Kapil Srivastava is the best/top guitarist of India, founder of the concept guitarmonk. He also authored guitar books for beginners & advanced players.
Great Pleasure to share you the release of my 1st Guitar duet with Pandit ji named “Merry Love Rain”
This is a Music we composed on the Concept of Rain. This is also one of the pioneer jugalbandi so far between Mohan Veena & Western Guitar ever.
I am feeling so proud to be bringing and composing such music with Legend Guitarist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who is the creator of Mohan Veena instrument and winner of Grammy.
Here I am sharing you the 1st song of 3rd season i.e. Indian Guitaroo of gmtunetime. This tune is the title track with the same name, a rare fusion of Rock & Raga music. This season I am going to display my own composed music and pieces. I am privileged having done it at a speed of 600 notes per minute. I am thankful to my favorite Tabla Artist Ustad Athar Hussain Khan, who accompanied me both in recordings and shoot. And a very aspiring percussionist Udit who accompanied in Drums. This is my one of the experiments I risked on guitar and I over-trained my fingers at speed of 650 beats per minute to be able to actually play it at this level and speed. I also want to credit ever inspiring Sawan Dutta who helped it get recorded and then mixed it at her studio.
CONCEPT OF INDIAN GUITAROO – The ‘adhar (basis)’ of this tune is based on Raga – Puriya Dhanashree scale and with some accidental notes, merged with minor pentatonic and application of power chords during rock riffs etc. It is a unique demonstration and fusion of Rock & Raga on Guitar within 3 minutes. Accidental cymbal smashes to show the Sum and reference for the complex Tihai. Ending it all finally in a new Key and Chord.
I hope you like it and if you do, do leave your comments to motivate me. Check more of my videos here >>
Here is my second last song of Season # 2 of gmtunetime, Tujhe Dekha to Ye – my guitar tribute to Bollywood most popular and longest ever movie DDLJ, Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge
The movie has recently completed its 1000 weeks at Maratha Mandir Cinema Hall in South Mumbai, India. The movie got released in the October month of year 1995 and so far one of the longest movies ever of Bollywood with main lead actors as Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher etc.
Coming to its music part, it has both blend of west and foundation of Indian folk flavor. The songs of movies got very popular even before the movie is released, composed by music director Jatin Lalit. I chose the most popular song of this movie ‘Tujhe Dekha to Ye Jana Sanam’, which is a true blend of Indian Folk and Keherva rhythm merged with various riffs and chords transitions in between. It is a study for many guitar students.
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One of India’s Prominent Guitarists – Kapil Srivastava, a leading name in India’s Guitar Culture a.k.a Guitar Man of India, winner of State Award in the year 2007 (New Delhi, India) and founder of Guitarmonk
Kapil is one of India’s leading solo & lead guitarist who made his first television debut as Guitarist in album titled ‘Lady Chatterjee’ for song ‘Pyar aur Dosti’. He also composed & performed a recent track in the Bollywood Movie – Dubai Returns (Starring Irfan Khan). He has performed guitar with various record labels including Sa Re Ga Ma HMV, T-Series, Doordarshan, GM Records and has 3 solo music albums to his credits.
Authored 6 Guitar Books (under Creative and Unicorn Publishing) and have led more than 7000+ students worldwide in more than 8 countries via Guitarmonk.
Kapil Srivastava is also contributing socially via its music movement (as Guitarmonk Social) primarily for preservation of arts, music for health, music for poor). He executed more than 100 events in last few years on social causes.
Media – Spy Ghana News (Ghana), Broadway World (USA), Zee, 9x News, NDTV Good Times, 92.7 FM, Doordarshan, HT City, Radio & Music, Adgully, Rave International, City Cheers, CEO India, Afaqs, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, INN Today, Franchise India, Bengaluru Music News, Filmi Kaliyan etc.
There is an old saying that Crime Follows Poverty and both shares a true intimate relationship. Crimes have different motivations indeed but let’s narrow down the perspective of crime to poverty only for time being and leave terrorism and political reasons for next time.
Photo: MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images
I am not saying crime doesn’t happen in richer class as we have an example of Sheena Bora murder but poverty has its true reasons. Every day when I begin to read newspaper, there is always 3-6 crime news flashing within few pages. To me it has all started looking same except the changes in character, location etc. but motivations seems common. We have seen the worst of crimes that shocked us for the 1st time and depressed us internally, was tough to imagine. We saw Nirbhaya who was bleed to death and now we have seen women and child crimes in other parts of world. What worst can it be?
