Ahead of his intimate gig in Versova this Saturday, Bhrigu Sahni, whose unique style of playing makes him stand out from his peers, gets candid about the organic evolution of his sound, crediting his classical guitarist father for his fingerstyle skills and introduction to the acoustic guitar.

Tell us about your sound and style of playing.
It took a long time, a lot of practice and experimentation. A guitar usually has a standard tuning, but I experienced listening fatigue (happens when you listen to the same sound) like many guitarists do, when I was in Berklee and wanted to compose my own music. I started fiddling with the tuning and came up with my own variants. Every song had a different tuning, which made it a tad hectic while performing, but it was worth it because it changes the entire sound palate. I learnt the flamenco style of playing from a friend in New York, so I incorporated some of those techniques of the right hand. Then, I heard Ali Akbar Khan at my parents’ home in Pune, and I tried bending the way he did. All this improvisational experimentation has percolated to make my sound.