MoH
Oud Maniac
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Four Note Trill Timing Question
I have been trying to recreate a certain sound I have been hearing in many taqasim/songs. I think it's basically a trill (downstroke, hammer on, pull
off) but with an extra upstroke played right after the pull off, so that it's down, hammer, pull off, up. This is what I've gathered from slowing the
videos down.
Examples here:
1. When playing on the open g string (g, a flat, g, g)
https://youtu.be/_EoR3Q7p_Ek?t=55
2. When playing on the open c string (c, d, c, c)
https://youtu.be/LZxIAamWX0E?t=243
I think I understand the order of left and right hand movements, but my issue is the timing. It seems that all four notes are played in the same time
that a three note trill would be played, so that the right hand plays the final upstroke at the same time that you would normally be pulling off for a
three note trill. So, it seems that something has to be done earlier with the left hand to "compress" all the notes between the down and upstrokes.
It looks clear when slowed down, but I'm not sure how to go about speeding it up while staying in rhythm, since that's what seems to give the intended
"tra la lala" effect of the ornament. Should I just gradually speed up the video and match up the movements, or is there something I can do at regular
speed to wrap my head around it? Or am I hearing it wrong altogether?
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Brian Prunka
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I think you have this correct, this is a common ornament. If I understand you correctly, in this case I think of it as having one more note. So in
the first example, it would be G - Ab - G - G - G, played Down, Hammer, Pull, Up, Down. The way to practice this is to make all of the movements
perfectly even, practicing slowly and relaxed.
Any unevenness in any ornament will be amplified as you speed up, so the key to practicing it is to keep everything perfectly even.
A prerequisite for this ornament to work is to have a very fast basic up-down ornament. Practing this without the hammer and pull off, but pacing it
the same is another thing you can do. So a long G, followed by G-G (Up-Down) as fast as possible.
A third thing you can practice is just the ornament without the pull-off. This results in a four-note ornament: G - Ab - G - G (Down, Hammer, Up,
Down).
It's really all about very precise coordination of the left and right hands and making everything even. Slow, relaxed practice will eventually get
you there.
This is often played on the first and second fingers as well (instead of an open string).
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coolsciguy
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Funnily enough the first video is from Brian's youtube channel 
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MoH
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Thanks a lot, Brian. The evenness is the main problem, so I guess I'll just have to take it slow and steady for now.
And I didn't realize that was actually your YouTube channel as well! Did you record Najib Shaheen playing that first clip? I love his playing, I wish
there more examples of it out there.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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Quote: Originally posted by MoH  | Thanks a lot, Brian. The evenness is the main problem, so I guess I'll just have to take it slow and steady for now.
And I didn't realize that was actually your YouTube channel as well! Did you record Najib Shaheen playing that first clip? I love his playing, I wish
there more examples of it out there. |
Yes, this is the main trick with most complex ornamentation really - making sure it is even. A more mental aspect that I've found to help is to try
to imagine the whole ornament, including fingering, picking, and sound, as clearly in your mind as you can before playing it. Execution is partly
muscle memory but partly "chunking" your conception of the ornament into a single unit in your mind.
I did record that! I've been fortunate to get to spend a lot of time with Najib over the years, and learned a great deal from him. He has a wealth of
knowledge that he very generously shared with me (though I think I probably only was able to absorb one-tenth of his accrued knowledge, at best).
I think of this particular ornament (technically similar to a mordent) as a kind of "fake turn" or half-turn. I first noticed it in Riad
al-Sounbati's taqasim Kurd. He does an ascending scale where he plays an ornament on every note. Each ornament has a similar effect, but there are
actually three different types of ornament, this one on the open string, a full turn on the second note, and then the third note has a different
version. I've been planning to do a little video demonstrating the way he does it.
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