Yes the Oud is difficult to mix with an ensemble, especially when there is more than one violin! Why so many violins!?? Stick to the takht.

Indeed

Thanks for watching.

I once saw an oud from Iraq, played by a kurdish guy, who was also 7 courses, and also C to F, so it seems that both iranian and iraquee use that tuning for 7 courses ouds.

Indeed!

Sounds great Robert. And it's never too late to learn.

Wise words indeed thank you. As I immerse myself in a variety of instruments this truth is revealing itself day by day. I pick out a melody on the guitar transpose it to the Oud from there to the sitar, the Rudra veena and flute - I’m so in love with music it aches my soul. Now I am learning the cello and double bass, each instrument with its own sweet voice

@Robert Becker: ditch the sight-reading. It is a huge waste of time. Develop your ear instead. Any trained monkey can sight read. Real musicians pick up a tune immediately, by ear. It is the difference between a boy and a real man. Moreover, Arabic music thrived for centuries on being passed on through oral tradition - playing by ear by any other name - and only adopted notation in the 20th century in a useless and misguided attempt to keep up with the Joneses - Western Europe. Do you wanna compare the satisfaction derived by learning a piece all on your own with your ear and knowledge as the sole aid tool with a piece of paper, sometimes even written wrongly? There is no contest....I will leave you with an anecdote.concerning Yehuda Menuhin (no slough on the fiddle) and the immense sitarist Ravi Shankar. They recorded an album together, "East meets West" and you can read it in the original liner notes in a restrained versiion. He recounted the story in selected interviews and friends. It was one of the few times where Menhuin truly felt tiny and amateurish. Ravi could not read one written note, yet he could play.everything, everywhere, anytime, seemingly pushing a switch. Yehuda could not improvise nor coming up with ideas on the spot. He had to have everything written down. You could argue that Western and Hindustani music have different purposes. Yet Yehudi Menuhin walked out of the sessions with this distinct impression: he played music. Sometimes well, sometimes less so. But Ravi, no music notations, he could pick up the sitar And shake a room according to his mood of the moment. And for a fleeting moment, Yehuda felt he had wasted all those years pouring over written notes. Because all that had made him someone who could play music and who played music. But Ravi....Ravi WAS the music!

@@MrGiorgioud Wise words indeed thank you. As I immerse myself in a variety of instruments this truth is revealing itself day by day. I pick out a melody on the guitar transpose it to the Oud from there to the sitar, the Rudra veena and flute - I’m so in love with music it aches my soul. Now I am learning the cello and double bass, each instrument with its own sweet voice

THanks for your comment.

I have wondered why this tuning is not used more often by Persian oud players. That's interesting. I'd like to learn more about that.

@@OudforGuitarists well, it’s most likely because there aren’t many publications about this in Farsi. “Der Bau der Laure” by Neubauer is a good source. But also Stefan Hagel’s “Al-ʿūd, pípá, Lute: An Ancient Greek Perspective on Their Prehistory”. The tuning of Oud is a relatively under-researched topic. For instance, up until 16th century, Iranians used many tunings for each maqam; for example they when played Rast a fifth higher than usual, on zir (c), they called it “şadd-e pahlavan” and tuned from Bamm to Hadd: ~C, D, G, C, F. This is a very familiar tuning now, but it’s used for rast on Hadd and not on Zir. One source gives 25 such tunings, another 31. Maraghi gives 1000!

It sounds fine with one string. It doesn't need to be doubled, but it's possible to do. Just need to buy an extra string. You need to set it up properly so the string doesn't jangle and interfere with each other.

Sure it can work well for those. But I don't know any situation that I would need to use it.

Well, if you like the sound sure. But I still think the high ff string starts to make the instrument sound too different for my taste.

I'm still discovering and attempting to master new music to play on my six courses. I think I will need another lifetime to explore any more.

@@OudforGuitarists Tablature would help and guide lines on the fingerboard might help

Indeed. I do also enjoy Nasser Houari and Munir Bashir's work.

I don't know. You should contact a string company to get a custom set.

Hamza El-Din (Nubian), Hossein Behroozinia (yes, Persian), & Said Chraibi (Morocco)

sultaninstrument.com

You are welcome.

Hi Brandon, you can order the Oud from info@sultaninstruments.com. I have a coupon code, you can email me at support@oudforguitarists.com and I'll tell you how to use it.

