Mike's Oud Forums

Tip: Where are the notes?

Elie Riachi - 7-21-2004 at 09:25 PM

Hello folks,

I thought I would share this ideas with the beginners, like myself, on the forum.

I came up with this method of marking up where the notes are on the neck of the oud using dots punched out with a hole puncher from self adhesive mailing labels as shown in the photos below, you could use name tags instead.

The dots are not permenant so they will not reuin the finish on the oud. These dots mark the distances where the half steps (for equally tempered scale) are on the fingerboard. The quarter tones or quarter steps are located between these dots.

For my oud, the scale length (~distance between bridge and nut also refered to as the vibrating string length) is 630 mm. Based on this length I calculated the following distances, in mm, as measured from from the nut for each dot:

samzayed - 7-21-2004 at 10:35 PM

This is a great idea, especially for beginners! Did you use an electronic tuner to verify the pitches?

Elie Riachi - 7-22-2004 at 09:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by samzayed
Did you use an electronic tuner to verify the pitches?


Hi Sam,

Yes I did. The pitches matched up fine. The eyes can play the parallax trick, so one has to pay attention to accurately line up fingers with the dots.

Also the distances I listed above are the ones I computed for the 630 mm scale length. These distances would be slightly different on an oud that has a scale length that is slightly different than 630 mm.

And of course, the more accurately you place the dots, the more accurate the positions for the proper pitches will be.

Elie

billkilpatrick - 7-24-2004 at 12:44 AM

good idea. i did the same thing with dabs of pearl-white fingernail polish. i wasn't anywhere near as scientific or a thorough as you, elie, in measuring the intervals. what i did was place a small guitar on top of my oud, nut to nut and got the measurements from that. they more or less corresponded but i was lucky.

i find the dots are useful but i tend to line up my finger with the dot for all the notes - which is ok for the bass notes but out of whack for the treble.

how's your 12th bass string experiment coming along?

cheers - bill

Elie Riachi - 7-24-2004 at 10:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by billkilpatrick
i wasn't anywhere near as scientific or a thorough as you, elie, in measuring the intervals. what i did was place a small guitar on top of my oud, nut to nut and got the measurements from that. they more or less corresponded but i was lucky.

i find the dots are useful but i tend to line up my finger with the dot for all the notes - which is ok for the bass notes but out of whack for the treble.

how's your 12th bass string experiment coming along?

cheers - bill


Hi Bill,

If you would like to be more accurate on the intervals, send me the scale length of your oud and I'll enter it in a spread sheet which I created to calculate these intervals.

As for the treble notes, I think it might be largely due to parallax error.

For the 12th bass string, here it is http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=941&pag...

Regards,
Elie

oudplayer - 8-9-2004 at 01:55 PM

hey i am a begginer so can u do this for my oud my oud is 27 in thxa alot
sammy

Elie Riachi - 8-9-2004 at 04:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by oudplayer
hey i am a begginer so can u do this for my oud my oud is 27 in thxa alot
sammy


Here it is for 27 inch scale length (vibrating string length or distance between bridge and nut.) Note the measurements are in millimeters. Also, I have noticed that the dots tend to move with heavy playing and eventually will come off, so make sure to check if the dots location often.

As an alternate to sticky paper; carefully marking with nail polish like Bill suggested may be okay (I do not know how permenant of an alteration would this be and what kind of damage to the finish of the marked spots the nail polish will do????) Any feedback Bill?

Enjoy,
Elie

there is somthing wrong !!

sarmad - 8-9-2004 at 09:28 PM

i found out in the picture there is 11 dot
7 on the Oud
4 on the flour

but in the sticky paper there is 20 holes

how come ?

Elie Riachi - 8-9-2004 at 09:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by sarmad
i found out in the picture there is 11 dot
7 on the Oud
4 on the flour

but in the sticky paper there is 20 holes

how come ?


I just made extra dots and calculated up to the twelfth half step just in case. In the process of placing the dots I had to replace a couple, then I threw away the unused dots before I decided to post a picture so I punched out a few more.

Anyway, the number of holes and the number of dots in the picture is irrelevant, it is just for the sake of illustration. Just make sure you have enough dots for the number of locations you want to mark.

Good luck,
Elie

billkilpatrick - 8-9-2004 at 11:45 PM

dear elie -

to be honest, i was more concerned about finding the right note than any damage i might bring about from dots of nail polish but no, i don't think it will cause the oud any harm. i put them on varnished wood, not untreated wood and just on the fingerboard, not where it's joined to the neck.

if nail polish causes doubt however, paper stick-ons with a cello-tape covering may be an option.

ciao - bill

billkilpatrick - 7-21-2005 at 05:51 AM

i had need of this information just recently and i'm very glad it's here.

thank you elie.

- bill

Elie Riachi - 8-6-2005 at 02:13 PM

Welcome bud, glad that it is getting some use.