Reddit reviews A Practical Method for Taus, Dilruba, and Esraj: Level 1: Beginner

Hey!

I think it would be heavily dependant on who's available within your local area. In my old city of Newcastle there were a few teachers for pretty much any instrument you could care to imagine. It might be worth speaking with some of the people at your gurdwara and see if they either know an instrument and can teach you or can recommend you a teacher. It is also worth seeing if your gurdwara itself offers lessons. In Newcastle there also existed a lot of community centres focused around different countries, including a Pakistani and a Turkish centre. It might be worth seeing if there exist similar groups in your area and then asking there if anyone could help you.

I must admit that's not been going so well. I was too late to join the group class at the gurdwara, but that's likely to change now, as I'm hoping to join in August when the class restarts. I'm choosing to play the taus, if anything because it's rare and so it needs all the attention it can get! Trust me to pick one of the biggest instruments though...

Found these links for learning dilruba too:

• Har Sangeet offers a few free online lessons as well as an online learning program (which you'll have to pay for but the prices seem decently low. Plus you can submit your own playing for feedback as part of the lessons). Here's the link.
  
  
• There's also a book in English which if you can't find a teacher might be worth a look. It teaches esraj, dilruba and taus and is divided between beginner, intermediate and advanced books. Here's the link to the beginner's book. It has the advantage of being written by a native English speaker who is expert in teaching world music. It might serve to be useful as a starting point, and you could, once you'v got the basics sorted, then get some experience with another musician accompanying you who can offer help/advice/practice tips and the like.