Mascun - 3-26-2006 at 01:50 AM
A litte note re. the John Bilezikjian oud method, published by Hal Leonard, should any of you consider buying it.
Forget it !
His oud is tuned E-A-B-e-a-d, and all the pieces in the book are written for this tuning. And are recorded on the CD likewise. So no help there.
Not a word about plectrum technique except to inform us of how to hold the risha.
Nor is anything said about different maqam scales, or three-quarter tones, which I would have thought are of major interest to people beginning to
learn the oud.
The scales he proposes are the same as you would play on a guitare, viz. chromatic, E Major, F Major, G Major, etc., and their minor equivalents,
What's the point ? Any guitar tutor worthy of the name would give you the same !
The music is boring, and indeed at the beginning downright simplistic.
The only slightly relevant information I found was in the chapter "rhythms from Armenia and the Middle East", which includes one in 2/4, two in 4/4,
two in 3/4, a couple in 7/8, two in 10/8, one in 9/8 and one in 9/4 meter. On the CD the musical examples are so brief as to be unuseable.
Lessons on chords (?) and arpeggios (?) follow this chapter, and the method ends with a rather dull and repetitive oud duet, which could be just as
well played by a guitar duet.
Seldom have I spent my money so badly 
Alan