Mike's Oud Forums

complete beginner

alaluya - 3-13-2015 at 01:38 PM

Hello knowledgeable ones :)

I am a total, complete beginner when it comes to oud, and I haven't done any music theory since high school (many moons ago!) so can call myself a complete beginner in that respect too....

Where do i start with learning to play oud? (self-teaching - yikes am i mad or just madly optimistic? haha)

Thank you

Lysander - 3-13-2015 at 06:29 PM

First of all, allow me to welcome you to the forums and to the excellent resources and knowledge base here. And well done on your choice to take up this most fascinating and challenging of instruments!

Where do you start? It's a very tough question. I'm sure that the more experienced players here will give you good answers. I can tell you how I started, which was looking at Cameron Power's book Arabic Musical Scales for a few months, and improvising around those. Is this the best way to start? Yes and no. Yes inasmuch as it will give you the ability to start learning maqam structures but no inasmuch as it won't give you any ideas as to how to play authentically, how to finger correctly, how to warm up, how to read music, what pieces to play or any other grounding in the tradition. Playing authentically is a big question in itself. How does one do it, what even does it mean? Does it even matter? These are all subjective questions.

Self-teaching - are you mad? No, not at all. It's cheaper than a teacher and you are your own boss. Are you optimistic - absolutely - and self-teaching will only get you so far. The main benefit of having a teacher is that they can tell you what you're doing wrong, build up a repertoire for you and make sure you don't develop bad habits. Bad habits are pretty unavoidable if you're self-teaching. I was playing the oud like a guitar for about a year before my father-in-law saw my rapid downstroke picking and said it was "very worrying" which forced me to change it. You will progress a lot farther and faster with a teacher, believe me.

Anyway, check out the book, also Muellam's The Maqam Book is very useful. I would also spend a good deal of time listening to great players. Every day, and soon their ideas will start to sink in. And by soon I mean, not weeks, but months, maybe longer. But it's very necessary in order to pick up the feel and nuances of playing.

I hope I have been of some small help. I look forward to other forum members' responses.

alaluya - 3-15-2015 at 11:32 AM

Thank you very helpful... Ill look into those books you recommended... We listen to a fair bit of oud music anyways at home (which is what made me interested in wanting to learn)
I will keep up my search for a teacher too ... you're right about the bad habits and not knowing if its right or wrong, but for now will get to grips with some basics and see how i get on

Thank you

danieletarab - 3-15-2015 at 12:48 PM

Hello and welcome! If you are a complete beginner in music and you don't have a teacher and not even an amateur oud player that could give you the basic informations and teach you the basic tecniques, you have to spend quiet a lot of time on the web (like I did) :) You find several tutorials, but I really suggest you to buy a oud method for beginners.
But if you know somebody who plays the oud, take at least a couple of lessons to get start.
Enjoy your oud!

alaluya - 3-31-2015 at 11:33 AM

thank you... been looking loads online, and am ready to get to grips with the basics now and have ordered oud method for beginners :) very helpful
and even better have found a teacher so will go with the flow :D

thank you both

Brian Prunka - 3-31-2015 at 12:08 PM

It's advisable to add your location to your profile so that people can suggest teachers or other oud players near you that may be able to help, as well as other resources.

My personal experience suggests that all learning must occur within the student. A teacher is there to help avoid common errors and keep you from wasting time being confused by things that have long since been figured out by other people (to keep you from attempting to "reinvent the wheel", in common parlance), and to give you things that have been proven to be helpful to practice. Often, a student's impression of what is happening is incorrect, and it is helpful to have a guide. A very small minority of people are able to learn effectively without assistance.

Moe5021 - 5-5-2015 at 01:16 AM

I'm a complete beginner. Been playing guitar (electric and acoustic) for about 8 years, though. But I found i3zif.com to be EXTREMELY helpful. Their beginner program is available in English and Arabic. So, you should be fine there.

Also, it's worth mentioning that the majority of pro players in the Arab world are self-taught, specially in the Middle-East (around the gulf area where I'm located). Partly due to the fact that when these players picked up the instrument there were probably no teachers around. They had to teach themselves almost everything. So, don't be discouraged but if you have access to a good teacher definitely take advantage of that.

Cheers!

Lysander - 5-5-2015 at 09:16 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Moe5021  

Also, it's worth mentioning that the majority of pro players in the Arab world are self-taught, specially in the Middle-East (around the gulf area where I'm located). Partly due to the fact that when these players picked up the instrument there were probably no teachers around. They had to teach themselves almost everything. So, don't be discouraged but if you have access to a good teacher definitely take advantage of that.


Indeed, but you are missing an important point. Because they had been exposed to the culture all their lives the music was "in" them more than, say, a Westerner who has never really had exposure to ME music. The more time you spend in a ME environment, the more you absorb the culture. Especially if you are there for an extended period in your formative years, you will pick up the musical nuances more easily and naturally than someone from the Western world because the compound influence of the musical culture would have, as Hirschkind would say, embedded itself in the folds of your kinaesthetic and synaesthetic experience.