Virtual Tabla: Play Online with Your Keyboard
This virtual tabla puts both drums on your screen: the dayan, the small wooden drum of the right hand, and the bayan, the bass drum of the left. Eight pads play the basic bols: Na, Tin, Tun and Te on the dayan, Ge and Ke on the bayan, and the combined strokes Dha (Na + Ge) and Dhin (Tin + Ge).
Tabla bols and keyboard keys
Each pad plays one bol; Dha and Dhin are a dayan stroke played together with the bayan's Ge.
| Bol | Drum | Key |
|---|---|---|
| Na | dayan | J |
| Tin | dayan | K |
| Tun | dayan | L |
| Te | dayan | I |
| Ge | bayan | F |
| Ke | bayan | D |
| Dha | Na + Ge | G |
| Dhin | Tin + Ge | H |
How to use it
- Tap a pad to play its bol. Several fingers work at once, so Na and Ge tapped together also give Dha.
- On a computer: J Na, K Tin, L Tun, I Te, F Ge, D Ke, G Dha, H Dhin. Esc or Stop all silences everything.
- Press Record session, play a theka, then Replay. The session stays in this tab until you clear it or close the page.
- Choose a bol as the Target and press Start practice: the page tells you if you hit the right pad. Hear target plays it, Next target picks another.
- Set the volume under Settings.
Help and explanations
Play tabla online with your fingers, the mouse or the laptop keyboard, with no download. The sound is synthesized on your device, with the harmonic overtones of the dayan and the short pitch drop of the open Ge.
Dayan, bayan and the bols on this page
Na and Tin ring on the dayan; Tun is the open, resonant stroke on the black patch; Te is short and closed. On the bayan, Ge is the open bass and Ke a closed stroke with no ring.
The black circle on the dayan, the syahi, is a layered paste on the skin. It brings the overtones close to a harmonic series, which gives the dayan a clear pitch, as the physicist C. V. Raman showed, so a real dayan is tuned to the Sa of the music. Here it is fixed at C4 as a reference (Sa = C); a real dayan sits roughly between G3 and F4, depending on its size. To tune your own, use the tabla tuner.
Basic thekas: Teentaal, Keherwa and Dadra
A theka is the bol pattern that marks a taal. Spellings vary between gharanas, so treat these as common versions.
Teentaal, 16 beats: Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Dhin Dhin Dha | Dha Tin Tin Ta | Ta Dhin Dhin Dha. Beat 1 is sam. In the khali section, beats 10 to 13 (Tin Tin Ta Ta) are the same strokes without the bayan's Ge. Ta is close to Na here, so play it on the Na pad.
Keherwa, 8 beats: Dha Ge Na Ti | Na Ke Dhi Na (Ti on the Te pad, Dhi on the Dhin pad). Dadra, 6 beats: Dha Dhi Na | Dha Tu Na (Tu on the Tun pad).
Tips
- Start with half of Teentaal, slowly, one bol per click of the metronome.
- Record a theka and check on the replay that every beat has the same length before you speed up.
- For riyaz with a drone, open the shruti box or the harmonium in another tab.
Frequently asked questions
Can I play tabla online with the keyboard?
Yes. J, K, L and I play the dayan bols, F and D the bayan, G and H play Dha and Dhin. Each pad shows its letter.
Is this virtual tabla free, or do I need an app?
It is free and runs in the browser on phones and computers. Nothing you play is sent to a server.
Can I save or share my recording?
Not as a file. The session can be replayed on this page and disappears when you close or reload it.
Why are bols spelled differently in books and videos?
Each gharana writes some strokes its own way: Te, Ti or Tit; Dhi or Dhin; Tu or Tun. Match the pads to your teacher's bols by sound.