The Sur Bahar is also called the bass sitar. It is a large instrument (21 inches x 60 inches) with double toombas. This instrument is tuned by as much as a full octave lower than a Sitar. The playing of this instrument and the Sitar are similar enough that one should be able to play both comfortably. The Sur Bahar has much longer sustainable tones, and is suited well to playing slow alaps. The Sur Bahar does lend itself to complex melodies, since the skilled player can create a glissando of up to one octave on a single fret.