So crimes seems to have achieved most of its possibilities we could ever imagine be it either a man who caught having killed his wife (5th wife) conspiring with robbers or a little 9 year boy head crushed and body found in dump yard or a little 14 year old girl reaching police station with an aborted fetus, there is nothing worst and shocking now as we have seen worst of worst.
But today I realized one more perspective of crime and i.e. in a country like India having 1/6th of the world population of whom 70% is poor, crime is also an exact opportunity of poverty or we can say poverty is an exact condition of crime, both are lovers.
First getting born in a Poor family hits you from all sides be it resources, education, vision, confidence etc. And then it gives you so many Crime-Prone situations be it unchangeable living conditions, jealous neighbors, exposed home, lack of financial security, lack of personal resources to entertain, lot of stress to pay bills and lack of spirits to get more. Your life ends up in meeting basic necessities and fighting every day for survival and space.
Imagine a person well secured socially and don’t have to bother for Health, Home, Education can easily follow up his dreams vs. a person who is born loser by luck and have to get it all at first place.
I know there are various other influencing factors for crime but what I mentioned is also one perspective and not a general rule to stop crime. European nations have got this basic securities by government and people are better relaxed.
In India, both ‘Haves’ and ‘Haves not’ work together and watch each other every day, while the one is buying a new car and planning for a good vacation and dinner, the other is disappointed or frustrated on why he is missing it and has no reasons to have it sooner or later. The affluent is either humiliating the poor or the poor is feeling humiliated and full of unhappiness by seeing achievers. What’s the solution for unprivileged? How easy for them to accept reality and how many knows the path of living happily and honestly in true acceptance and modesty?
Let me end my article with OSHO words above Rich and Poor –
“Boredom is a Rich Man’s Privilege as you need to have a life and money to get fed up with it with many entertainments and time for all of them as movies, travel, hobbies, museums, meditation etc. A poor only entertainment is sex”
Breathing Therapy (as some people mention it to distance themselves from term ‘Pranayama’) is gaining a huge popularity in modern generation today. I have been researching these topics for some-time (as we have been making music for Pranayama by Guitarmonkrecords) and thought to write up & invite the experiences of practitioner in my Blog.
For thousands of years Indian yogis believed that many diseases are connected to exaggerated, changed or disturbed patterns of Breathing.
As per writings on Pranayama –
Left nostril is for calming down (represents the moon) whereas the right nostril is for energy (represents the Sun)
Breathing in through your left nostril will access the right-side “feeling” hemisphere of your brain, and breathing in through your right nostril, will access the left “thinking” hemisphere of your brain. So when you consciously alternate your breathing between either or both nostril, it allows you to activate and access your whole brain.
The same breathing patterns can be used for balancing yourself when you are feeling Tired or Cold, depressed or Heated-up (Headache, Angry, and Irritated) as they say.
For ex: – In Headache or anger, your right nostril is doing the most breathing so you can balance it by closing right nostril and doing breathing for few minutes through left. On the contrary when you are tired, over-calm, cold or depressed you can energize yourself with right nostril breathing.
While 5-10 minutes of breathing or Pranayama claims to have lot of utilities as –
Clean Your Lungs – Removal of stale air and impurities with proper breathing
Performance – Gives oxygen to Brain so better for students going to give exams etc.
Better Sleep – By focusing on left nostril breathing
Balance Both Sides of Brain – Access to both left and right brain functions.
Revitalization – Gives you energy when you feel tired
Calm your anger or exaggerated thinking mind and relaxes you
Others etc.
In my case I am doing pranayama for 2 years for around 5 minutes almost daily. To me it helped in better digestion and balancing my body as I eat a lot of outside food.
Please write me your experiences of Pranayama or Breathing Therapy so that I can post it my Blog.
Disclaimer – I totally disclaim myself from anybody practicing based on my article. I am not a Yoga or Pranayama expert but an explorer like you, so you need to find out yourself who is qualified to do so. I wrote this article to create a platform to gather facts from experienced people so that it is helpful information for all.
As I pledged to inform you about the best of DOSA restaurants in Delhi, I am continuing my series and today I am sharing you this noteworthy Indian eatery named Chidambaram at South-Central Delhi.
This is one of the unique South Indian specialty restaurants based in Khanna Market, Lodhi Colony. Here you will have many varieties of DOSA along with a special hot drink known as ‘RASAM’ at the start. We can have this drink absolutely free as many times as we want. You won’t find Rasam everywhere so it’s a unique feature of this restaurant.
