palestine48
Oud Junkie
Posts: 448
Registered: 6-9-2004
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Mood: Free Palestine
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can anyone please provide tips on tremelo
Can anyone provde tips or exeriences on mastering the tremelo technique. Thanks .
Rami
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Michael
Oud Maniac
Posts: 70
Registered: 1-22-2004
Location: Bristol, UK
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Mood: M'oud-y
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Re: tremolo
Practice slowly, I mean sloooooowlyyyyyyy!
Use a metronome.
Stay relaxed.
OK, that's what a music teacher will tell you. Trouble is none of them tell you exactly what that means.
What that means is this :
Set the metronome to a slow tempo (40 or 60 bpm would not be too slow!)
Touch the string with the pick/risha.
Ensure that you are relaxed, check your fingers, the muscles in your hand, your forearm, your upper arm, your shoulder. Are you holding your breath?
Breathe naturally. Are you pulling a face? Tilting your head to one side? Tensing your toes (trying to grip the floor)? Loosen any muscles that feel
tense.
When ready play a down stroke on the beat with the metronome. (call this beat one)
During the next two clicks of the metronome (beats two and three) pause and check for relaxation of the muscles and for breathing, as in the paragraph
above. Especially check the shoulders. Check that you're not gripping the risha too tightly.
On beat four touch the risha to the string.
The next beat, the fifth beat, is the first of the next group of four. Play an upstroke on this beat.
On beats two and three of the second group of 4 check again for looseness and breathing.
On the fourth beat touch the risha to the string.
Play a down stroke on the following beat.
etc...
You can repeat this mantra while doing this:
beat 1 - play
beat 2 - two
beat 3 - three
beat 4 - touch
Check for muscle relaxation and looseness and for breathing while vocalising 'two' and 'three'.
But don't just mindlessly chant the mantra, think about it and ensure that you're relaxed in the fingers, arms and shoulders and that
you're breathing easily. The reason for setting the metronome so slowly is to give you time to check all this.
When you're happy push the tempo up a bit.
If you started at 60bpm, go to 80bpm. Then 100bpm.
Next instead of going to 120bpm go back to 60 but the cycle will occur every two clicks of the metronome rather than every four.
When you're ready do the two click cycle at 80bpm and 100bpm. Then back to 60bpm but do the cycle every click of the metronome. You will be
playing a note on each click then.
Then 80bpm and next 100bpm at one click per cycle.
Then back to 60bpm but now you will be doing the cycle twice per metronome click, or playing two notes for each beat.
You should have the idea by now. Push it as far as feels comfortable.
Every day start at 60bpm and playing a note every four beats rather than at the speed you reached the day before. Over time you will develop a fast
and, more importantly, controlled tremolo.
By the way, use this method for any technique or passage of music you're having trouble with. Don't just use it for tremolo. This is a
recipe for developing good technique and virtuosity on the oud.
If anything here is unclear or you have any questions then just ask.
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david
Oud Junkie
Posts: 143
Registered: 2-22-2004
Location: sylmar, ca
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 You can also check out Mav's website. He has alot of great exercises
especially the Kapris excersise which is a real KILLER!
WWW.OUDCAFE.COM
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