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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreLearn 3 essential modulations (and you only have to learn 1 song)
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…
Read MoreWhy I hate 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…
Read More3 Reasons to Learn an Umm Kulthum Song – Learn Ana Fi Entezarak on Oud
Umm Kulthum is one of the most challenging artists to really understand as an Oud learner, especially if you’re learning Arabic music as an outsider to the culture. BUT, she’s also one of the most important Arabic artists in the 20th century, and one of the most well-known in the world. Let’s explore how Umm Kulthum is challenging as well as essential to learn. You may recognize many of the…
Read MoreThere are many ways to learn a maqam…
Learn a maqam. Here’s how… Alright, I’ve been going on about this free Ear Training session for a while now, and I’m sure you’re getting tired of it. But seriously, get all the details here and mark your calendar so you don’t miss it. I also promised yesterday I would discuss many ways to learn a maqam, to learn music, to learn how to improvise in the framework of a maqam. Okay,…
Read MoreWhat is Ear Training?
As I mentioned the other day, I’ll be doing a free Ear Training session live on YouTube. Ear Training sounds really boring doesn’t it? What really is Ear Training? And why should you do it? Let me put it this way… Ear Training are essentially exercises that help you internalize and absorb the nuances of a maqam in a natural and innate way. It’s like Monkey see… Monkey do… Or…
Read MoreNavid’s Top 5 Recommended Egyptian Songs
How does an Oud player go about learning more Egyptian music? How about a little crash course in Egyptian music… Well, this is the highly abridged, and terribly concise Egyptian music crash course. For the simple reason that this is a huge subject… But I’ve condensed all of Egyptian music to 5 tunes/songs that I believe can be your meze platter which I hope will entice you to learn more and…
Read MoreThe truth about Farid Al-Atrash… Learn Egyptian Oud
What comes to mind when someone says the words, “Egyptian Oud” or Egyptian Music? Do you think of belly dancers? Or do you think of the diva Umm Kulthum? Or do you think of this cool dude Amr Diab? Maybe all of these come to mind… But what about Farid Al-Atrash…? A long time ago someone corrected me when I said that Farid Al-Atrash was Egyptian. He’s associated very much…
Read MoreOnline Oud Workshop – Learn Aziza by Abdul Wahab on Oud
We’re going to have an Oud Workshop at OudforGuitarists all online. In this Oud Workshop, we’re going to take a look at some exercises that will allow you to play Abdel Wahab’s “Aziza” in an advanced way with ornaments and embellishments. We will then learn how to play Aziza in a basic way, and show you how to add the ornamentation learned in the exercises. Notation will be provided for…
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