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Now, the other distinctive quality of this restaurant is its uncommon ‘3 in 1’ piece or ‘5 in 1’ delicacy. It means we can enjoy 3/5 varieties or taste, not in one order or plate, but in same piece. This is the second exceptional thing I enjoyed here along with Rasam. (Attached pictures)
3/5 in 1 pieces usually comprise of Coconut, Potato or Mix veg and Paneer, is available for both Uttapam and Dosa, so one can have 3/5 flavors instead of one same snack.
I can’t rank anyone above or below, it’s about the mood and flavor I want at given point of time. But one point I want to mention that Chidambaram gives you more quantity along with Rasam etc.
Lastly, I always take one sweet ‘KESARI’ at the end, which is also a South Indian specialty. I will share more about my favourite Dosas in Delhi as soon as I get time. Take Care!
I can mention a lot about this subject with various technical perspectives. But for a beginner, I would like to keep it very short on why it is important to practice on a metronome?
Let me highlight 3 basic reasons for you –
(A) RIGHT HABIT – As humans, we’re not naturally inclined to play music in time. The best live performing artists fail to keep their tempo on metronome (if they have not practiced on metronome). Imagine two students training for 2 years, one with metronome and one without metronome. It is like 1000+ hours of practice and training of mind and fingers either with or without it, becomes part of your habit now.
(B) SENSE OF TIMING – The metronome is constant, it does not forgive, it does not forget. Same way, playing to a metronome makes you consistent. It enables students to develop a subconscious habit and sense of timing.
(C) PLAY DIFFICULT PASSAGE – It help us slow down difficult passages while keeping the pace consistent. This approach enables us to work through challenging passages without making any mistakes and we can gradually increase the speed to more levels as we become more familiar to piece.
Dosa has remained my favorite vegetarian food even before I was 5 years old. I have observed paying as low as Rs. 3 for the Dosa in my childhood to now paying Rs. 60 to 100 for a Masala Dosa
Dosa is basically a South Indian Food but one of the most popular dish all across India and the Indian subcontinent. It is something that I used to have daily whenever I travel Goa because it’s tough to find a true north Indian food there. It’s my experience that when all other foods are not upto the mark, I always look for Dosa because it’s primary ingredient is potato, which you can vouch for. It is also a very sufficient sized meal at breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Dosa is a kind of pancake made from a fermented batter. Its main ingredients are rice and urad beans. It is served hot with Sāmbhar and 3-4 types of chutneys. There are several types of Dosa and one of my friends told me that there are more than 50 kinds of Dosa. I have tried plain/paper dosa, masala, set dosa, 3 in 1 dosa, paper masala, rawa dosa etc. but my favorite is Masala Dosa.
Although there are thousands of Dosa provider in Delhi and I have tried infinite of them yet there are very few that can give you real fragrance and experience. I will share you the best ones I like, who makes millions by selling Dosa.
Nearby Priyanshi is Littiwala, which is also nice and just few 100 meters away is KUTTY’S at V3s Mall. It has an amazing Paper Dosa variety that often try.
I will share more info on Dosa as soon as I get chance to capture them.
Just a day before everybody forgot cricket and watched PV Sindhu Badminton match. And today almost every state is announcing cash for PV Sindhu. So far she has got 10 crores+ cash and 1000 sq yard house and lot of real-estate and brand ambassadorship opportunities by Jewellery brands, BMW gifts and what not.
Delhi’s government also announced 2 crore cash for PV Sindhu and 1 Crore for Sakshi and Rs. Zero for Dipa?. Not even Rs. 50 Lakhs for her?
Has all ignored Dipa Karmakar contribution? Badminton had ancestors but Gymnast had none. What Dipa has achieved is no way less than, if not more, what PV Sindhu or Sakshi achieved for India. I would say that from a perspective her contribution is the best for Gymnast for the first time in India.
She didn’t win the medal but her sacrifice, hard-work is incomparable and that’s where our politicians, states should have shown maturity in honoring the hard-work of this lady Dipa Karmakar. And they should have gifted her 1/3rd of atleast what they gifted to PV Sindhu and ½ of Sakshi Malik as a good gesture and respect for her hard-work. This would be walk the talk.
We, Indian, on one side, talking about promoting sports etc. but our actions reflects the contrary, it shows affection for only those who win medals and not those who fights. Was Dipa Karmakar more hard-working if she had won the medal? No. She gave 100% and her best despite no support or any backbone of Gymnast leaders in Indian history. She deserves respect for her hard-work, which is as big as any medal winner.
In true, ignoring her is dis-respecting her contribution. It is a reflection of our deep-rooted lust for MEDALS, VICTORIES, POSSESSION, STARDOM, CELEBRITIES, FOLLOWER’s mentality and not sportsmanship. Media always need a new star, they got one after a long time.
