 A son of the sarod player Nanneh Khan Bangash, Hafiz Ali grew up in a community of sarod players, and it is likely that he studied with his father and a number of his proximate disciples.He later took lessons from his cousin Abdulla Khan, nephew Mohammad Amir Khan, and finally the beenkar Wazir Khan of Rampur.Wazir Khan was supposedly a direct descendant of the legendary Tansen, through the lineage of the latter's daughter.