Online Dholak & Tabla
A dholak and a tabla made from recordings of real drums. Play with your fingers or keyboard, with taal loops to play along to. Free, no sign-up, nothing uploaded.
Someone sent you a rhythm.
Tip: hold a Ge pad and slide your finger up to bend the bass, like pressing the drum with your palm.
Keherwa: 8 beats (4 + 4). X = sam, the first beat; 0 = khali, the open half.
Press Record, play (with or without the taal), then Stop. Your rhythm becomes a link.
Keyboard: left hand A S D, right hand J K L ;, both hands F G.
How to play the online dholak and tabla
- Tap the pads. The left column is the bass drum (your left hand), the right side is the treble drum (your right hand), and Dha and Dhin strike both at once. Use two or more fingers together, just like on the real drum.
- Bend the bass. Hold a Ge pad and slide your finger up: the pitch rises, the way a player presses the bass skin with the heel of the palm. On the dholak this slide is called ghissa (or gissa). The Ge ↗ pad plays a ready-made slide.
- On a computer, the keys sit under your hands: A S D for the left hand, J K L ; for the right, F and G for both. Keys work by position, so they also work on AZERTY and other layouts.
- Play along with a taal. Pick a taal, press Play taal and set the tempo. The bols light up on the theka and on the pads as they play, so you can see which stroke is which and copy it.
- Record and share. Press Record, play, then Stop. Your strokes and their timing (and the taal and its tempo, if it was playing) go into the page link, so Share sends a link that plays your rhythm back.
The strokes (bols)
Every stroke on these drums has a spoken syllable, a bol, so rhythms can be recited and written down. Names vary a little between teachers and regions; these are the common ones.
Dholak
| Bol | Hand and side | How it's played |
|---|---|---|
| Ge (Ghe, Ga) | Left, bass | Fingers strike the bass skin and lift off so it booms. The paste inside the skin gives the deep tone. |
| Ka (Ke) | Left, bass | The palm lands flat and stays, so the bass is muted. |
| Ge ↗ (ghissa) | Left, bass | A Ge, then the heel of the palm presses the skin to slide the pitch up. |
| Na (Ta) | Right, treble | A finger strikes near the edge and lifts, so the small skin rings. |
| Tin | Right, treble | An open stroke further in: a rounder, lower ring. |
| Ti (Te, Tit) | Right, treble | Fingertips strike and stay on the skin: short and closed. |
| Thapi | Right, treble | A flat-palm slap on the treble side. |
| Dha, Dhin | Both | Dha is Na and Ge together; Dhin is Tin and Ge together. |
Tabla
| Bol | Hand and drum | How it's played |
|---|---|---|
| Ge (Ghe, Ga) | Left, bayan (bass) | Middle and index fingers strike the bayan and lift off; the wrist stays on the skin. |
| Ke (Ka, Kat) | Left, bayan | The flat hand slaps and stays: a dry, closed bass. |
| Ge ↗ | Left, bayan | A Ge whose pitch rises as the wrist pushes into the skin. |
| Na (Ta) | Right, dayan (treble) | The index finger strikes the rim while the ring finger rests on the skin: a bright ring. |
| Tin | Right, dayan | The index finger strikes inside the rim, a softer, open ring. |
| Tun | Right, dayan | The index finger strikes the black centre (syahi) and lifts: a long, deep ring. |
| Ti (Te, Tit) | Right, dayan | Fingers strike the centre and stay: short and closed. |
| Dha, Dhin | Both | Dha is Na with Ge; Dhin (also written Dhi) is Tin with Ge. |
The taals and their thekas
A taal is a rhythm cycle, counted in beats (matras) and split into sections (vibhags). Its theka is the basic pattern of bols that marks it out. X is sam, the first beat, where the cycle lands; 0 is khali, the "empty" section, often played without the bass. Numbers mark the other claps (tali).
- Keherwa · 8 beats (4 + 4)
- Dha Ge Na Ti | Na Ka Dhi Na The everyday taal of film songs, bhajans, qawwali and folk music.