Happy to help. I don't understand your question, can you clarify? D to D is the tuning or are you referring to maqam Hijaz starting on D and ending on the octave D?

@@OudforGuitarists Thankyou for your reaction. I mean is there a difference in positioning your fingers in the F-F from the positioning in D-D tuning? or is it basically the same?

@@maranmagedwelson3580 OH, by D-D you mean Do-Do (solfege "Do"). The positioning is the same, but your fingers reach a little differently.

@@OudforGuitarists Okay Great that's all! Thanks a lot for your videos en explanations!

@@maranmagedwelson3580 You're welcome. Thanks for watching.

All kinds. Really strings don't matter that much in my experience. Each Oud sounds better or worse when using different sets.

Indeed.

The Kwitra has a reentrant tuning..that means that the 3rd course is the highest. So, the 1st course is D, 2nd A, 3rd E but an octave higher than it should be, and 4th G in the normal pitch.

Yes that's fair.

What I'm more curious about is why his brother Jamil used Sol sol tuned Oud... and his was always a fixed bridge Oud too. I agree, there is something magical about tuning an Oud a half step lower. I have 2 of m Ouds tuned like that right now.

He tuned FADgc (5 courses) as far as I know. He also tuned a half step or more lower to accomodate his voice.

@@OudforGuitarists you are 100% , this what Fareed did . Only once he used hi F in a song he wrote to the great Lebanese singer Sabah , فستان العروسه

دخون

Thanks. I really like Abadi

Thanks for watching and your comment.

I joke.. but by technical do you mean obsessed with arpeggios? Indeed, Tariq is great. Fantastic artist.

It is biased. I am trying to target classical Arabic types. I like some players that use Fa Fa tuning like Said Chraibi. Not a huge fan of Brahem's work for some reason. But I like Munir Bashir's work. I'm not so against this tuning, and I have students that use it. I personally don't enjoy it.

Indeed.

Yes, of course. It's not my go-to thing, but there are a bunch of great Armenia-American Oud players. Why?

I know you have enough stories and knowledge to fill several books. It was a great pleasure talking to you at the retreat.

شو مشان انو انا كتير عجبني صوت العوت لما دوزن وتر فا القرار لاصلو اللي هو ( مي ) حسيتو كتير حلو ب كرد المي وحجاز المي ❤❤ بس رجعت لل فافا بسبب التمارين والمقطوعات

Hi Robabnawaz, nice music you have there. Thanks for your comment.

@@OudforGuitarists you're welcome, I follow your chanell too :-)

That's a really good point. I'm sure it is better on a better Oud, but I've tried Fa Fa tuning on all my Ouds, Dimitris, Yildirim, and also my Iraqi Faik Fadhel Oud which is higher quality. Still didn't enjoy it.

That's interesting. I've tried to imagine a tuning in fifths but I lost the ability to play certain juicy ornaments.

I should have discussed 7 course ouds here too. While I'm not opposed to it, I don't think it's necessary in the grand scheme. But I know some people who love it. I think this comes from my background starting on a 5 course Barbat. So 6 course is more than enough for me,lol.

is that right?

Does it have something to do with fa'afafine? Or I confuse it with Samoan? 😅 OK, now I'm really curious

@@jacobbeat166 whāwhā means to feel with the hands, it is a PRINCE TUI TEKA joke... Check out his video of When The Last Teardrop Falls on KZfaq.

@@jacobbeat166 and yeah fa'afafine is Samoan

@@Hyderomastgroningem0 aaaah I was trying to find the word in the web but I forgot in Maori "f" is "wh" I'll check that video.

That tuning works quite nicely too especially when playing any maqam in D.

I use this tuning too!! I learn the oud in Tetouan, Morocco.

Interesting. I arrived at DFADGC. Also, thanks Maestro for your videos. You seem very cool.

@@masonhancock5350 interesting

@@masonhancock5350 DFADgc is also a pretty stellar tuning. Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed.

Lowering the tuning on any Arabic oud from standard makes it sound better regardless of tuning. I don't know why we insist on continuing to use C-C or F-F.

@@OudforGuitarists F,A,D,G,C,E: Try this one.

@@davidschaaf114 huh, why? 3rds throw off everything. It's bad enough with the F and A string side by side.

@@OudforGuitarists that's true, that is why if you want to use it, u gotta get a new structure of playing... But u're right.

@@davidschaaf114 how does this tuning benefit you in the way you use it?