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Well to begin with when you want to start playing Sitar you need to be able to sit on
the floor in a cross-legged position with your shoes and socks off. This position is
with my right leg crossed over my left; you don’t really sit in this kind of a cross-legged
position because it is not comfortable for the instrument to hold the instrument. But
when you sit in this way which is actually there is a Yoga posture like this. You sit
in this way you can rest the instrument on your knee. Some people prefer to, including
Ravi Shankar, have their leg down. It doesn’t have to be over their knee and kind of rest
it against their thigh. You need to have sufficient distance between your torso and the instrument;
you don’t want to hold it too close to you. It is like this. And when you are playing
the frets you are actually going to look at the back of the neck and you train yourself
to relate these strings which hold the frets on with the frets that you are playing. You
hold your thumb down at the point where the neck has a joint here, just before you get
to the Gourd and this is going to be your access point your pivot point. You need to
place quite a bit of weight on your thumb so that you can move your hand in a way that
is both strong and relaxed. You rest your elbow on the Gourd like this, so it is kind
of slightly obtuse angle. You don’t want it too close; you don’t want it too far.
And, depending on the length of your arm also you will place it a little bit differently.
The wrist should be slightly forward of the face of the instrument and your hand should
be hanging down comfortably over the strings. Your wrist of course will be slightly bent
because your hand is hanging over the strings and then you will be moving in a manner that
is something like making a fist and opening except that you won’t stretch your fingers
upward, you will keep them together while you are moving your hand.