A lot of Indian indie songwriting starts with one person and an acoustic guitar. A smaller group of players have turned that into something more, using fingerstyle and percussive technique so the guitar carries bass, melody and rhythm at the same time. On record and on stage they can sound like a band, though there's only one of them. This guide covers artists whose released work puts that playing at the centre, plus the songwriters whose finger-picked guitar defines their sound.
A note on scope: this guide replaces a planned "Indian shoegaze albums" page. Our Indian shoegaze bands feature already covers that small scene's releases, and a separate albums page would compete with it.
All release titles and dates come from the public Apple Music India catalogue (checked 28 October 2026). Biographical details come from our live artist pages and Wikipedia. We don't cite stream counts.
Taba Chake (Arunachal Pradesh)
Taba Chake is a fingerstyle guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter from Khunglo village in the Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh. He writes in Nyishi, Hindi, Assamese and English. His guitar is the backbone of every song: rolling patterns and open, ringing chords that need very little added on top.
Where to listen. His first short record, Bond with Nature, is a four-track EP. The album Bombay Dreams (April 2019) holds "Aao Chalein", "Shaayad" and "Walk With Me". The five-track I Want To Talk soundtrack (November 2024) is led by "Dil Ghabraye", and Khud Ko Miloon (September 2025) is his second album, 13 tracks long. Read the Taba Chake artist page.
Dhruv Visvanath (New Delhi)
Dhruv Visvanath is a musician and producer from New Delhi, born in 1992, who started on piano at seven and guitar at thirteen. In 2014 Acoustic Guitar magazine named him on its "30 Great Guitarists Under 30" list, and in 2023 he reached the final four of My Kind of Country, an Apple TV+ competition set in Nashville. He's the best-known name in Indian percussive acoustic guitar, and he builds songs around the technique without turning them into showcases.
Where to listen. The catalogue on Apple runs from the 14-track album Orion (September 2015) through The Lost Cause (April 2018), which Rolling Stone India picked as one of the best Indian albums of 2018, and The Book of I (March 2021, 14 tracks), to the EPs Demons (March 2022, four tracks) and Dancing In The Dark (November 2023, six tracks). He has also moved into film: the Friday Night Plan soundtrack (2023, with Skrat and When Chai Met Toast), "Nanpagal Neram" from the Tamil film Por and the Dange soundtrack (both 2024).
Prateek Kuhad (Delhi)
Prateek Kuhad isn't a fingerstyle virtuoso, but his finger-picked patterns helped define the sound of Hindi-English indie for a generation. He makes independent music in Hindi and English and is best known for "Kasoor" and "Co2".
Where to listen. The five-track Raat Raazi EP (2013), the album In Tokens & Charms (2015), the seven-track cold/mess (2018) and The Way That Lovers Do (May 2022). Apple also lists the EPs Shehron Ke Raaz (2021) and Mulaqat (2023), and a 14-track album, Full Moon Chamber (July 2026). Read Prateek Kuhad songs and the artist page.
Anuv Jain (Ludhiana)
Anuv Jain, born in Ludhiana in 1995, writes songs built around simple chords, usually on acoustic guitar or ukulele with little or no percussion. That makes him the opposite of a technician, and that's the point: the songs work almost entirely as guitar and voice.
Where to listen. "Baarishein" (2016) is the starting point, and Apple lists a later acoustic version (2023). Then "Gul" (2021), "Husn" (2023) and "Jo Tum Mere Ho" (2024). Read Anuv Jain and the artist page.
Electric and instrumental players
Fingerstyle has an electric cousin. Warren Mendonsa's project Blackstratblues has released melodic, blues-rooted guitar instrumentals since Nights In Shining Karma (2007); the catalogue runs through The Last Analog Generation (2017) and When It's Time (2019) to Hindsight Is 2020 (2021). For more wordless guitar music, see our Indian post-rock bands feature and the Indian jazz musicians guide.
Several Indian guitarists have built followings with fingerstyle covers and original instrumentals on YouTube. We'll add individual players once their original releases are on the public catalogue.
What to listen for
- Bass on the low strings. The thumb holds the low end, so no bass player is needed.
- Percussion on the guitar body. Slaps and taps stand in for a drum kit.
- Open tunings. These let notes ring together and give the "wide" sound typical of the style.
- Space. Good fingerstyle songs leave silence. Count how often the guitar stops.
For guitarists
If you play and want to release fingerstyle music:
- Record in a quiet room with two mics, one on the body and one on the neck. Our home studio on a budget guide covers the setup.
- Instrumentals still need ISRC codes and correct metadata: see ISRC and ISWC codes explained.
- Covers need licences on streaming services: see cover song licence India.
Where to start
- Taba Chake, "Aao Chalein"
- Dhruv Visvanath, The Book of I
- Prateek Kuhad and Anuv Jain for the songwriting end of the style
FAQ
Who is the best-known fingerstyle guitarist in Indian indie? Dhruv Visvanath is the name most associated with percussive acoustic guitar; Acoustic Guitar magazine listed him among its 30 great guitarists under 30 in 2014. Taba Chake is the leading fingerstyle singer-songwriter from the Northeast.
What is percussive acoustic guitar? A technique where the player uses the guitar body as a drum while playing bass and melody on the strings.
Is there an Indian shoegaze albums guide? Our Indian shoegaze bands feature covers the scene's releases.
Related on Discography
Discography is an independent music magazineHow to get coveredRelease music in IndiaIndian indieIndian indie bandsAbout
