Mike's Oud Forums

Looking for left hand position fretboard and scale chart.

MiddleEastern - 3-4-2020 at 08:41 PM

Hello,

I am looking for a resource online for Oud fretboard chart to show where I put my left hand fingers for different scales. I understand a lot of is by ear and depending on the Oud but I am looking for ones similar to guitar fretboard charts I can practice different scales with. I am a guitar player for many years.

I am planning to use a tuner to know I am hitting in the exact place where the note is supposed to hit but it would be nice to not have to remap and figure the fretboard all out from scratch. I am not in a place to have access to a teacher.

Thank you!

Jack_Campin - 3-5-2020 at 03:11 AM

If you look in http://lit.gfax.ch you will find (among many other things) a text on the oud which comes in both right and left handed versions.

Jody Stecher - 3-5-2020 at 08:26 AM

Quote: Originally posted by MiddleEastern  
Hello,

I am planning to use a tuner to know I am hitting in the exact place where the note is supposed to hit

Thank you!


If you find a tuner that shows the actual pitches of Middle Eastern music I want to know about it. Bear in mind that there has yet to be an electronic tuner that is accurate even for a guitar. Not only do the brands disagree but the different models within a tuner brand disagree. If that were not enough to cast doubt on tuner use for anything but getting a G or another reference point, the difference specimens of one model within one brand disagree as to what is in tune. So how is there going to be an electronic tuner that is accurate for Middle Eastern music where there are dozens of pitch variations even within one octave?

MiddleEastern - 3-5-2020 at 12:29 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jack_Campin  
If you look in http://lit.gfax.ch you will find (among many other things) a text on the oud which comes in both right and left handed versions.


Thank you for this great resource. I did download the pdfs. It has some charts I could learn from. I was hoping for simple Arabic tuning C, F, A, d, g, c finger charts. I am surprised so little can be found online.

MiddleEastern - 3-5-2020 at 12:33 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  
Quote: Originally posted by MiddleEastern  
Hello,

I am planning to use a tuner to know I am hitting in the exact place where the note is supposed to hit

Thank you!


If you find a tuner that shows the actual pitches of Middle Eastern music I want to know about it. Bear in mind that there has yet to be an electronic tuner that is accurate even for a guitar. Not only do the brands disagree but the different models within a tuner brand disagree. If that were not enough to cast doubt on tuner use for anything but getting a G or another reference point, the difference specimens of one model within one brand disagree as to what is in tune. So how is there going to be an electronic tuner that is accurate for Middle Eastern music where there are dozens of pitch variations even within one octave?


I understand what you mean and you have a valid point. What I meant was tuner for whole and half notes just to get myself started to know where to put my finger for left hand. I did invest in Stroboplus HD tuner a while back as I play other instruments which can be used for many different things (it even has an oud profile). I think that is one of the most accurate portable tuners you can find and even for my guitar playing I immediately could tell the difference from a cheap clip on tuner. It also has an insane amount of customization for you to make your own tuning profile.

Brian Prunka - 3-5-2020 at 01:22 PM

Even for the whole and half steps, the tuner can't really help very much because the tuning of those notes varies depending on the context. The oud does not use equal temperament or any other consistent mathematical model of tuning.

Are you playing an Arabic-tuned oud? Or Turkish?
If you set your tuner to "Pythagorean" tuning in G (for Arabic) or A (for Turkish) you can get pretty good results for the most basic versions of the open strings and for the notes G, A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F (in Arabic), or A, B, C, D, E, F, G (Turkish). If there is a 53TET option, you actually get pretty good results for all of the Turkish tones, I believe (though I haven't tried this and am not an expert on Turkish theory).

If you want to get an idea of the complexity of the topic and why your ear is going to be the only reasonably reliable guide, try reading this research paper:
http://jaem.isikun.edu.tr/web/images/articles/vol.4.no.2/05.pdf

There are any number of scholarly attempts to render a mathematical way of determining the tuning of the notes, going back to al-Farabi at least (circa 900 CE) and Pythagoras (circa 500 BCE). The fact that the debate continues 2500 years later might hint at the inadequacy of an electronic tuner to the task.