slovak75
Oud Admirer
Posts: 6
Registered: 11-4-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Is anyone here self-taught?
Greetings all, I was wondering if anyone here is a self-taught Oud player. I myself will be hard-pressed to find an Oud teacher in my area . I am
enjoying learning the instrument on my own though. I know that will make me somewhat ignorant to many key points that I should know about the
instrument, but I have to learn somehow. This is the same way that I learned how to play the guitar. I hope I'm not alone with this way of learning.
Joe
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Marcus
Oud Junkie
Posts: 446
Registered: 11-26-2008
Location: Stuttgart/ South Germany
Member Is Offline
Mood: Lost in music
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You`re not alone!
Hi Joe
I have the same problem like you: No Oud-teacher to find in the area I live.I tried to teach myself some Maquams(or is it maquamat?) using soundfiles.
But I`m pretty tired in really working on them-mostly I end up in noodeling around.
Like you I learn other instruments like guitar,piano,saz,etc just using my ears and my eyes.Mostly successful.
But it is different with the oud.although I listen to türkish and arab music since 20 years,I find it very hard to dive in the arab scales.The most
things I play sound a bit like orientaljazzrockfusion.
I play the oud about 6 month now, the fingers on the left hand work well, but the risha-technic seems to need a lot of work!!!
So I`m looking forward to find a teacher!!In the meantime I practice by myself.
But one thing is for sure: the oud opened a new page in my music-livebook and I enjoy playing it a lot.Cant let my hands off "her".
Greetings from nearly Oud-free south- germany,
Marcus
P.S.:If sombody knows a teacher around Stuttgart/Germany PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE let me know!!
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charlie oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 694
Registered: 11-19-2007
Location: Newcastle upon tyne. UK
Member Is Offline
Mood: chords prefer frets
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http://www.cameronpowers.com/teachingCDs.html
Hi Marcus & Joe, Try the above Book and cd's. They will help and you may feel less alone. Regards, Charlie
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billkilpatrick
Oud Junkie
Posts: 563
Registered: 1-3-2004
Location: italy
Member Is Offline
Mood: what?
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the only "key points" i learned about the oud is how to tune it, take care of it and to listen carefully for the right note - anything else relates to
the "do's" and "dont's" of your chosen repertoire.
... wanna' hear a hank williams song?
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1463
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud-Obsessed
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| Quote: | Originally posted by billkilpatrick
... wanna' hear a hank williams song? |
Which one? 
-John
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billkilpatrick
Oud Junkie
Posts: 563
Registered: 1-3-2004
Location: italy
Member Is Offline
Mood: what?
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y'awl are gonna' have to wait till after xmas to fiiiind out - y'hear!
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shareen
Oud Junkie
Posts: 218
Registered: 8-28-2007
Location: Upstate New York
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dreaming
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Try buying the DVD called "Learn Maqamat on the Oud" by one of our forum members "OudProff". It's a fantastic learning tool that I use all the time!
Happy ouding!
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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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Yeah, you're completely not alone... But you've landed in the right place... This forum is a great place to ask questions and get answers... The
folks here are very helpful and patient. One of the things that I think has helped me is to post video in the member sound clip section... I've
gotten a lot of really good advice there...
And make the search bar your friend - there is a ton of great info already here 
Chris Walters
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Boral
Oud Maniac
Posts: 92
Registered: 7-5-2007
Location: Portugal
Member Is Offline
Mood: Nahawand
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I have just started one month ago.
This forum is the right place to be.
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1463
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud-Obsessed
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Another good resource, once you have mastered some of the basics of maqam and can continue by ear, might be CDs from this series published by the
"Renanot" Institute in Jerusalem, "Know the Maqam":
http://www.israel-music.com/cantor_ezra_barnea/know_maqam_series_1/
http://www.renanot.co.il/IndexEng.asp
http://www.renanot.co.il/products.asp?CategoryID=9
Obviously, material in Hebrew would present the exact same problem as material in Arabic for most Forum members! There seems to be some English
included, but you can always email them (renanot@inter.net.il) and find out how much English translation is provided.
Good luck,
John
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oudplayer
Oud Junkie
Posts: 849
Registered: 5-9-2004
Location: new jersey/ Israel
Member Is Offline
Mood: ouds up
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hey john
chag samach buddy!! btw do you have that cd is it good.? i was going to buy when i was over there but i didnt .
I also am a non teacher trainer, and i made alot of progress and i can figure out differ peices but it will take me more time to learn it . my
problem is when i play i know i am doing 101 things wrong even if it sounds right, so this is something you can only adjust with a person helping
you.
stay in there and practice practice and um yeh practice lol
thx sammy
we are lost camels in the desert and wanna find our way to water and the water is in aden
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1463
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud-Obsessed
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Shalom Sammy,
Chag Chanukah Sameach!
