry of the tabla and also defines the differences in Dilhi and Purpi techniques. He also stresses the importance of correct prononciation and encourages you to learn the hindi script as opposed to english translations of the the bols. Awesome book!

The exercises of this book are well strucured and easy to follow for a complete beginner. The CD tones can be a little difficult to distinguish, but you get the idea of where the rhythm is going, so the CD is generally helpful if you can follow the text with it.
You still need a tabla teacher to show you technique (in order to make the tones in the first place), but this is a good text to learn from on your own in between lessons.

I found this book useful as a beginner, the CD provided is very helpful. You are able to listen to what the boles should sound like. Introduction to the Taals, Kaidas etc. are covered very nicely. Definitely recommended for the beginner.

Good information and guide to beginning the tabla. A very good starting place, but you can't learn without a teacher, not if you really want to PLAY tabla. In this day and age it is time to include a short DVD or CD-Rom to at least help with beginning strokes so the beginner knows what it sounds like and this author could do it to help beginners over the initial growing pains.

This is a book for someone just starting out... most information you can find it on the web for free, truly waste of money.

This is an extremely basic overview of the tabla. It reminds me of early mel bay method books for band instruments. I had already taken six months worth of lessons so this didn't really fit my needs. I would strongly recommend learning tabla from an experienced teacher because if your technique isn't monitored from the beginning, it can be difficult to get out of bad habits. Once the basics are in check, I would recommend Fundamentals of Tabla, Vol. 1

Extremely informative especially for beginners. A must especially for those who cannot attain private lessons. Highly recommended.

Its a start, the basic, begining to the tabla but I think a video or dvd is needed to really understand some of the complexities of tuning and playing of the tabla, the CD is lame and of no help.

Unless you live on the west coast, getting yourself trained in tabla is quite a pain. This book gives a good start but is quite basic. For such a magical and culturally rich instrument, training should be more widely available to the masses. For the cost of this book, one should be able to take online lessons for the whole year.
India needs to subsidize resources that make its rich culture more accessible to Indians all over the world.