Viral Greek Song on Oud

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viral greek song

This family duo put out this video of an old Greek tune and it went pretty viral.  I love this video because of the young woman’s Oud playing. She’s just giving it all she’s got. Even though she’s still developing her taqasim skills, she’s really digging into her Oud and playing with soul. Their chemistry is contagious too.  Classic YouTube; just a cell phone camera on a table and away you go.  Click…

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Jins Hijaz – The quickest way to sound authentic

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jins hijaz

There are so many ways to perform jins hijaz (the tetrachord known as hijaz) in Arabic and Turkish music. In this video you’ll see and hear how to play “hard” and “soft” intervals of jins hijaz. You can create so many intonational colours and flavours by playing with the intonation. In Arabic music, when playing Maqam Hijaz with a starting note of D (Re), we use the key signature above.…

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Maqam Jiharkah – Rare Intonation

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maqam jiharkah

Maqam Jiharkah is a maqam that can sometimes be misunderstood. It’s not a common maqam, so it’s rare to hear. The Arabic style Oud players have a particular way of playing it. In the video below you will learn the notes, intonation, and renditions of Maqam Jiharkah. You will also hear a short taqasim of mine at the end of the video. In my course, “Easy Oud Songs”, you can…

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The Only Oud Buying Tip You Need

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Think back to the last time you went online looking to buy an Oud. You stumble across eBay, and you see some pretty decent looking Ouds with some pictures. It’s a second hand Oud. It’s hard to tell, but it looks like a decent instrument. Should you buy it? Double check one thing first. Always, always, always… double check the action. Action is the distance of the string from the…

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The difference between Arabic and Turkish microtones.

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the difference between Arabic and Turkish microtones

As a Persian musician, I was always fascinated when I first heard the difference between Arabic and Turkish microtones because I could hear that something was very similar to Persian music, but also very different. Some of the differences I was hearing were so subtle; it was marvelous, and a little bewildering. It took me many years to reconcile, understand, and apply the difference between Arabic and Turkish microtones to…

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Learn 3 essential modulations (and you only have to learn 1 song)

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modulations

You can learn 3 essential modulations in Arabic music from only 1 easy Oud song. The song “Ya Mal Al-Sham” is a well-known song throughout the Arab world. I chose this song to go into my new course “Easy Oud Songs” because the melodic phrases are short and easy to comprehend. What makes this song extra powerful is that it features 3 modulations. The main part of this song is…

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3 reasons to love Raqsat al-Gamal

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raqsat al-gamal

Today, you are going to add a great tune to your repertoire: Raqsat al-Gamal. Why is this such a good tune?  Here are 3 reasons.  It’s in Maqam Hijaz (everybody loves hijaz) It has a cool modulation. (Watch the video to learn it) It’s the perfect tune to jam with friends.  There’s nothing better than having a tune that you can play with a drummer and pass around solos to…

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Why I hate Fa Fa tuning

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fa fa tuning

When you get your first Oud, one of the first things you’re going to research is “How do you tune an Oud”. You’ll come across a bunch of tunings. When it comes to Arabic and Persian Oud tunings, you’ll come across 3 or 4 primary ones. Low to high string: (Capital letters are the wound strings, and lower case are plain nylon/fluorocarbon) CFADgc (AKA Do – Do as in solfege…

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