dennis perusse
Oud Addict
Posts: 36
Registered: 9-8-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: confused
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question about spacing of my right hand to the strings
hello all,
I am having a problem with my right hand in conjunction with the upper strings. My tuning is EAB ead and everytime I seek the ead strings my right
hand somehow creates a gap thereby causing my playing to stutter if not screw up entirely with whatever piece I am trying to learn. My teacher has
noticed this and has told me that my hand moves over near to the bridge than staying straight which it probably should be doing on the pieces that I
have to practice on.
My teacher is slightly stumped by this as well. He has me trying another position for where my right arm could be but in my humble opinion I am not
sure if that is all that that is. Have any of you dealt with this issue in your beginnings and if so how did any of you resolve it. I mean it could
just be where my forearm placement is but it feels natural where it is currently or maybe how my shoulder is placed could be it also but for now I
don't know.
I feel that once I manage to find a way to resolve it my playing will take a quantum leap in terms of playing better but for now my problems are in
the here and now I am trying to make them the there and then if that makes any sense at all.
Any help here would be wonderful and I thank all of you for your time and efforts on it.
dennis
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mavrothis
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1674
Registered: 6-5-2003
Location: NJ/NYC
Member Is Offline
Mood: big band envy
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Hi Dennis,
Could you post a picture of your current problematic right hand positioning while playing those strings?
I'm not sure I'm picturing what's going on exactly.
When I started I had problems "reaching" those strings, which I took care of by slightly shifting my forearm slightly to be more parallel with those
strings when playing them. Now, I honestly don't even think about that, which I hope soon will be the case with you.
Is your right arm coming from high above the oud, or more straight over the bridge?
mav
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dennis perusse
Oud Addict
Posts: 36
Registered: 9-8-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: confused
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mav,
To me it seems like it is a high above the strings. I could be wrong on that one but I will try to get my arm so that it is parallel with the bridge
and try that. I'll let the list know how it goes when I practice. If that doesn't work I will have a picture taken of how I hold the Oud and we'll go
from there.
thanks;
dennis
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mavrothis
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1674
Registered: 6-5-2003
Location: NJ/NYC
Member Is Offline
Mood: big band envy
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Hey,
There are all kinds of ways people position their picking hand in relation to the strings, and a lot of it has to do with a person's size, the oud's
size, and what's comfortable for each individual's style.
I guarantee you that I (and most others) don't have their picking hand straight over the bridge, but if you can find a happy medium, I'm sure with a
little practice you'll get used to a position that lets you do whatever you want.
I've been playing oud for over 10 years, and I'm still always experimenting with all aspects of playing, so don't think you have to find one way now
and stick with it.
Just play around with your posture and find something comfortable my man, it's all part of learning.  If you keep feeling like there is a problem, feel free to post or email a pic and maybe we can give some input.
I attached a picture of Kyriakos Kalaitzides playing oud (from his method). He has some great posture, much better than mine...
Take care,
mavrothis
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jazzchiss
Oud Junkie
Posts: 217
Registered: 12-20-2004
Location: Madrid
Member Is Offline
Mood: Improvising
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About the best position for playing the guitar I have found this information based on Abel Carlevaro's techniques: http://www.mangore.com/carlevaro.html .
I think it's largely applicable to the oud, but changing the foot that rests on a footstool.
I observe in Kalaitzides's picture that the most advanced foot is that rests in the soil and he needs to support his back (picture 16).
I find more comfortable to advance the right (playing the guitar is the left) and no use of a back-stool.
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