(I planned to have short video clips demonstrating the strokes, but I haven't gotten around to it and don't know when I will! The best way to learn is take a lesson anyway.)

The tabla drums are unlike other membrane drums because their playing technique is much more sophisticated and delicate than that of, say, congas or bongos, where the head it struck with the hand. The tablas require much careful practice and refinement of technique, because improper technique can easily damage the drum heads, especially the dark clay circle, which gives the tabla its distinct sound.

the "dayan"	the "bayan"
Glossary: Bayan - left hand, low pitch drum. Dayan - right hand, high pitch. Bol - name of a technique. Gab - black clay circle on drum head. Kinar - extra membrane layer at outer edge of drum head. Sur - portion between gab and kinar.

The tablas consist of two separate drums, the "Bayan" (bigger for bass) and "Dayan" (small, higher pitches). The bayan is usually played with the left hand and the dayan with the right. The bayan is responsible for low booming sounds and deeper slap sounds and 'modulation' where the pitch is continuously varied. The dayan gives a wide range of taps, slaps, tones and other percussive effects.

There are two basic classes of techniques: dry and ringing. Dry strokes do not have a particular pitch associated with them, while ringing ones have a definite pitch or tone. Dry tones are typically made by having the hand or fingers strike and "stick" to the drum head to damp out vibration. Ringing tones typically strike and pull back quickly to allow the drum head to vibrate freely.

In Indian music, the dayan is always tuned exactly to "Sa" (the fundamental note in the scale, e.g. the note C if the scale of the song is C-major or C-minor), or occaisionally "Pa" (the 5th of the fundamental, e.g., the note G in a C-scale). The bayan is typically tuned likewise to either Sa or Pa an octave or so lower, not necessarily corresponding to the Sa/Pa of the dayan. The bayan's tuning is often stubborn and many baya don't even have provisions for tuning, so it is occaisionally left somewhat out of tune.

The tabla techniques are called 'Bols' and are basically simple names for the strokes. During practice, the tabla player calls out the bols while playing them. This helps learn the patterns as well as focus on developing the techniques carefully.

I attemped to photograph the hand techniques here and record short samples of the sound produces by these bols.

The "Taal Samples" section gives short samples of typical patterns, while the rest is a sort of tutorial on the tabla drums.

A "Taal" (Talam in the South) is a type of rhythm pattern. The most common one is Tintaal, which means "three claps" and consists of 6-beats broken down into 4 lines. The rhythm is counted using hand motions by the singers, and the "clap" motion comes on the 1st, 2nd and 4th lines of Tintaal - the third line is a "wave" motion. Dadra is a 6-beat taal, Rupak a 7-beat, Kaharva an 8-beat, and Japtaal is 10. There are many others besides these and several made up by trained musicians, such as one I heard in 9 1/2 beats!

• Bajan - (353kB mp3) a light folk-style pattern (8-beat).
• Banaras Kaida - (282kB mp3) tintaal form (16-beat).
• Dadra - (468kB mp3) 6-beat.
• Kaharva - (213kB mp3) 8-beat, similar to Adhi Talam in South Indian music.
• Rupak - (325kB mp3) 7-beat (counted 3+2+2).
• Sitar Khani - (434kB mp3) 8-beat, also tintaal form.

tete
tete.mp3 (pronounced 'teh-tay')
The fingers firmly plant into the gab in a downward motion. Keep the three fingers together tightly. Practicing with a rubber band helps. Normally, the "teh" (first) part of the bol is the three fingers planting on the gab followed (in rhythm) by the index finger on the "tay" portion planting in the center of the gab.

ti / tit
ti.mp3
The middle finger firmly plants into the center of the gab, creating a deeper pop sound.

tuh / nuh
tuh.mp3
A sort of muted tap created by dropping the last three fingers onto the sur region.

chop
chop.mp3
Not a bol by itself, but a technique used to embellish ta. It is the same as ta, except the middle finger stays planted in the center of the gab, while the index finger stikes and sticks to the kinar, creating a sort of high-pitched snap.

ta / na
ta_kinar.mp3 on kinar
The most common tabla sound and is the one that gives the tabla its characteristic ringing muster. The index finger ricochets off the kinar - think off the action of lifting you finger off the kinar rather than thinking of striking down on it. During the motion of the index finger, the 4th (ring) finger must lie flat on the sur very lightly. If the 4th finger doesn't touch the sur, the sound will boom (two notes), and if it presses too hard, the high pitched tone will be damped. The middle finger must be held up straight so it doesn't touch any part of the drum.

ta / na
ta_sur.mp3 on sur
The technique for this bol is the same as ta/na on the kinar, but it is played on the sur. There is, infact a difference between the kinar and sur tones: ta/na on the sur is not as percussive and has a rounder, more mellow tone. It takes a very exact wrist motion to play this bol correctly.

tun
tun1.mp3
Tun is the open (undamped) tone of the dayan. The finger rebounds off of the sur with no damping from the 3rd finger. Be very careful when playing this stroke to play it very gently, as too much force will not only create an overpowering boom, but also damage the gab (usually by cracking or shattering).

ka
ka.mp3
With the heel of the wrist resting about 1/3 of the way from the edge of the bayan, the four finger (held together) pivot down over the gab, sur and kinar of the bayan- planting to damp out vibration.

ga / ge
ga.mp3
With the heel of the wrist resting about 1/3 of the way from the edge of the bayan, the middle finger (2nd finger) or index finger (1st finger) pecks at the sur, recoiling immediately. In sequences, usually the 2nd finger leads on accented bols. The 2nd finger is preferred when modulating since it's stronger than the 1st.

kat
kat.mp3
Similar to ka, but the whole hand lifts off of the bayan and plants the entire hand at the same time inside the entire kinar. This creates a deep, powerful thwack.

snap
snap.mp3
Not a bol by itself, but a technique used to embellish ka. The finger nail of the index finger is tucked in a tightly sprung position between the two joints on the thumb. The thumb moves to the side allowing the index finger nail to snap down on the kinar of the bayan, creating a medium-pitched snapping sound.

ga / ge with modulation
ga_mod.mp3
The modulated ga/ge makes use of the forearm to press the heel of the wrist into the sur of the bayan located about 1/3 of the way from the edge. More force raises the pitch, while less force lowers it. The elbow does not lift up to exert pressure and the shoulders should stay relaxed. A subtle shift in the body's center of gravity is often an effective way to modulate a stiff bayan, but there should be very little movement in the torso.

tin
tin_kinar.mp3
Combination of ta on the kinar with ka. A common variation is to play the ta on the sur instead.

tun
tun_both.mp3
Combination of tun and ka.

dha
dha.mp3
Combination of ta on the kinar with ge.

dhin
dhin.mp3
Combination of ta on the sur and ge.

tira kita
tirakita.mp3
Essentially a combination of four sequential movements: te, ka, tete. The first "te" is actually the "teh" portion of tete - that is, the three fingers.

taka tira kita
takatirakita.mp3
This is the same as tira kita, but preceeded by ta, ka in rhythmic sequence..

dhina gina
dhinagina.mp3
Not as common as tira kita; it is a combination of dhin, na, ge, na in rhythmic sequence.

kra
kra.mp3
An off-beat flam whereby ka is immediately followed by tuh.

trekre
trekre.mp3
Essentially an off-beat Dehli tete, ka and 3rd+4th finger tuh all in quick sequence, almost having the feel of two parts (hence the two syllables tre kre. It has a "watery lilt," as my tabla teacher puts it.