pagophilus - 3-8-2012 at 03:07 PM
I intend to buy an oud in the near future to learn this wonderful instrument. So I am an absolute beginner in maqam and taqsim (though I am not a
beginner in western classical music).
I have decided that my first oud will be Turkish, so I wonder what tuning do you recommend for a beginner? I'm leaning toward C#F#Bead, as it is a
regular pattern, having the same interval betweel all adjacent strings, which is easier for my brain to deal with. I'm used to regular tunings of
violins, violas etc. I do wonder though about the usefulness of having C# and F# open strings.
cjmichael - 3-8-2012 at 03:39 PM
Hey, and welcome to the board.
In my personal opinion, tuning all courses at regular intervals may not necessarily be the easiest way, especially for an oud with 6 or more courses.
This is because, especially when starting out, the lowest toned courses are used for droning.
When learning, I tuned to CFADGC (lower tones to higher tones). The low C and F courses are useful for droning in a lot of the beginner maqamat such
as Ajam Usheiran, Rast, and Nahawand. (F is the dominant note of Ajam Usheiran)
Of course other players may give you differing opinions. 
Happy playing!
pagophilus - 3-20-2012 at 01:17 AM
So what is the acceptable range to alter your tuning without changing strings. How many semitones up or down can you realistically go from the "ideal"
tuning of your particular strings before they become too loose or break?
I presume from C#F#Bead to DGBead would be OK, but would you go to EABead on the same strings?