The Art of Playing a Dilruba – One of the Finest Musical Instruments of the Masters

Dilruba is a lovely musical instrument that combines the tones of the Sarangi and the sitar. It is a cross between these two traditional musical instruments, close to the Mayuri Vina and Esraj. In fact, it has such similarities with the mentioned instruments that it is often difficult to differentiate between them. However, the only difference lies in the shape of resonators and the way sympathetic strings are attached. To learn how to play this instrument, you need to take dilruba lessons from experts.

The dilruba is a neatly constructed instrument. The neck has about 18 strings. Tuning is to be done in the same way as you tune a sitar. Also, just like sitar, the heart of this instrument is in one string. It has several metallic frets and a series of classic sympathetic strings that are tuned to the respective notes of raags. Taking dilruba lessons can make it easier to learn how to play this instrument.

The dilruba is a popular music instrument in North-West India, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Punjab.

Techniques Involved in Playing the Dilruba

• As mentioned before, the dilruba is a cross between the Sitar and the Sarangi. As such, the technique of playing this instrument is the same as the other two.


• It has a bowed end, called the gaz, in such a way that it looks quite like the Sarangi. It is slightly bowed towards the right whereas the left hand side has strings.


• Using fingers on the dilruba to play this instrument has two different approaches. In one approach, there’s a strong influence of playing the sitar. To follow this approach, the index finger is the first and most preferred choice. Just like the sitar, the middle finger can be invoked for gaining speed. This approach is very common in North Eastern India where the dilruba is commonly played.


• The second technique of playing the dilruba shows a distinctive preference for using the middle finger together with the index finger. This technique has several advantages – if somebody wants speed, it is possible to use either the index finger or the ring finger, occasionally, to go in the preferred direction. However, such shortcuts are not really appreciated.


• While playing the dilruba, one should not lock the strings against the fret. Doing so could lead to problems. During dilruba lessons, experts can teach learners how to hold the musical instrument and use it properly to create soft music. Simply using the fret can raise or lower the pitch.