Jameel - 9-13-2004 at 05:39 PM
Ok. I get to see my teacher about twice a year, so this forum provides some nice inspiration from time to time. Rahbanni's Bil Afrah is not only
a great album, but it's also one of my favorites. My taqasim skills are pretty lackluster, so I thought I would try to learn a short one by a
real pro--Said Salam (who plays on this album, along with some other amazing artists). So far, with the help of the Amazing Slow Downer program,
I've been able to learn the first 20 seconds. (Obviously not very well)The taqasim is only 1 minute, so I'm a third there. I'm posting
the original complete taqasim, a slow version (70%) and my attempt. Let's hear from everyone, even the pros like Mavro, Emad and Basel!
Said Salam Taqasim Bil Afrah
Said Salam Taqasim Bil Afrah Slow
My attempt
revaldo29 - 9-13-2004 at 07:17 PM
Hey bro,
This is a great idea. I don't even have a teacher so this is very helpful. I will tag along as soon as I get a chance to sit down and give
it a shot. I'm no where near the guys u mentioned above but I will do what I can.
I don't have the program to slow down the tempo but I'm seriously considering it after seeing how helpful it is. You did a great job
with the first couple of seconds. Great job jameel
david - 9-13-2004 at 08:30 PM
Sounds Great Jameel!
You Sound As Good As Said.
I Try My Best To Follow Along.
Gameelo bacha
sydney - 9-14-2004 at 03:27 AM
very well done.
I am not sure if I am up to this challenge Jameelo, But I will try.
I am confident I can sound like the guys in the back ground though. 
You have done really well Jameel, please finish it and post it for us. You can do it man.
Regards,
Emad from Sydney
Aziz - 9-14-2004 at 03:45 AM
Hi Jameel
Good Idea i'll try my self ASAP.
ur plying was good keep going
Aziz
Elie Riachi - 9-14-2004 at 04:42 AM
Jameel you sounded as good as Said for that part. How did you find the notes (by ear my guess)?
I prefer your oud's sound over Said's also.
Were you playing the first oud built by you?
Good Job,
Elie
walkad - 9-14-2004 at 05:16 AM
Same here Jameel, I really liked your playing and liked your oud sound even more.
What kinda oud did you use?
Jameel - 9-14-2004 at 12:54 PM
Hey fellas,
Thanks a bunch. But I won't go it alone. Someone must join me. I'm waiting......
As for my oud. This is not the oud I built (it has a much shorter scale and I keep it tuned to Turkish scale--it's a very Turkish sounding oud),
but my oud by Ibrahim Sukar. It has the unconventional adjustable neck action which is so-so, but it has a nice deep arabic sound that I love. You can
see pics of it here.
My offer
revaldo29 - 9-15-2004 at 05:17 PM
Hey all,
Here is my best attempt. You can tell the sound of my oud is nothing compared to Jameel's. That thing sounds very deep and rich (also my
playing is amature compared to his) . But never the less, I hacked through it. Hopefully I can get some feedback and tips on how to improve. Once
again, thanks for this post Jameel. I just hope we stick through it and learn the entire thing
Jonathan - 9-15-2004 at 05:46 PM
Jameel--you're happy with the Slow Downer program? I've been using the "Chop Shop" phrase sampler--pretty good, I guess, but I
can only record a 30 second sample with it. The good thing is that I can make a super short loop and listen to it over and over again, which is a big
help for me. Still, the Slow Downer seems very good. Can you record short loops with it and have it repeat?
Thanks!
Jameel - 9-15-2004 at 06:03 PM
Hey revaldo,
Great attempt. Really. I didn't think anyone would join me. Now I'll work on the rest of it
One thing I noticed: at 11 sec. (Salam's playing) he is only trilling on A, but you are trilling on Bb (you at 14 sec.). Otherwise, great job. I
always hear a taqasim and think, "wow, lots of notes" but it is really very methodical. I learned this stretch by trying to hear every
single individual note, I even tried to count the trills. Maybe I'm nuts, but it helps.
Jonathan,
I'm too cheap to pay for Slow Downer! ($40 seems a bit steep to me.) I just use the trial version. But I fool it. It will only play the first 1/4
of a song, so I open up the file in Cool Edit (or the audio editing program of your choice) and if the song is say, 2 mintues long, I'll add 6
minutes of silence to the end and save a copy. So ASD will play the first quarter of the now 8 minute song, but it doesn't know that the last 3/4
are silence. I suppose I should pay for it, and I probably will eventually, I really just started using it this week. And yes, it's very easy to
control, with repeatable loops, and even a save function. It's the best I've tried. I haven't tried Chop Shop.
revaldo29 - 9-15-2004 at 06:51 PM
Yeah your right, I did go up too high. Sometimes you hear something is incorrect but you try so many different ways of playing and you can't get
it to sound the same so you start convincing yourself that that's the way it should be played. This happens to me a lot with oum kalthoum songs.
I tried to learn "Al atlal" but I wasn't patient enough. The music for that song is very delicate. I will fix the wrong note on the
next recording ( I really want to learn this whole thing). Thank you for the feedback though. I'm not used to anybody pointing out my mistakes
(and there are so many of them) so this is really helpful.
One question about the maqam, is this in ajam or is the E-flat a quarter pitch?
Jameel ya Jameel
bahleh13 - 10-4-2004 at 08:22 AM
Man u sure are good. Guess u couldn't wait for me to check, evaluate, and give my shot at the whole taksim, so i guess I will have to
congradulate u for ur skill at copying almost exactly what u learned (good ear) and contributing my share (also the first part) which I am sure cannot
compare to urs, urs being more precise. Peace!!
Yours truly,
Basel
My humble attempt..
Walidk - 10-11-2004 at 02:16 PM
Thanks Jameel for this lovely post. Here is why:
- You gave me a challenge to pick my oud and learn this taqasim. I haven't been practicing for a long time.
- It's such a nice Rast taqasim. Simple yet powerful. It's a typical learning/teaching material. Really taqasim 101 for us poor souls.
- I learned a lot from it because attempting it forced me to record myself, listen and correct. It's like self-teaching but it works great. I
usually don't like to listen to myself playing.
I'm attaching my attempt..no too much laughing please!!
Opinions, criticism welcome!!
Walid.
Jameel - 10-11-2004 at 02:27 PM
First off, Basel, great job. Your rendition has much more feeling than mine. Very nice.
Walid--Aywa, aywa!!! The whole taqasim!! And beautiful job at that.
I have been a bit lazy in practicing this, but I've got the next few seconds down. I was going to record it tonight, but I was cleaning some
porcelain today which had a broken edge I did not see, and I cut my thumb pretty good. I won't be playing oud for a week or two, but I will post
soon.
Great job everyone. Let's hear from some more. This is motivating.
revaldo29 - 10-11-2004 at 07:56 PM
Hey Jameel, can you slow down the next couple of seconds of the taqssim and post them up please? Thanx
Jameel - 10-13-2004 at 08:59 AM
Here you go