shadyops - 5-11-2014 at 10:42 PM
Any players out there know the tuning Omar Dhuule uses or if there is a standard Somali tuning?
Note: I am playing on a Turkish oud and I believe Somalis use Arabic oud?
Jody Stecher - 5-12-2014 at 06:57 AM
On the videos I investigated in response to your question he appears to have his highest four courses tuned in the standard arrangement of fourths,
low to high : AA dd gg cc. The fifth course is GG on these videos. That doesn't mean he might not tune it to FF on another occasion. The picture
quality is not clear but I think I see a bass sixth course but so far he hasn't played it but I can make a safe guess that it is tuned either to D or
C. The absolute pitch differs from video to video. So for instance his "c" might be c minus or c plus depending on the video, and the same for all the
other strings. To sum up, low to high : D? GG AA dd gg cc.
Yes, Arabic oud.
Also a general reply to all those who ask about tunings: anyone can discover the tuning of any string instrument in a video or even an audio recording
by remembering that an open string or course has a different sound from a closed/fingered string. Every time an open string is played, its pitch can
be discovered by comparing it to a fixed pitch reference. It takes patience but no special skills.