ra'g yaman

The ladder above shows the distance between notes that form raag Yaman – Hover on them to hear how they sound (you'll need to tap once to enable audio)

Compared to the Bhairav raag that we looked at earlier, raag Yaman is simpler. Both to play, and how it sounds. It has a more pleasant vibe, while Bhairav had a sharp breathtaking jump in the middle

Raags can be played on any instrument. For example, here it is on a guitar, starting with the highlighted note (the A on the first string)

We can begin with any note we want, all we need to do is ensure successive notes have the following distance between them

You can see this, and two more things, in the fretboard below: (a) picking a different root note, the D on the second string, (b) counting beyond 11 (the raag repeats), and (c) counting backwards from the root note

Raag Yaman is just one note away from the Bilawal thaat (the major scale, all white keys on the piano), but just that one displaced note makes a difference to the vibe.

Sometimes folks think of raags as restrictive, rote. But that's if you grind them.

Instead, take raags as creative strategies to provide you with inspiration when you feel in a musical rut.