I recently bought a sitar, and now that I'm learning how to play it, I'm completely fascinated by indian music in general, especially music featuring the sitar. My influences are kind of limited. Can anyone recommend artists other than George Harrison or Ravi Shankar to check out? Thanks!

wow, good luck with that.

Blind Melvana:

*ragas*

Did the Byrds rip this off? Maybe some other 60s bands.

I'm sure they did, but I'm looking for artists who used the sitar in ragas and classical indian music, rather than as a pop gimmick.

That's so cool! Is it hard to play?

try here: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... ql=77:1591

It definely takes some getting used to, but I've played lead guitar for five years, so it's not too much of a stretch for me. It is hard to train yourself, as a westerner, to hear the microtones they use accurately and to implement those. I haven't really moved away from the C, G, and D major scales yet. Hopefully I can find someone around here to show me some things, but the odds are bad. I'll probably have better luck when I move to Seattle come fall time.