Tap the two drums: the rim of the small dayan for Na, its middle for Tin, its black centre for Te; the big bayan for the deep Ge, its black patch for Ka. Or start a theka and practise over the cycle, with a tanpura drone and a sitar to play along.
Learn the strokes by their sound, then keep time through the cycle of a taal, as tabla players do from their first lesson.
Each zone of the drums plays a bol, the syllable tabla players speak and play. On the dayan: Na rings on the rim, Tin sings when struck between rim and centre, Te is a dry tap on the black patch. On the bayan: Ge booms and rises in pitch, Ka is a flat, closed slap.
Most tabla phrases mix both hands. Dha is Na and Ge together, Dhin is Tin and Ge, Dhi is Te and Ge. Press N or M on the keyboard to play Dha and Dhin, or hear them inside every theka.
Indian rhythm is a cycle, not a bar line. The circle shows every beat of the taal: the sam, where the cycle begins and ends and where phrases land; the tali, clapped beats; and the khali, the open beat where the bass goes quiet. The bols light up as they play.
Teentaal, the most played taal, in sixteen beats; Jhaptaal in ten; Rupak in seven, starting on the open beat; Keherwa in eight, heard in film songs and bhajans; and Dadra in six, light and swaying. Set the tempo from a slow 40 to a fast 300 beats per minute.
The black patch of the tabla, the syahi, is built up in layers until the drum rings with overtones in harmonic ratios, almost like a string. GOONS synthesizes the dayan that way, tuned to the Sa you choose, and the bayan with the glide of the wrist pressing the skin.
Switch on the tanpura to hear Sa while you play, or let a friend take the sitar below the drums and play a raga over your theka. The same page works as a sitar practice room.
Tap each zone and say its bol out loud: Na, Tin, Te on the right drum, Ge and Ka on the left.
Press Play the theka at a slow tempo and recite along: Dha Dhin Dhin Dha, Dha Dhin Dhin Dha, Dha Tin Tin Ta, Ta Dhin Dhin Dha.
Clap on the sam (X) and the talis (2 and 3), wave your hand on the khali (0), the beat where the bass drops out.
Keep the theka running and add your own strokes on the drums or with the keys Z to M.
| Type | Tabla (dayan and bayan) with taal cycles, playable on this page, free |
|---|---|
| Bols | Na, Ta, Tin, Te, Ti on the dayan; Ge, Ka on the bayan; Dha, Dhin, Dhi on both |
| Taals | Teentaal (16), Jhaptaal (10), Rupak (7), Keherwa (8), Dadra (6) |
| Tempo | 40 to 300 beats per minute |
| Tuning | Dayan on Sa (C to E), bayan with a rising glide |
| Display | Taal circle with sam, tali and khali, bols lighting up, playable drums with ripples |
| Also on the page | Tanpura drone and a sitar with seven ragas |
| Controls | Mouse, touch, computer keyboard Z X C V B N M |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari |
The tabla is the pair of hand drums of North Indian music. The dayan, played with the right hand, is carved from wood and tuned to Sa, the tonic of the music. The bayan, played with the left hand, is a larger metal bowl that gives the bass, and the player changes its pitch by pressing the skin with the wrist. Both skins carry a black patch, the syahi; in 1920 the physicist C. V. Raman showed that this kind of loading makes the overtones of Indian drums fall in harmonic ratios, which is why the tabla can sound so clearly pitched.
Tabla is taught by mouth: every stroke has a syllable, the bol, and students recite a pattern before they play it. A taal is a rhythmic cycle with a fixed number of beats grouped in sections, and its theka is the basic pattern of bols that announces it. Musicians keep their place by the sam, the first beat, where phrases end together, and by the khali, the "empty" beat where the bass of the bayan is left out.
Start slowly. Recite the theka while it plays, then clap the talis and wave on the khali, then play the bols yourself on the drums. When the cycle feels natural, raise the tempo a little each day. For the melodic side, the online sitar shares the same tanpura and taals, and the DrumPad lets you build beats from your own sounds.
Yes. The tabla, tanpura and sitar at the top of this page are free, with no account and nothing to install. They run in your browser with the Web Audio API.
Dha Dhin Dhin Dha, Dha Dhin Dhin Dha, Dha Tin Tin Ta, Ta Dhin Dhin Dha: sixteen beats in four sections. The sam is on the first Dha and the khali on the first Dha of the third section, where Dhin becomes Tin, without the bass.
Z plays Ge, X Ka, C Na, V Tin, B Te, N Dha and M Dhin. The keys are read by position, so they work on QWERTY, AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards.
Yes. Choose a taal and a tempo, press Play the theka and it loops as long as you need, with the cycle on screen. Switch on the tanpura for a drone in your key.
Rupak, in seven beats, is the classic taal whose first beat, the sam, is also an open khali beat. It is shown with a 0 on the circle, and the theka starts softly with Tin Tin Na.
The tabla is free, with no account. GOONS Studio adds drum machines, a looper, synths and a sequencer that play together - free for 7 days, no card required.
Free on this page, no account. Play the online sitar →