One type of Electric sitar (Coral Sitar® by Jerry Jones), with sympathetic strings and a "buzz bridge"

An electric sitar is in fact a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional South Asian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar. Most, in fact, resemble the electric guitar in the style of the body and headstock, though some have a body shaped to resemble that of the sitar (such as a model made by Danelectro). Image File history File linksMetadata Electricsitar. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Electricsitar. ... Sympathetic strings are strings on musical instruments which begin resonating, not due to any external influence such as picking or bowing, but due to another note (or frequency). ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... Map of South Asia South Asia is a subregion of Asia comprising the modern states of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, . It covers about 4,480,000 km², or 10 percent of the continent, and is also known as the Indian subcontinent. ... Premla Shahane playing a sitar, 1927 The sitar (Urdu: ستار, Hindi: सितार) is probably the best-known South Asian instrument in the West. ... Left: Rosa Hurricane, a heavy metal-style solid body guitar. ... A solid body electric instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on its electric pickup system to directly receive the vibrations of the strings. ... Typical headstock of an electric guitar This article is about part of a stringed instrument. ... Danelectro DC-3 reissue. ...

The instrument was developed in the late 1960's, when many western musical groups began to use the sitar. The sitar is generally considered a difficult instrument to learn.^[1] By contrast, the electric sitar, with its standard guitar fretboard and tuning, is easy for a guitarist to get to grips with. The term Western World or the West can have multiple meanings depending on its context. ...

In addition to the six playing strings, most electric sitars have sympathetic strings, typically located on the left side of the instrument (though some do not have these). These strings have their own pickups (typically lipstick pickups are used for both sets of strings), and are usually tuned with a harp wrench (a difficult process). A unique type of bridge, a "buzz bridge" (developed by session musician Vincent Bell), helps give the instrument its distinctive sound. Some electric sitars have drone strings in lieu of sympathetic strings. A few models, such as the Jerry Jones "Baby" sitar, lack both sympathetic and drone strings, while still retaining the distinctive feature of the buzz bridge. Sympathetic strings are strings on musical instruments which begin resonating, not due to any external influence such as picking or bowing, but due to another note (or frequency). ... A picku device acts as a transducer that captures mechanical vibrations (usually from suitably equipped stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, electric bass guitar or electric violin) and converts them to an electronic signal which can be amplified and recorded. ... Lipstick-tube pickups on a Danelectro electric guitar A lipstick guitar pickup is a form of single-coil magnetic guitar pickup having its electronics totally encased in a chrome-plated metal tube. ... A bridge is the part of a guitar, bass or other stringed instrument where the strings join the body of the instrument. ... Jivari In Indian classical music culture and thought, this term refers to the special overtone-rich buzzing sound characteristic of classical Indian string instruments such as the tanpura, sitar, veena, and others. ... In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustained or repeated, and most often establishing a tonality upon which the rest of the piece is built. ...

Vincent Bell used the instrument on several songs, including "Green Tambourine" by the Lemon Pipers, "Band of Gold" by Freda Payne, and "Heartbreaker" by Gene Pitney.^[2] The Lemon Pipers were a 1960s bubblegum/psychedelic pop band from Cincinnati, Ohio, known chiefly for their song Green Tambourine, which reached number one in the United States in 1968. ... Freda Charcelia Payne (born on September 19, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan) is an African-American singer and actress. ... Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. ...

Because the tone quality and playing technique differ significantly from that of the sitar, it is not used by classical musicians, but typically by rock, jazz, fusion, and other pop music groups. Notably, Eric Burdon and the Animals song Monterrey (song), B.J. Thomas featured its sound on "Hooked on a Feeling" in 1969 and The Stylistics made frequent use of it in the 1970's. It was also used by Yes, R.E.M, Metallica, Steely Dan, Santana, Steve Vai, and Mint Royale. A fusion genre is a music genre which combines two or more other genres. ... The US edition of The Animals self-titled debut album. ... Billy Joe Thomas (born August 7, 1942) is an Oklahoma-born country singer. ... Hooked on a Feeling is a 1969 pop song written by Mark James originally preformed by B. J. Thomas. ... The Stylistics was one of the most well-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in early 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and vocalist Michael Stipe. ... Metallica is an American heavy metal band, formed on October 28, 1981. ... Steely Dan is an American rock band centered around the core members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. ... Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947), known simply as Carlos Santana or Santana, is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-born American Latin rock musician and guitarist. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mint Royale is an big beat electronica duo from Britain, comprised of Neil Claxton and Chris Baker and who are best known for their remixes. ...

See also

• Sitar in popular music
• Sitar in jazz
• Electric mandolin
• Electric upright bass
• Electric violin

Beginning in the 1960s, various pop artists began experimenting with the using the sitar in their music. ... // The first documented collaboration between Indian and Jazz musicians occurred in 1961 with Ravi Shankar and a group led by the West Coast American saxophonist/flautist Bud Shank. ... Carved and round backed mandolins (front) A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument. ... Dean Pace 4 string EUB The electric upright bass (abbreviated EUB) is an electronically amplified version of the double bass with a minimal or skeleton body, to reduce size and weight and cost. ... This electric violin, made by Leo Fender in the late 1950s, has a non-traditional design. ...

References

December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

External links

• Article about the Coral Sitar
• Photos and schematics of electric sitar soundboard/controls
• Photos of electric sitar showing closeup of sympathetic strings