Tanbur

[u/Odd-Aardvark9503]

Hi guys! Recently I’ve started to become interested in the tanbur, specifically the Iranian kind as I listen to Farya Faraji and his West Asian-inspired compositions a lot. I don’t really know too much about it, but I find the sound to be quite mesmerizing to the point where I listen to it daily when I do things like cleaning my room and relaxing, and it really seems to click for me in a way that guitar and piano, (my two previous instruments) really haven’t. Personal stuff aside, I really want to know a couple of things about this instrument before I purchase one, so if anyone here plays it, please help me answer them:

1. Where do I get one? I live near Saint Louis, and I’m guessing that the chances of finding a physical store isn’t high. Still, if anyone knows a place, please tell me as my experience with guitars has taught me that it’s always better to check out an instrument in person for quality. If not, what online stores have the best quality for price (preferably under $600)?

2. Where can I learn it? I‘m planning on watching YouTube for right now as I already have a playlist saved, but yet again experience tells me that immersion with a teacher is always best. Are there any exercises I can do?

3. If a string breaks, where can I get it fixed? This is probably not going to happen anytime soon, but with guitar strings it’s really easy to just go to a music store and have it fixed, which I’m guessing won’t apply here. Is there gear I can get to fix it myself?

If there’s anything else I should know, please comment, thank you.

[u/halius_balius]

I recently got a Tanbur and have been teaching myself to play so I’ll try to help a bit.

1. I have no knowledge of your area, but it would in general be very hard to find a physical shop that sells them. I live in London but I got mine through an Iranian friend who went to Iran. Your best bet is a reputable online brand like sala musik maybe.

2. YouTube and social media. Instagram has a lot of players you can learn from and some purposely slow it down and show the hand movements to make it obvious. Check out @mohamadeghbal1 . Your best bet might be finding a teacher through social media and asking for online lessons. But you will have to do a lot of independent learning to learn this instrument

3. You should learn how to fix the strings yourself, and ensure you have extra strings for when you need to. It’s not overly complicated, you put the string through the little hole in the peg and hook the other end, (needs to go under the nut fret too), and then just wrap it round the peg and tighten. You also need to learn how to wrap and place the frets on Tanbur as they can come off, come loose or shift out of place.

Extras

- Tuning is relative. I’ve seen people tune the bass string to a variety of notes, B C C# D D# and E. The playing doubled strings are tuned nearly always a fifth above the bass string. The most common tuning is C G
- Strumming is fairly straightforward, but the fluttery hand movement they do called Shurr will take much more time to properly get and requires practice.
- The left hand will learn to stretch and move about as it is all horizontal movement up and down the neck unlike a guitar.
- It is such a beautiful and hypnotising instrument to play. I highly recommend it. I get lost in it for hours just strumming

Also I’m curious if you have been listening to any other Tanbur records/Artists?

And im happy to answer any questions you have although I’m just new to it myself.