nickh
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 9-10-2013
Member Is Offline
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Beginner questions!
Hello everyone,
I'm a banjo player contemplating learning this amazing instrument but i want to find out a few things before i take the plunge and buy one. This forum
seems like a great place to find out more. If you'll humour my beginner questions!?
I'm UK based and whilst i would imagine the Oud lends itself beautifully to contemplative solo playing my wish would be ultimately to find other
people to play with. Maybe even in a band/ensemble of some kind. I'm wondering if other UK based players get together with other musicians. Is there a
'world music' scene in the UK?
How have people on here gone about learning to play? Are there any Oud teachers on the UK? Can you take online lessons or being UK based would i be
learning from something like the Mel Bay book?
many thanks in advance!
Nick Holt
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
Posts: 622
Registered: 7-22-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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Welcome to the club. 
You will definitely find people to play music with in the UK. You will probably meet them on this forum too.
There are many resources online. The information in this forum seems inexhaustible. So make good use of it.
Best thing to do first is to decide what style you like to hear and play the most... that will guide you in the right direction. What Oud sound made
you fall in love with the Oud? Who is your favorite player so far? The Arabic and Turkish traditions overlap a lot, but the sound of the Oud differs
quite a bit. For myself, it was Hamza Al Din and Said Chraibi that blew my mind and still do.
Also, look this guy up, he is in the UK. http://www.magicstrings.co.uk/ If you're looking for a serious Oud.
Best of luck
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nickh
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 9-10-2013
Member Is Offline
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Thanks so much for your reply and info!
The Oud is a very recent thing for me. I heard a band called the turbans at a festival last weekend. they play a mix of middle eastern/gypsy
influenced music. They really caught my attention and i started looking at the instruments they were playing. That led me to the Oud and Hamza Al Din
and i was transfixed. I just adorehis sound. I've really not heard much else and have much exploring to do before taking the plunge!
I play a little fiddle too so i'm aware of the difficulty of learning a fretless instrument!
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1373
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
Member Is Offline
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I suggest using the search function on this site. Look in the upper left hand corner and click. You will be able to gather a large body of oud-related
information. Most will be fact, some will be a opinion, which is also useful. Also: The forums section is a part of a larger website, http://www.mikeouds.com which contains a large number of recordings of oud music. The home page contains 12 clickable rectangles. No less than 5
of these lead to pages of recordings, some of them good, some of them fabulous, some essential. Explore. Some of the titles in the rectangle are not
obvious. "Rare oud" for instance leads to recordings, not photos.
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Member Is Offline
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I highly recommend the book from Marina Toshich whether or not you get a teacher. It is a great and accessible intro and reference.
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Lysander
Oud Junkie
Posts: 410
Registered: 7-26-2013
Location: London, UK
Member Is Offline
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Hi Nick,
Welcome to the world of oud! I'm in the UK as well, London, and you'll find yourself in quite a niche category playing this instrument. In the UK,
well the West, oud players are few and far between which makes us quite the exception as musicians. Of course the opposite is true in the middle
east!
Now, the question is which kind of oud will you go for, Turkish or Arabic? I play Turkish myself and find the common Turkish tuning [C#,F#, B, E, A,
D] to be very intuitive indeed. It's a great instrument and if you're already familiar with fretless instruments you'll be at an advantage.
I've found difficulty meeting up with people here who play the oud. I've looked at a few online instruction videos but the main problem you'll find is
that most resources are in the Arabic language. I only have ONE book which I have learned from [Arabic Musical Scales by Cameron Powers] which is
perfect for learning Taksim and other improvisations. If you want sheet music you'll find quite a bit in the forum here.
The problem you'll find if you're learning the Turkish oud is that a lot of the books in English want you to tune to Arabic tuning because it's more
common. But really which 'side' you pick is up to you.
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
Posts: 454
Registered: 4-29-2008
Location: North Carolina, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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If you learn by ear, I've had a lot of success with Melissa Murphy and Carmine Guida's "Simplified Middle Eastern Songs for Learning and Practice" -
They have two volumes and play middle eastern songs wihtout any frills so you can play along with them.... They also have sheet music available for
the arrangements.
Chris Walters
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