hartun
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tuning by ear
Hi everyone. Can someone tell me "how" to tune the oud by ear. I play a Turkish oud tuned to EABEAD. So far I've been tuning it using an electronic
guitar tuner. Sometimes I use the online oud tuner from "arab instruments" but its way too soft to hear and utilize easily. Thank you.
Btw occasionally I will tune my whole oud one half step down to play along to old 78s. Old Armenian oudists on 78s seem to all be "tuned to A flat".
Is it "bad" for the oud or strings to do this-or even to tune to G (i.e. Arabic tuning) to play along to Arabic music. (or recent recordings of
Richard Hagopian, who now plays in G since he has gotten older and can't sing out of A anymore). I know my strings are made to be tuned to
EABEAD....
Harry
http://www.keftimeusa.blogspot.com
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Jody Stecher
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Hartun, you cannot harm your oud or your strings by under-tuning, only by over-tuning. More tension on the strings, and therefore on the oud, than the
string or oud is built to withstand is likely to cause harm. Having less tension than what may be optimal will possibly result in a sound that is less
than optimal but not in damage.
As for how to tune by ear, you need to learn to recognize the sound of the interval of a fourth, and to recognize the interval of an octave, and the
interval of a second and you can tune your oud by ear. It's as simple as that.
You know the Christmas Carol "Adeste Fideles" ? (Oh Come All Ye Faithful). "A des" is your high d course. And then "te" is your second course, tuned
to A. Then start over with Ades on A and Te as E. Then E becomes Ades and Te is B. Now it gets interesting. Tune your fifth course so it is an octave
below the A of the second course. The relationship between A and B (courses 5 and 4) is the relationship between Fi and Del in the word Fideles. Tune
your bass course one octave below your third course and you've got your oud in tune. This will work whether your dugah is E or E flat or D whatever.
It's a set of relationships.
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hartun
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Jody, thank you that was really helpful. One question dugah is the note that would be E on an oud tuned EABEAD is that correct? I knew it was tuned in
fourths, I just didn't know a surefire way to hear what that was by ear -- but the Adeste Fidelis is a great example. Fortunately I am well versed in
Christmas Carols. I even play them on the oud at family Christmas dinner. And I was already tuning the 5th and 6th course by way of the high A and E.
thanks
Harry
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Jody Stecher
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I'm glad you found my idea helpful, Harry. Yes, by "dugah' I meant the E double course.
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Microber
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Personally, for the tuning in fourth by ear, I use the two first note of Lamma Bada Yatathanna. 
More oriental than "Adeste fideles. 
Robert
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Jody Stecher
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Yes, that's perfect. Harry ("Hartun") is focussed on Armenian repertoire. I wasn't sure he'd be familiar with Arabic music so I picked something
he was likely to know.
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