Taans are fast tempo melodic figures sung in three octaves and are an important part of Khayal. Taans normally come at the climactic phase of the concert and add significantly to the dynamism and variety of Khayal. The variety and complexity of taans depend upon the vocal deftness and technical prowess of the singer to knit sequences of notes ingeniously, attractively and meaningfully. In fact, the singer`s taiyyari (expertise) is often measured by his or her ability to execute a variety of taans effortlessly. Ideally, a singer recourses to an range of taans comprising simple, intricate and patterned ones, to display the grammatical configurations possible within the raaga structure. Most gharanas, as also singers, have their own favourite `brand` taans. They even make a hallmark of certain kinds of taans.

The melodic patterns in tanas have evolved from five basic patterns, Badhata Tana, Ladiguthava Tana, Sapata Tana, Chuta Tana and Hopping Tana.

Badhata (progressive) Taana: There are two concepts associated with badhata or progression in taana construction. The first is to build them in increasingly ascending melodic waves with each wave ascending further upwards than the previous one. The first wave ascends from a particular base which is base sa. It ascends upwards up to a certain point and then returns to base, ascends again, this time a little farther, returns again to base. This process continues. The second approach to badhata tanas is modeled as a series of short taanas woven around one melodic focus after another in ascending order. This does not returns back to base sa after each ascent instead reverts to the sthayi. Badhata Taanas can either be flat-out or zigzag. Their identifying feature is the progressive unfurling of the melodic canvas.

Ladiguthava (chain-knitting) Tana: Ladiguthava is a special category of badhata tana in which the melodic development moves upwards. Their identifying feature is the complexity of the melodic web in progressive ascending or descending motion. Ladiguthava is perhaps the most demanding tana pattern due to short spans of improvisation. This requires a total mastery over the melodic features of the raaga.

Sapata (flat-out) Taana: Sapata Taana ascends or descends in a flowing motion, with straight-forward runs on the raaga scale without any twists and turns. It is a single intonation supporting the execution of every svara on the intended melodic path. They have the desired impact when their melodic span covers at least one full octave. Sapatas are rendered in ascending as well as descending movements.

Chuta (leaping) Taana: Chttta Taana is constructed by establishing a geometric tonal relationship between phrases of short melodic spans. Their structure appears to leap from svara to far-away svara in the process of generating waves of corresponding phrases. The Chuta pattern can be descending or ascending.

Hopping Taana: Hopping Taana generally found in ascending formation, hop across alternate svaras. For example, sd-gd-sa-ga, re-ma-re-ma, gd-pd-gd-pd, ma-dha-ma-dha, Depending on the grammar of the raaga, these taanas may skip more than one svara in each hop. For obvious reasons, they are sometimes referred to as two-by-two taanas. The hopping or two-by-two taana is also inspired by one of the alankara in Indian Classical Music.