I don't actually own the "Know the Maqam" series, though I do have a few other Renanot recordings. (I don't know how Renanot is for international
shipping, but Israel-Music.com has the first volume, and I find their service pretty good.)
Don't you have some oud teachers in the New York region that you could have at least a few lessons with? The Shaheen bros.? Haig Manoukian? Samir
Shukry?
Kol tuv,
John
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3404
Registered: 6-4-2004
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I am for the most part self taught...
but really with the help of the forum members and the dawn of internet sites like youtube, I cant say I didnt have a teacher.
I really can say that I am a product of Mikeouds.com oud school.
When I was 18 my sister brought a oud for me from Lebanon. I wanted to play some songs of Georges Wassouf on the oud, that was my only goal. When I
tried to pluck the oud after it had traveled on a plane from Beirut to Ottawa, it was badly out of tune I put it aside for about a year thinking it
must broken.
when I found the forums it was like a revelation! you have to tune this thing?? 
The fact is in my city there were 4 oud teachers at the time. I was denied classes by all of them... they were not interested in teaching a complete
beginner. In retrospect now that I teach oud It isnt the most thrilling thing to teach a beginner how to hold the oud so it doesnt slip off their
lap... but thats a different story.
I have played music (trombone) for 10 years before I started playing oud. so I came to the instrument with some knowledge of music theory and with the
ability to read notes. Although latter I found this to be pretty much useless
since the trombone is written in FA clef. and oud is written in Sol. I hate transposing so much that I never bothered reading notes for oud.
all this to say, if you are a beginner and you intend to teach yourself. your knowlege of music in general will help you.
if you know western classical theory you are really far ahead. It will help a little bit to understand the system of Maqamat.
The other most important thing depends on what your goal is. I have been listening to arabic music pretty much my whole life. So when I started
playing the oud I could hum and sing the songs I wanted to play by heart and that is to say that being familiar with the repertoire is another helping
point.
As for the technique, I think a very good way is to observe professionals play and focus on getting a similar posture and hand positions. the rest
comes trough focused practice by concentrating on using the correct finger for the correct note. I observed Yurdal Tokcan and Abadi el Johar the most.
Some might disagree that observing famous players is a good way to learn. but after meeting other oud players who where taught traditional style
playing with a teacher. I found there technique limited to what that one teacher brought to them. In other words I my method has been to observe and
take the best aspects of oud players I met and seen.
Samir 
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shareen
Oud Junkie
Posts: 218
Registered: 8-28-2007
Location: Upstate New York
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dreaming
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Chag Chanukah sameach to all! I am only playing oud officially now for 1 1/2 years. I started with it slipping off my lap too, and had a couple of
lessons w/William Shaheen at the Arabic music retreat. Went on to some lessons with the great Haik Manukian who is very accessible and a wonderful
teacher, went for the 2nd year to the Retreat and studied with Chabel Rouhana. The total immersion for a week propelled me light years from where I
was before. Playing with an ensemble was an amazing and very humbling lesson about how difficult and complex this music is. Now I study videos a lot
and use the Amazing Slow Downer to analyze taksim and and I try to copy as best as I can the little nuances of my favorite players and all the
classics. I am frustrated about still sounding too "western" and too guitar-like in my playing, but slowly slowly I see and hear improvement. It is
a long and very gratifying road! Keep it up and don't get discouraged. There are many resources out there!
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1463
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud-Obsessed
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I believe that by far the most important thing we can learn from an experienced oud player, especially those of us trained on guitar, is proper
risha/mizrap technique, so we don't hurt our wrists with repetitive stress disorder.
Peace,
John
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dubai244
Oud Junkie
Posts: 490
Registered: 3-8-2004
Location: Dubai, UAE
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Hi Guys,
In my case, I learned most of oud stuff by my self. But I got chance to learn for one mounth from a teacher who teach me Risha techniq and Finger
positions. And that was 10 years back when i was in syria. It is really shame that i am didnt learn how to read music notes but it is never late.
The best source available to me now is Youtube oud clips. Mainly, i am listening to the iraqi style and turkish style oud playing. I believe if you
learn how to play these two styles, then you will cover all oud styles in arabic music world. Now a days, i am learning "Flying Bird" for Munir
Bashir. It took so far one mounth to learn it but i didnt nailed yet plus i bought Looper Station which is a devise able me to practice playing with
different arabic rythems.
I have got project in my mind to post videos about Risha and Figuer positions for differents maqams, but never got right time to do that. I hope one
day i will able to do that.
Thanks
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