New Oud tuning…
I’m really proud of this discovery.
I’ve always been searching for a way to conveniently tune my Oud to play Persian Dastgah based on C.
This tuning does exactly that.
The problem
The problem with the Oud and Persian music is that sometimes you need to play Dastgah Shur in the key of C. This is awkward on the standard tuning of the Oud. There is a big finger stretch and an open “A” string which can really dampen your mood. It just doesn’t sit well.
The solution until now has been to tune the Oud down completely one whole step. This is great, but the Oud might not have the ideal string tension. Sometimes this might require you to have two Ouds if playing a concert.
This tuning solves this problem. It allows you to have a strong coherency of tuning and strong resonance when playing any maqam or dastgah in the keys of G or C.
Dastgah Segah on ‘A koron’
I forgot to mention in the video that this tuning makes playing Dastgah Segah on A koron very nice too. It makes the finger stretch more manageable when playing gushe mokhalef in Dastgah Segah.
Nothing comes for free
The only thing you sacrifice is the ability to play in the key of A.
Give it a try
Give this tuning a try and let me know how it goes in the comments below.
The tuning is (low to high string): C-F-Bb-D-g-c
The video
