Showing posts with label oud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oud. Show all posts
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Cool Tool - an Oud
This is an introduction to the Egyptian Oud.
Tuning low-to-high: d gg aa dd gg cc (11 strings)
Here's where I got mine.
Cool site about oud and middle eastern scales.
Here's one like mine...
Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick
Tuning low-to-high: d gg aa dd gg cc (11 strings)
Here's where I got mine.
Cool site about oud and middle eastern scales.
Here's one like mine...
Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Say "Yes!". Sometimes.
When I was still a very young guitarist and still living in Indiana, someone higher up the "food chain" advised me to never say "no" when asked if I could play something. Instrument or style. That advice got me into trouble almost right away when I agree to play banjo on a bluegrass gig. I played neither. Fortunately for everyone's sake I mustered up the courage to bail early. I think I even told them the truth, always a good thing, that I was foolishly taking some advice when I agreed to do something I wasn't qualified to do.
Flash forward about ten years and a composer I really wanted to work for asked me if I played mandolin. To get the gig I said I did and asked, "when is the session?" Thinking I could get one, practice, maybe take a couple lessons, etc.
"The day after tomorrow."
The day after tomorrow! Immediately I went into panic mode. I bought a no name mandolin from a friend for $50. Found a beginner book about mandolin at the library (this was before youtube and the internet). And started mapping out chords and scales on the tiny neck like I was cyphering reentry calculations to save my life.
I learned more in that 48 hour period then I had in any other prior. When I showed up to that session nervous and sweating, I learned I was way over-qualified. Yes, way over-qualified. Now was this because I had obtained sick David Grisman-type skills through pure tenacity or through the sale of my soul? Neither. All the composer wanted me to do was a couple of lines of tremolo.
Done. $50. I'd broken even and worked on music that would appear on television all over the world with a composer that I would now work for for years to come. And I got started on a instrument that I would utilize on many occasions.
The lesson? Have a qualified yes handy. Ask a couple of questions. Make sure you aren't going to burn a bridge if you say "yes" and blow it big time. A while ago a composer I work for quite a bit asked me if I played oud. I told him "no". I barely even knew what one was. Then he asked if I could get one and learn it in a couple of months. That I could do. I did. And now I've got another weapon in my arsenal that I've used at least a dozen times and will pull out every now and again just cause it's a flippin' crazy fun instrument to play!
Cheap instruments to have around for fun and the occasional session...
Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick
Oscar Schmidt OB5 5-String Banjo
Fender FM-53S Mandolin, Sunburst
Flash forward about ten years and a composer I really wanted to work for asked me if I played mandolin. To get the gig I said I did and asked, "when is the session?" Thinking I could get one, practice, maybe take a couple lessons, etc.
"The day after tomorrow."
The day after tomorrow! Immediately I went into panic mode. I bought a no name mandolin from a friend for $50. Found a beginner book about mandolin at the library (this was before youtube and the internet). And started mapping out chords and scales on the tiny neck like I was cyphering reentry calculations to save my life.
I learned more in that 48 hour period then I had in any other prior. When I showed up to that session nervous and sweating, I learned I was way over-qualified. Yes, way over-qualified. Now was this because I had obtained sick David Grisman-type skills through pure tenacity or through the sale of my soul? Neither. All the composer wanted me to do was a couple of lines of tremolo.
Done. $50. I'd broken even and worked on music that would appear on television all over the world with a composer that I would now work for for years to come. And I got started on a instrument that I would utilize on many occasions.
The lesson? Have a qualified yes handy. Ask a couple of questions. Make sure you aren't going to burn a bridge if you say "yes" and blow it big time. A while ago a composer I work for quite a bit asked me if I played oud. I told him "no". I barely even knew what one was. Then he asked if I could get one and learn it in a couple of months. That I could do. I did. And now I've got another weapon in my arsenal that I've used at least a dozen times and will pull out every now and again just cause it's a flippin' crazy fun instrument to play!
Cheap instruments to have around for fun and the occasional session...
Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick
Oscar Schmidt OB5 5-String Banjo
Fender FM-53S Mandolin, Sunburst
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
One a Year
For a period of about ten years I bought one new instrument each year. Not a new guitar. A completely new instrument. And as a rule I would learn it in it's native tuning. Much easier to think and sound idiomatically that way.
I think it started with a mandolin. Not a guitar. Not even close. A guitar is largely tuned in fourths. A mandolin is 4 pairs of strings tuned in fifths. Like this one... Fender FM-52E Mandolin, Sunburst
And so it was on. Here are some other stringed instruments I've picked up. Not in this order.
A Hawaiian Lap Steel Guitar - Fender FS-52 Lap Steel
Then I got a five-string banjo. It's tuned like... oh, never mind, let's not go there right now. Not as nice as this one... Deering Goodtime 5-String Banjo
Then a baritone electric. Tuned down a fourth from standard tuning
An auto harp - kind of like this one... Oscar Schmidt 21 Chord Autoharp
Then a uke. - Mine's the flea.
Here's a nice one... OXK Ukulele
An oud. - Similar to... Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick
A bajo sexto. It's a mexican instrument that is kind of a cross between a baritone and a 12-string. Something like this one... Oscar Schmidt OH52SE Acoustic Electric Guitar, Bajo Sexto
An electric sitar. This Jerry Jones one.
Just added this Gretsch round neck resonator guitar to the collection.
Check out Lark in the Morning for a great source of cheap instruments you might only use once a year.
I think it started with a mandolin. Not a guitar. Not even close. A guitar is largely tuned in fourths. A mandolin is 4 pairs of strings tuned in fifths. Like this one... Fender FM-52E Mandolin, Sunburst
And so it was on. Here are some other stringed instruments I've picked up. Not in this order.
A Hawaiian Lap Steel Guitar - Fender FS-52 Lap Steel
Then I got a five-string banjo. It's tuned like... oh, never mind, let's not go there right now. Not as nice as this one... Deering Goodtime 5-String Banjo
Then a baritone electric. Tuned down a fourth from standard tuning
An auto harp - kind of like this one... Oscar Schmidt 21 Chord Autoharp
Then a uke. - Mine's the flea.
Here's a nice one... OXK Ukulele
An oud. - Similar to... Egyptian Deluxe Oud w/ Soft Case & CD & Oud Pick
A bajo sexto. It's a mexican instrument that is kind of a cross between a baritone and a 12-string. Something like this one... Oscar Schmidt OH52SE Acoustic Electric Guitar, Bajo Sexto
An electric sitar. This Jerry Jones one.
Just added this Gretsch round neck resonator guitar to the collection.
Check out Lark in the Morning for a great source of cheap instruments you might only use once a year.
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