Does knowing how to play guitar help with learning the sitar?
Your experience with guitar can’t hurt, but may be of very little help. The guitar and sitar both have strings, but that’s about where the similarity stops. From a guitar player’s point of view, the sitar has some unique qualities. Sitar is played with a single crude finger pick called a mezrab. Only one finger is used to pluck the strings, and most of the fingering is done on the top string. The frets are raised hoops which are tied to the neck and are movable to accommodate different scales. The two bridges are crafted to intentionally create buzz. There are friction tuning pegs, but little beads or swans are fine tuners. The strings can be pulled or bent to a much greater degree than on a guitar, and this is integrated into the playing style. Sitar is typically taught one-on-one and there are not many resources for self-learning. If you buy a sitar, be sure to get it from a reputable source. Here is a link to the Ali Akbar college, where my daughter bought hers.
