Mike's Oud Forums

New guy here!

animalwithin - 11-5-2011 at 07:31 PM

Hey everyone!

I'm new to Oud's but have been playing guitar (both acoustic (6 &12 string) and electric) for a few years. I have no idea where to start in terms of Oud's although I REALLY want to learn to play one. I've picked out one I want to get but as said before I have no idea what constitutes a good Oud vs. a bad one. Any help/advice/tips is welcome!

fernandraynaud - 11-6-2011 at 06:42 PM

Very difficult and very common question. Things change. Sukar ouds used to be the best answer, but they come from Syria and are no longer as readily available or inexpensive. There are new vendors offering Turkish ouds at attractive prices direct, but few people here have tried them. Turkish ouds are a little smaller and tuned two half-tones higher. They are generally better finished than Arabic ouds, but sound and looks don't necessarily go together. Whatever you do, take your time, and don't leap at "professional" Arabic ouds in the $400 bracket. Also, if you see an option to return an unsatisfactory instrument, make sure you know exactly how much it will cost to send it back, as some countries are unusually expensive to ship a large box to.

Most if not all musicians who try one fall in love with the oud. We've seen many who do and regret not having gotten a better instrument. On the other hand it seems almost everyone will go through this first oud syndrome and then be better equipped to buy the second one. There are likely several ouds in your future. If you take your time, you may have one fewer bad ones.

Good ouds are very light and resonant, with good action. Good wood, good neck, good nut, good bridge, good bracing, good pegs. Good oud ;-)

If you do not have access to a good teacher, and maybe even if you do, be sure to get OudProf's Learn Maqamat on the Oud DVD.


John Erlich - 11-7-2011 at 12:57 PM

I want to amplify my fellow oudi's comments above. I always recommend to newbie oudis to buy the best instrument they can reasonably afford. Also, I want to caution against from buying an oud that you've never tried out. I had a bad experience buying an oud on Ebay; it was made by a very reputable builder, but, when I actually got my hands on it, it was clearly not a well-made instrument and worth nothing like the amount of my "winning" bid. After seeing (and playing) a few good ouds, it should be relatively easy to spot better-made instruments.

animalwithin - 11-8-2011 at 01:27 PM

Thanks for advice! John, I agree with what you are saying about getting the best oud that one can reasonably afford. This is the way I have gone about in guitars and I have 4 guitars of which are the best and that's all I need (as opposed to many people I know who have 15+ guitars). But I want one really good oud, not 4 haha. What would you guys suggest as a really good oud, what manufacturer? For those who speak guitar lingo, what companies are the Fender and Gibson of the oud world?

ExtreamTarab - 11-8-2011 at 02:18 PM

Hey there,

welcome to the forum...please check your U2U

animalwithin - 11-8-2011 at 02:35 PM

Thanks! I checked my U2U, thanks for letting me know, still looking around though, Im in no hurry to buy now. I have fallen in love with Dimitris Ouds though!

naddad - 11-12-2011 at 06:23 AM

hey animalwithin -- I am a guitarist who's learning oud as well.

With regards to picking a oud, the best thing you can do is take a good oud player with you to a shop and have him pick one for you. He should be able to detect buzzing, bad action, general tone, accuracy and ease of use of tuning keys etc... If you go alone your pick would probably be as good as a random pick.
If you don't know a oud player, your best bet would be to find someone who is known to be honest. I'm sure the forum here can recommend some good people.

Contrary to one of the advice above, my personal experience leads me to recommend that you do not buy the best oud you can afford, only because at this point you can't tell the difference between a good and a bad one. Buy a good beginner oud (that's what I should have done but ended up buying an expensive oud that wasn't good), and once you get used to the oud's sound, then start trying out more expensive instruments.

Btw, if you want to avoid tuning frustration, make sure you try the tuning keys. Switching to oud from guitar is a PAIN when tuning buddy, so make sure the keys stay in the peg firmly.

good luck!

animalwithin - 11-12-2011 at 10:38 AM

Thanks naddad! I've been talking to a custom luthier in Athens, Greece, from Dimitris' Ouds. He's been very helpful. Unfortunatley down here in LA, finding someone who plays a Oud and finding a place that sells them is next to impossible. I even emailed some teachers from the Teachers/Students Post on here and none of them replied. Are you teaching yourself how to play Oud or are you taking lessons?

naddad - 11-12-2011 at 02:57 PM

I wanted to get a teacher but I ended up just learning by myself thanks to the tons of videos on youtube.
You will first find it very hard to hit the right notes. It helps a lot to play with a chromatic tuner always on next to the oud, so that you make sure you're fretting at the right place when you have doubts.

animalwithin - 11-12-2011 at 05:22 PM

Ahh I see. I view the Oud as a much harder instrument to grasp than guitar, why I dont know haha.

fernandraynaud - 11-13-2011 at 05:00 PM

Quote:
Quote: Originally posted by naddad  
It helps a lot to play with a chromatic tuner always on next to the oud, so that you make sure you're fretting at the right place when you have doubts.


One thing I found helpful at first was marks. They help much like the chromatic tuner in a sense, while developing "muscle memory" of the core positions. The best mark technique I've found is applying marker pen to the strings themselves using a template printed from the Wfret program. I described and illustrated it in past posts. Marks are also helpful when recording with other instruments that are tuned Equal Tempered, especially for those of us who realistically are not aiming to be virtuosos. The downside is that you look at the fingerboard, while it's important to play with the oud face as vertical as possible, and to develop one's pitch discrimination.

naddad - 11-16-2011 at 03:27 PM

Quote: Originally posted by animalwithin  
Ahh I see. I view the Oud as a much harder instrument to grasp than guitar, why I dont know haha.


I was debating that with a friend the other day... I'm afraid if we open the discussion here it won't be ending any time soon, but... my view was that:

1) the oud is a more difficult instrument to start with, but it's only a melodic instrument and mostly played in the first fingering position (i.e. within 1 or 2 octaves), so technically not as hard as the guitar in my opinion
2) the guitar is easier to start with, but the music that you can play gets more complex as you get into dissonant music (e.g. jazz), plus the fact that you must be able to play all over the fretboard (up to 4 octaves)