godzilla234
Oud Admirer
Posts: 7
Registered: 9-18-2013
Location: Wisconsin,USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud Fever
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Beginner
Hello, I am new to ouds and have a few questions. First, I come from some what of a "guitar" style backround as i play bass. I was wondering about
strings. i got my first oud yesterday in the mail. It is a 12 string syrian. When it arrived i noticed that they didnt have a pair of strings on it
yet, they had only had 10 on it instead of 12. i happend to even snap a string yesterday when i was tuning the instrument when it arrived. I was
curious what kind of string should i buy, for instance what are quality strings that are durable (preferably non nylon, though Im not sure if there
are any?) how to correctly tune my instrument (what tuning preferably arabic style) and how to string my instrument. now I found this website http://www.oudcafe.com/stringing_and_tuning.htm ,but I know that I will probably get more help on here. If anyone has any tips or answers to my
questions please help a new player out. thanks
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
Posts: 622
Registered: 7-22-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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Hello there and welcome to the world of Oud,
Definitely, a very good resource for Oud strings and accessories is oudstrings.com. If you want something durable, I think Aquila brand is your best
bet. Aquila uses nyglut, their own patented material. I use this brand myself and I am very happy with it. Never goes out of tune, but sometimes I
have issues with intonation higher up on the finger board. Buy the light gauge strings. Aquila has options for either Arabic tuning CFADgc or CGADgc
tunings, either set will work for both tunings.
Use your electronic tuner to tune the high C, then use your ear to tune the rest of the strings. That would be "proper" by my definition, because when
you tune the whole Oud with an electronic tuner you get equal temperament values for all your open strings, which affects where your fingers hit
certain notes. But to get started, it is ok to tune with an electronic tuner to tune the whole Oud. But eventually as you progress you will leave it
behind...
Good luck and welcome!
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godzilla234
Oud Admirer
Posts: 7
Registered: 9-18-2013
Location: Wisconsin,USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud Fever
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I watched your video and it was the best I have seen. Very Informative with good camera angles. I remember stumbling across your website before, but
the $80 USD kind scared me away. How many lessons are there?
Also, thank you for the great resource and information I found the strings your are talking about, and was curious, is it okay with my 12 strings to
use only 11 like yours in the video? will I be missing out at all? will it damage the oud? And is there some system like a guitar to tune the other
strings by ear; like the 5th fret system?
This is similar to the oud i purchased. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Syrian-Oud-Large-Size-Arabic-Guitar-Handmad... looks very similar exept this one is not blemished. kind of wish I would have gotten this one. Definetley from the same seller.
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
Posts: 622
Registered: 7-22-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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Glad you found the lesson helpful. There are 12 lessons and a manual, and some play along audio tracks.
Yes you can use the same principles as 5th fret system.
Tune your high C strings then press your finger down where the body meets the finger board on the high C strings. That note should be G, so use that
to tune the next open G strings.
Press your finger down on the G strings where the body meets the finger board and that should be D. and so forth and so forth. The bottom low strings
you will have to find another way to tune, either using the high C strings to tune the lowest C string, and then open G strings to tune second lowest
string to G. If you are using CFADgc tuning, then you just lower the second lowest G string you just tuned a whole step down to F.
You won't miss out on anything by using 11 vs 12 strings. having the lowest string doubled up is a new thing that some builders have included. It is
also possible your Oud was also designed for this other tuning: FADgcf. This is another Arabic tuning, which doubles up the lowest F string. You see
this tuning is just getting rid of the lowest string and adding a higher string to extend the range. It's all just preference and playing style. I
wouldn't recommend trying this tuning, because it's not that useful when learning, and in the future if you do, you must use a string set that is
meant for this tuning or you will put too much tension on the Oud. Aquila also has a string set for this tuning if you wish to use it. I would
recommend CFADgc or CGADgc because it is the most common tuning and if you want to learn by ear or by watching youtube videos most likely people are
using this tuning.
Good luck, and it would be good to hear how you are making out with it.
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godzilla234
Oud Admirer
Posts: 7
Registered: 9-18-2013
Location: Wisconsin,USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud Fever
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this is a video i took yesterday of me and my oud http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i039B2tWxpg
I've got a few things down, but the oud sounds off to me. It came in FAdgc tuning and the scale is 60.325cm
~Godzilla~
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
Posts: 622
Registered: 7-22-2013
Member Is Offline
Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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You're on the right track!
If that's the tuning it came with it looks like you have room to add a low C string to your Oud then. When you get a new set of strings add that one
too, it's nice to have, and don't worry it won't damage the Oud. The single low C string is pretty low tension.
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