ChrisOud
Oud Lover
Posts: 13
Registered: 3-27-2006
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Intonation and tuning
Hi. I am a jazz guitarist who also plays and composes on oud.
I have a question about intonation and tuning.
Many of the pieces I play are based on D minor type scales. When I tune using a digital tuner (D F A d g c) the c and the F are way too high. I have
started re-tuning the c and F. This sounds much better but shifts the position of all the other notes on these strings and requires re-tuning for
pieces in different keys. Am I taking the right approach or should I just play the c and F as fingered notes?
Regards
Chris
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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This is a tricky area.
First, make sure that the tuner is accurately registering the pitches.
Unfortunately, many tuners are simply not very accurate.
Beyond that, there are really issues with tempered tuning on oud.
despite these tuning issues, a tuner shouldn't give you notes that are "way too high", just slightly off. And a correctly tuned oud shouldn't require
much adjustment to play in different keys.
The oud should be tuned mostly in pure fourths/fifths & octaves, using the G string as the central pitch. (this is "pythagorean" tuning)
Get your G string in tune and tune everything else to that.
an electronic tuner that uses the equal-tempered intervals will give you some tuning problems.
The basic problem is this: a pure fifth is slightly larger (approx 2 cents) than a tempered fifth (likewise, a pure fourth is slightly smaller than a
tempered fourth).
As you temper all the intervals, the tuning issues are magnified as you get farther away from the central pitch.
So, if you tuned C'F'ADGc using a tuner, your D is .02 too low, your A is .04 too low, and your high and low C's are .02 too high, your F is .04 too
high.
The solution is to tune by ear so that A,D,G, and high C are all pure, then tune the low C to match the high C.
The F is a special case. You can tune the F pure to match the C, but in practice, Arab musicians usually tune it slightly lower. It depends on the
maqam.
Incidentally, for playing in D, it's more common to use DG (not DF) for the lowest strings and finger the low F if you need it.
a strobe tuner will let you tune to pure intervals. so will your ear . . .
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2938
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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I felt I should note that if you're in the key of D, the tuning discrepancies are:
G=.02 too high, C=.04 too high, F=.06 too high, A=.02 too low
in this case, the F is noticeable. However, tuning the F even higher (another .16, totaling .22) gives you the western minor third. Something to
try.
blues tuning is another matter altogether
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sydney
Oud Junkie
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Tunning
Hi,
Could it be the tunner is faulty or not calibrated to 440Hz?
Kind Regards,
------------------
Emad
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ChrisOud
Oud Lover
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Registered: 3-27-2006
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Thanks Guys,
The tuner is pretty accurate, so I don't think that is the problem. It's more that I am hearing the intervals slightly differently.
Brian, I'll try tuning the F string up to G. That should give me more flexibility for pitching the fingered F. You were right with the 'way off'
comment - an exaggeration of course.
Perhaps I'm being a bit pedantic anyway - my ears are more fussy than my fingers are accurate! I do like the possibilties and differences compared to
guitar tuning (eg the difference between Csharp when D is the root and when A is the root.)
Thanks for the advice.
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