Jay Nathaniel - 4-11-2010 at 10:57 AM
Greetings from Dorset, England, new to the Forum but just from looking around this place i can see its a gold mine of information, love it!!!!!!
My question is though is there an "oud bible" type of thing? a good book on the theory side of things?
i would be an absolute beginner see and want to understand the basics of it and read up on all aspects of it.
i want to buy an oud eventually but need to first understand what im looking for, at the moment i really like the Syrian oud's sound and would love
one of them but feel a bit out of my depth at the moment with the lack of some sort of reference.
any advice would be great!
cheers.
Aymara - 4-11-2010 at 01:27 PM
Hi Jay,
welcome to the forums!
Maybe start your reading in the Oud Cafe and in the books forum until the first recommendations arrive.
Oh ... and don't miss the FAQ.
fernandraynaud - 4-11-2010 at 05:52 PM
Welcome, Jay,
The enclosed is an excellent "bible" assuming you have an interest in the music that is traditionally played on the oud.
There's a left handed version also for the maqam diagrams. Most players here are strictly into the Arabic maqamat, but this book shows the Turkish as
well. Don't get scared, you don't memorize it all! Much of the credit for the content belongs to David Parfitt from
http://www.oud.eclipse.co.uk/
who has OK'd use of these materials for us.
Another indispensable site is maqamworld.com. As to multimedia resources with video,
Marina Toshich's Learn Oud is a good beginner book with short DVD, and
OudProf's Learn Maqamat on oud DVD is a gold mine showing how to play and improvise on all the core maqamat and a must at $25, especially if you don't
have a teacher locally.
That should get anyone started ! 
Attachment: 19803403-The-UD-Theory-Finger-Placing-for-Right-Handed.zip (968kB)
This file has been downloaded 1556 times
alfaraby - 4-12-2010 at 12:40 PM
Do you read Arabic ?
If this the case, I have an excellent recommendation for you :
http://www.zeryab.org/zeryab/showthread.php?t=43619
The best ever written aboud ouds & woods in Arabic by Dr. Ali Hasan (Alioud here in this forum) .
Enjoy learning
Good luck
Yours Truly
Alfaraby
fernandraynaud - 4-12-2010 at 05:16 PM
Make 'em feel welcome, eh?
When I see stuff like this, I realize I'm spending too much time here and oud-obsessed.
Sazi - 4-12-2010 at 07:12 PM
Aziz - thank you very much for that link, an excellent article, I am only part of the way through and have already found more valuable information on
the oud than I have seen anywhere over the last few years.
Ali, - congratulations and sincere thanks to you for your work there.
Jay Nathaniel - 4-14-2010 at 06:29 AM
Thanks very much for the great advice and help.
Loads to still read through and get to grips with! thanks again everyone.
kind regards
Jay Nathaniel - 4-14-2010 at 07:17 AM
Thanks very much for the great advice and help.
Loads to still read through and get to grips with! thanks again everyone.
cheers