Mike's Oud Forums

Oud Beginner

moghazy - 12-30-2013 at 01:36 AM

Hello Every Oud fan out there..

I'm Mohamed Ghazy from Egypt,

Just bought my first Oud around a week ago. I've followed some lessons on YouTube that i knew about how to tune an Arabic Oud and i'm able to play The Do Ri Mi Fa Sol La Ci Do in a fine way. Heard about Maqam like Nahawand and Ajam but i still can't differentiate between them leading to not being able to apply/learn them.

A'side of all that, i'm stubborn and i'm not interested in joining a school or get a private tutor to eliminate the thought :), I want to take my time and learn all by myself since i get intimidated easily and lose focus :D.

I've been looking for Online lessons to learn from and seems all of the lessons are to be purchased.

I know i've gone long with talking, I'm seeking guidance.. I wan't some direction :) What to look for, what to work on? what to pay attention for ? What are some decent and suitably priced DVDs to learn from?

Many Thanks in Advance,
Moghazy.

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Lysander - 12-30-2013 at 04:16 AM

Hello moghazy, and welcome. Congratulations on your decision to take on this most fascinating instrument.

I am a relatively new oud player myself, since I started about six months ago.

If you do not want to get a tutor, then don't get one at this stage, though you may change your mind later. The reason I say this is twofold. Firstly, I believe that when learning any instrument, you must do so in your own way at your own pace in order to stay motivated. But secondly, you may find over time the complexities of the instrument will show themselves and you may consider a tutor to show you things that you would not find out yourself.

I would start by learning some basic maqamat - probably starting with Rast. This is a good one to start with since it can modulate to a tonne of other maqamat by changing the second tetrachord. I will show you what I mean later but it has a lot of potential. I personally did not start off with Rast but Nahawand and Hijaz. And I would pursue either of these if you prefer their sound.

As for learning, getting a book with an included CD/mp3s is perfect for written compositions, so you can follow the sheet music and see exactly how it's supposed to sound. Maybe the book by Marina Toshich is a good starter for Arabic oud, since this always has the best reviews. I also recommend Arabic Musical Scales by Cameron Powers, which sets out over 40 scales very simply and gives you the families and associated moods for each. This was my first book and I used it for many months.

If you are looking for online oud lessons, the best I found were those at i3zif.com. There are also some resources here at Mike's oud if you go from the front page.

Good luck, I'm sure the other forum members will give good advice too.


hussamd - 12-30-2013 at 05:52 AM

I would second the i3zif.com site. I am new myself and I am waiting for my oud to be delivered any day now. I am planning on playing some songs I know to start before I delve into maqamat and such. I am hoping 30 years of playing the guitar by ear will give me a head start.

As with any instrument, you run the risk (as I did with the guitar) to learn bad habits which would be difficult to unlearn. If you can take some classes then do so.

Lysander - 12-30-2013 at 11:14 AM

Here's what I mean for the modulations of Rast. Here you can see the possibilities of substituting the Rast tetra.

Bear in mind this is a highly simplified diagram since it does not count for the descending, it's just there to give a feel for what is possible.

FilipHolm - 12-30-2013 at 03:10 PM

Welcome to the forum!

You have certainly come to the right place since most of the people here are incredibly talented and helpful.
I've only played for a year and a half myself, so I'm not qualified to give advice, unless on a more specific topic.

Congratulations on buying the Oud and good luck with the learning :)

/Filip

majnuunNavid - 12-30-2013 at 09:43 PM

Welcome to the forum.
Please subscribe to the email list on my site http://www.oudforguitarists.com. I am trying to provide a lot of free content on the site and I would love to hear suggestions about you would like to learn about. Best of luck to you!

hussamd - 1-31-2014 at 02:24 PM

I went through the i3zif.com beginner oud videos. I felt they were heavy on reading music notation and light on playing tips and techniques - even though they are there peppered throughout. I did learn a lot about those mysterious music notes though, so it was worth it.

I am not interested in theory and just want to play for fun. Am I alone or are there others in the same boat?

Hussam

Lysander - 2-7-2014 at 03:23 AM

Quote: Originally posted by hussamd  
I went through the i3zif.com beginner oud videos. I felt they were heavy on reading music notation and light on playing tips and techniques - even though they are there peppered throughout. I did learn a lot about those mysterious music notes though, so it was worth it.

I am not interested in theory and just want to play for fun. Am I alone or are there others in the same boat?

Hussam


Well, with any instrument you will have to learn theory, and with some more than others. You cannot just get in a car and start driving, you need to learn some theory before you do. I have played rhythm guitar for many years and that's an intuitive instrument, you just have to learn a load of chords and combine them, I wouldn't say there was that much theory involved. But the oud is a harder instrument and theory is more necessary.

That said, you do not have to stick to notation, you can learn some maqamat and improvise inside and outside of those. Just go to maqamworld and experiment with what you like the sound of. It's fine just to learn the odd maqam at first, but the more you go on you will have to start seeing maqamat as combinations of ajnas, and which ones you can link together and play around with. You can still do this while avoiding notation for the most part.

However, at some point down the line you might have an interest in learning some Ottoman/Arabic pieces in which case notation is a must. It's a lot easier to do this if you hear the piece whilst looking at the notation.

Alternatively, you can register on Noteflight, which is a great site for plotting out and transcribing music, and it plays it at the same time that you transcribe it. Here's a very basic melody that I wrote on it, but it shows how it can help you when you don't have much theory knowledge.

http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/900be5c985751b782623e9afb917d...

hussamd - 2-7-2014 at 05:47 AM

I have picked up some songs just by listening or playing along. My goal for the instrument is purely personal pleasure, and many of my guitar skills are translating nicely.

For the record I "borrowed" my dad's car when I was 14 with no prior lessons. It took a couple of blocks before I figured out the manual shifting :cool:

I will check out the sites above, thanks.