A sitar is a stringed musical instrument from India with a distinctive, shimmering sound. It looks somewhat like a guitar but with a much longer neck and a large, rounded body made from a hollowed gourd.

What makes the sitar unique is its complexity: it typically has about 18 to 21 strings, but a player only plucks six or seven of them. The other strings, called sympathetic strings, vibrate on their own in response to the notes being played, creating the instrument's characteristic rich, resonating sound. The sitar also has curved metal frets that allow players to bend notes by pulling the strings sideways, producing a vocal, singing quality that's central to Indian classical music.

One famous sitar player was Ravi Shankar, who introduced the instrument to Western audiences in the 1960s. You can hear the sitar in traditional Indian music, where skilled musicians can play for hours, improvising melodies that follow complex musical patterns called ragas. The sitar requires years of dedicated practice to master, but its haunting, cascading sound is unmistakable once you've heard it.