Mike's Oud Forums

Tuning

Hamza - 8-10-2006 at 04:46 AM

I recently bought a new Turkish oud, but I dont know how to tune it. Can I use an electronic guitar tuner? I dont know the difference between Turkish and Arabic tuning but my oudist friend is from Kuwait and Im am sure he uses Arabic tuning with his Turkish oud. Anybody have any advice or tips for tuning?

Jason - 8-10-2006 at 05:06 AM

I use (low to high) D A B E A D or E A B E A D on my turkish oud but C# F# B E A D is also very common. Arabic tuning is D G A D G C so it's just a whole step down from turkish tuning.

You can use a guitar tuner as long as it is a chromatic tuner. If this is your first oud or instrument with pegs just be patient because the pegs will probably slip and, as with any nylon string instrument, the strings will stretch significantly as they are broken in. As things settle in your tuning should be quite stable