- Dadra · 6 beats (3 + 3)
- Dha Dhin Na | Dha Tin Na A lilting cycle for light songs, ghazals and folk songs.
- Teentaal · 16 beats (4 + 4 + 4 + 4)
- Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Tin Tin Ta | Ta Dhin Dhin Dha The main taal of Hindustani classical music and kathak. Sam is beat 1, tali on 5 and 13, khali on 9.
- Rupak · 7 beats (3 + 2 + 2)
- Tin Tin Na | Dhin Na | Dhin Na Unusual because it starts on khali: the first beat is both sam and khali.
- Bhajani · 8 beats (4 + 4)
- Dhin Ta·Dhin –·Dhin Ta | Tin Ta·Tin –·Tin Ta The devotional theka for bhajans and kirtan. Its Dhin falls between the beats, which gives it its sway (the dot splits a beat in two).
- Chalti · 8 beats (4 + 4)
- Dha·Ge Na·Ti Na·Ka Dhi·Na | Ta·Ke Na·Ti Na·Ka Dhi·Na "Chalti" means moving. Players use the word for a busy, running Keherwa; ours is simply Keherwa at double speed, the feel of folk, wedding (dholki) and qawwali songs. Every player varies it.
What this is, and what it isn't
- Real recordings, mostly. All tabla strokes, and the dholak's Ge, Ka, Na and Tin, are recordings of real drums that their makers released into the public domain (CC0). The dholak recording cut the Ge's ring short, so we let it ring on with a model of the same tone. The dholak's Ti and Thapi are synthesized, because we couldn't find free recordings of them. Dha and Dhin are two recorded strokes played together. The tabla's Ge ↗ is a recorded slide; the dholak's, and the bends you make with your finger, are the recording played faster. Who recorded what is listed under Where do the sounds come from?
- One key. The tabla's treble drum is tuned to about C♯, and you can't retune it yet. If you sing along and your Sa is another note, it may clash.
- No touch pressure. Phones don't tell a web page how hard you tap, so every tap plays at the same strength, with a little natural variation. The taal loop uses accents (sam loudest).
- Phone speakers are small. The bass drum sounds best on headphones or a speaker. We add a little warmth so you can still hear it on a phone.
- It's an instrument to play, not a teacher. It shows the bols and the thekas, but it can't check your hand technique. For that, nothing beats a teacher or a real drum.
Questions
Is this online dholak free?
Yes. It runs in your browser with no account, no ads and nothing to install.
Why can't I hear anything?
Browsers only allow sound after you touch the page, so tap "Tap to start" first. If it's still quiet, check the volume. On recent iPhones it plays even in silent mode, which also pauses music from other apps while you play; on older iOS versions, turn silent mode off.
Can I use it for riyaz (practice)?
Yes, for rhythm. Pick a taal, set the tempo from 30 to 300 beats per minute, and practise playing, dancing or keeping time over the theka. The loop keeps going until you stop it. For singing, note that the tabla is tuned to about C♯ and can't be retuned yet, so it suits you best if your Sa is C♯.
Is my rhythm uploaded when I share it?
No. Your strokes and their timing are packed into the part of the link after the # sign, which browsers don't send to our server. Anyone who opens the link hears the same rhythm. Recording stops after 1,200 strokes to keep links a sensible length.
Where do the sounds come from?
Most strokes are recordings of real drums, shared on Freesound by their makers under CC0, which allows any use. Thank you to all three:
- Tabla: every stroke comes from the "tabla bols" pack by mmiron.
- Dholak Ge, Na and Tin: cut from a dholak loop by iyankc.
- Dholak Ka: a bass-skin hit by curesforbrokenhearts.
- Dholak Ti and Thapi: synthesized by us, because we couldn't find free recordings of them.
We cut, balanced and lightly cleaned the recordings. The loop cut the dholak Ge's ring short, so we let it ring on with a model of the same tone.