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Oud beginner

halflines - 7-12-2015 at 03:47 AM

Hi everyone,

like many others on here (I don't doubt) I decided to take the plunge and get myself a Turkish oud. Now only thing left, learn how to play it

I have to stress, I am a total beginner in music and music theory.

Obviously my first reaction was to try find tutorials online etc. Even though there is plenty to go on Arabic oud, I couldn't find much on Turkish.

Does any one know of any Turkish oud tutorials for beginners?
Or even better any (reasonably pricing) Turkish oud tutors in London, UK?
I could even do a skill swap if any on here and interested, I'm a web designer

Any advice will be much appreciated.

DavidJE - 7-12-2015 at 07:18 AM

Hello halflines,

I HIGHLY recommend you try Skype lessons with Mavrothi Kontanis. You'll learn 10x faster than on your own, and you'll avoid lots of beginner's mistakes. Here's one of his websites:

http://www.oudcafe.com/

Contact him. You won't regret it.

Lysander - 7-12-2015 at 08:09 AM

Hi there,

I too am based in London. I have been playing for nearly two years now but I still consider myself very much a beginner!

The only Turkish oud teacher I know is a guy called Asem. He lives in High Barnet. His number is 07766 454316. I think he charges £25-£30 an hour which is pretty much standard. I didn't use him though because he lives too far out for me, I am in SE London.

The best advice I can offer any beginner is based on the two main mistakes I made at the beginning:

1 - don't play it like a guitar - use upstrokes as well as downstrokes [for a long time I was only using downstrokes]
2 - use fingers 1 2 3 and 4 on 'positions' 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the oud. No matter how weird it feels at first esp with fingers 3 and 4.

Anything else, just ask.

Jody Stecher - 7-12-2015 at 04:34 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander

1 - don't play it like a guitar - use upstrokes as well as downstrokes

Guitarists play upstrokes.

Don Z - 7-12-2015 at 05:21 PM

Mav is the man.

Lysander - 7-13-2015 at 09:30 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher

Quote: Originally posted by Lysander

1 - don't play it like a guitar - use upstrokes as well as downstrokes

Guitarists play upstrokes.

Indeed, being a guitarist myself I was being very lazy with my expressions.

Danielo - 7-14-2015 at 04:56 AM

Hi,

just to clarify : do you wish to learn the Turkish style because you prefer Turkish music, or just because it so happened that you found a Turkish oud ?

A Turkish oud can also be tuned down to play in the Arabic style so it is really up to you, according to the type of music you prefer.

Dan

Matthias - 7-14-2015 at 08:07 AM

Quote: Originally posted by halflines

Hi everyone,

like many others on here (I don't doubt) I decided to take the plunge and get myself a Turkish oud. Now only thing left, learn how to play it

I have to stress, I am a total beginner in music and music theory
....

Any advice will be much appreciated.

Hello,

another option would be taking part at our summerschool in September. More info you can find here:
http://www.oriental-music-summeracademy.de/english/application.php

There is also another beginner aoud player comming from London to the summeracademy.

Best regards

Matthias

halflines - 7-16-2015 at 10:11 PM

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJE

Hello halflines,

I HIGHLY recommend you try Skype lessons with Mavrothi Kontanis. You'll learn 10x faster than on your own, and you'll avoid lots of beginner's mistakes. Here's one of his websites:

http://www.oudcafe.com/

Contact him. You won't regret it.

Hi David,

thanks for the tip. I came across Mavrothi's site but was somewhat sceptical as to how effective skype lessons would be.

Has anyone had any lessons with Mavrothi that perhaps can give out some more info on them?

halflines - 7-16-2015 at 10:17 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Danielo

Hi,

just to clarify : do you wish to learn the Turkish style because you prefer Turkish music, or just because it so happened that you found a Turkish oud ?

A Turkish oud can also be tuned down to play in the Arabic style so it is really up to you, according to the type of music you prefer.

Dan

I am originally from Greece so I am more familiar with Turkish style playing as it is the one we use in Greece as well.

When deciding to learn the oud it made sense to opt for Turkish style as it's the one I am most used and exposed to.

DavidJE - 7-17-2015 at 03:47 AM

Quote:

thanks for the tip. I came across Mavrothi's site but was somewhat sceptical as to how effective skype lessons would be. Has anyone had any lessons with Mavrothi that perhaps can give out some more info on them?

Quote:

I am originally from Greece so I am more familiar with Turkish style playing as it is the one we use in Greece as well.

Mavrothi is also Greek, although I can't remember if he was born in the US or not. He definitely speaks (and sings) Greek.

I've been taking lessons with Mavrothi for about a year and a half now. Although in-person lessons would be preferable if all other things were equal...all things rarely are equal! Skype lessons have been perfect for me. My first oud teacher was Turkish, and I took lessons with him in person. Skype lessons with Mavrothi have been infinitely better, simply because Mav is such an excellent teacher.

He can teach you anything you want, from beginner to advanced, and will start wherever you want/need to start and with whatever kind of music you want to start with. At first he basically re-taught me how to play, as what I had learned previously was not ideal. A typical lesson now either revolves around playing a composition or playing a taksim in a certain makam. When we go over a composition we go section by section, working on everything...from fingering and ornamentation to playing with emotion. Mav is also great at coming up with drills/exercises you can do for areas where you have trouble. When working on a taksim we do a variety of things...from learning/copying great taksim-s to using a Saz Semai as a base, to tips and help with just playing one with no guide.

I started out taking lessons with him for one hour each week, but switched to two hours/lesson every other week. For *me*, I prefer to have the longer lessons as I feel I'm able to get deeper into it. And, having two weeks between lessons gives me time to really work on what we covered.

Seriously, take a lesson with him. If you want to learn to play oud really well, you will not regret it! Mav is really an amazing teacher and player, and is extremely knowledgeable in all areas of oud music...and "western" music too for that matter.