Please note – You are just making PV Sindhu one outstanding celebrity that you always wanted to follow but this way you are doing nothing good for sports and sportsmanship in your gestures.
You don’t need Olympics medals, you need stars and celebrities and by this gesture, you are working contrary to winning medals eventually. What you are doing is creating a big gap between hard-work and achievers by such misguided donation gestures, while you did nothing for any of stars yourself. At-least government bodies shouldn’t do this thing and is expected to honor and promote everyone. I wish wisdom prevails on some minds who thinks beyond politics.
But it seems that we are surrounded by people who has jobs of promoting Bollywood, Fashion, Politics only, day and night. Or the next thing they will do is share a video that they have watched. This is all time-waste today in social media. Social Media has become a lazy, time-less entertainment.
Indian economy would have been different had people spent time on thinking development and being entrepreneurs, the way they give time thinking and talking commenting about Bollywood, Actors, Politics etc while being in jobs and then drawing salary as their right. They can never know what it takes to create a project and give a salary. But creating an opinion is everyone’s right, a constitutional right to exercise, which is doing a lot of harm to our creative resources and direction than benefit.
It’s pollution of thoughts that taking lot of energy and we always blame that ‘Time is running fast’. It has to be because we have lot of information to give time to unless we shun it.
I just saw a MD writing an essay on Salman and Dalai Lama smile. While most of India’s population is below poverty, I consider such intellectual talks as wasting a lot of time and energy in sharing long stories and then reflecting, as a matter of perspective & contemplation. And then these stories get shared in social media by their followers and become a topics for discussion. Very soon, you will see them as hot topics and on news list. It’s not a pity if you find them part of twitter trends and even some mention in debates (and person like Rajat Sharma won’t mind asking this question in Aap Ki Adalat too on the same smile)
Sometimes I contemplate that how much could be contributed in same time by the same intellects. And the list would-be endless.
Most Indian Wedding always have an exclusive percussion ceremony i.e. DANCE ON SOUND OF DHOL. I recently went to a marriage and recorded it for a minute for sharing it to you.
DHOL is big Drum with a very loud sound, played with sticks. The strong BASS and impact of this instrument is so wild that it intoxicates everyone who is nearby it. Actually it will steal your ability to think when it bangs on your head.
This is one reason that in Indian marriages, after having some drinks, people love to dance for hour or so on DHOL and it gives them lot of joy and release.
Friends, Music has been my profession and my means of success, survival for the last two decades. I have been persistent in making music and I will keep on doing so.
My this project is to represent India’s Guitar to international level. I bring this Guitar~Veena series under crowd-participation initiative and seek you support for it’s success. So help me to give this to you in return.
Guitar & Mohan Veena Duet II
It is one of the rarest, never before, musical duet (Jugalbandi) series between two unique instruments, the Mohan-Veena and the Western Spanish Guitar, by two musicians Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and myself
To bring up Solo Guitar and represent India’s Guitar Internationally
Friends, Almost 15 years ago I first saw Pandit-ji at Hotel Asian International, Janpath, New Delhi (India). I was a budding guitarist then and had a parallel PR Job @ the same hotel. I never ever thought in my life that I would play with him a day or ever meet him again but it happened this year 2016. As it’s said ‘Life mei Kuch bhi ho sakta hai’ (anything is possible in life). And we are making the best use of this opportunity
Grammy Winner Pt VM Bhatt is the role model and face of Guitar in India. And it’s unfortunate that except him, we have none other solo performing guitarist in our country known worldwide. Most other successful guitarist be it Ehsaan, Bhupendera etc are either part of Bollywood and Band and rest are anonymous assistant to singers.
We all look up pandit ji to address and repesent India as he is the only solo guitarist living legend. It is his class, the standard, the life-style that inspire and build confidence in guitarist in India.
Why Crowd Funding for Guitar-Veena
Friends, I am not wrong if I have to say about Cricket in contrast to other Sports in India and thus our outcome in Olympics. Bollywood, Singing (reality shows) & Copycat approach have done same to Guitar and other instruments in Music in India. I am no way criticizing, I only say it because it mentions that Solo Guitarist domain is yet to be evolved and supported in our country and hopefully it will evolve in coming times with growing Guitar Lovers around.
So Crowd-funding is our only way to back these milestone concepts and crowd participation is the way to motivate solo guitar in India. It’s only unless you do it.
We released the 1st Duet during World Guitar Day this year
Kapil Srivastava 