I have his Luth de Bagdad album and his Maqmat Ziryab album, in both his oud is tuned slightly higher than standard, why does he do this? teslim - 4-3-2012 at 05:01 PM
his is the standard iraqi tuning with the lowest string a G and the highest an ff,,,there are many other players that use this tuning,,Ahmed - 4-3-2012 at 11:29 PM
My understanding is that Naseer Shamma tunes his oud FCDGCF (low to high)naddad - 4-4-2012 at 12:29 AM
Sorry I meant that his tuning does not hit standard frequencies. Each open string is tuned a few cents higher than "normal". So for example a piano
cannot accompany him because the two will be out of tune.MatthewW - 4-4-2012 at 05:45 AM
maybe he doesn't like piano players....cjmichael - 4-4-2012 at 06:14 AM
Perhaps he doesn't have perfect pitch and just tunes the oud to itself by ear?hamed - 4-4-2012 at 10:30 AM
To my understanding historically arab musicians would tune their instruments to the singers voice so the concept of perfect pitch is not relevant. ameer - 4-4-2012 at 10:54 AM
That's what I've heard as well. I'm aware of quite a few recordings where the tuning is between semitones.Brian Prunka - 4-4-2012 at 12:19 PM
Perhaps he wants to make it more difficult for people to learn his music . . .urus - 4-4-2012 at 01:22 PM
well, Mr. Shamma's tuning works fine at the provos (open rehearsals for the students), that's all i can say)
maybe it's a bit higher at his albums, but it's not a problem playing when listening to them, either...
but i ain't no perfect pitch guy....urus - 4-4-2012 at 01:23 PM
and yes, the iraqi oud's strings tension is higher, too. maybe, that's the point...teslim - 4-4-2012 at 01:45 PM
often times an instrument will respond to certain frequencies that are not standard A-440...if you are playing solo it is not a problem to be a little
sharp or flat of standard pitch as long as you are in tune with yourself....it becomes more important if you are playing with an ensemble to agree on
the "standard"-- more often it is 440 but many singers will choose a pitch that is comfortable for their range...be aware that standard A 440 is a
modern frequency to accommodate western style orchestras to project more volume-- the standard pitch has risen over the centuries...SamirCanada - 4-6-2012 at 07:25 AM
Has to be because Chuck Norris told him to... no other explanation. Brian Prunka - 4-6-2012 at 08:00 AM
Has to be because Chuck Norris told him to... no other explanation.
Samir, you crack me up. )urus - 4-6-2012 at 05:08 PM
>Perhaps the difference in sound is due to the instrument, I know that Maurice Ouds (which is where I >believe Mr Shamma gets his ouds) have a
very particular tone and quality to them. My
In fact, the Beit has its own oud master, as well as an oud shop.
But yes, I've seen a couple of Shehatas there.
And the tunings... people here experiment with them, too.
The 7 string one is good thing. Sometimes they drop the 6th F to C on a 6 string one, too.
)