Bill,
Being an oud (and lute, theorbo, and guitar) owner
myself, I would have to say I don't agree that its a
good substitute for a lute. Although one can play
chords on it, the oud was never really _intended_ to
be more than a monophonic, melody playing instrument
as is its function in classical arabic music. I'm not
saying, of course, that you can't play chords or even
polyphony on an oud, but one has to have a desire to
adapt a repertoire to the instrument rather than
exploring an existing one, which sounds more like what
New Boy has in mind.
(Sorry Bill, but keep discovering new ground if you
like it!)
For the New Boy:
It seems like most people prefer to start on, and
maybe even keep as their main instrument, the 8 course
renaissance lute. This seems like a good compromise
because you can play most of the music from the
renaissance and even some early baroque music on this
instrument. For myself, my main lute is a ten course,
but then I am most interested in the music of the late
renaissance/early baroque.
This would not hurt your guitar technique at all: I
practice my lutes (which vary from 10 to 14 courses)
much more than guitar, but I can always go back and
pick up my six-stringer without getting confused.
Chris
--- bill kilpatrick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> i was in the same position several years ago and
> instead of getting one of the ump-teen course
> instruments which some on the list play, i got an
> oud.
> they tend not to be too expensive and if you're
> comfortable with the guitar, it shouldn't be too
> difficult to adapt to. they have the added bonus of
> versatility, if you feel you'd like to add nylon
> frets
> (i did - the david van edwards site is useful for
> that
> info.). their necks tend to be narrow, however. as
> robert so humorously pointed out, most aren't made
> to
> to go to war with - quite the opposite, in fact.
>
> if any of this sounds of interest, mike's ouds is a
> good place to start:
>
> http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/index.php
>
> and you should be able to get a good quality,
> egyptian
> made instrument on ebay.
>
> buona fortuna! - bill
>
> --- Robert Clair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > >
> >
> >
> > > BTW, metal frets (aside from being fixed) do
> ruin
> > the sound.
> >
> > On what do you base this statement ? I'm one of
> the
> > few people (I
> > think) who have actually done the experiment. A
> long
> > time ago I
> > bought a (non-battleship) lute that someone had
> > inexplicably taken to
> > a luthier for fretting with metal frets. I then
> paid
> > the same luthier
> > (a friend who spared me no ribbing about lunatic
> > lute players) to
> > remove those frets and fill the slots in the
> finger
> > board. The
> > difference between the instrument with metal frets
> > and the same
> > instrument with gut frets was... not audible. One
> > might expect a
> > slight difference since the gut is more compliant
> > than metal and is
> > thus a source of a bit of extra damping, but any
> > such difference is
> > tiny and much smaller than the difference in sound
> > between different
> > string types.
> >
> > You can check for yourself: take a small metal rod
> > (the point of a
> > cheap pencil compass will work) and slip it under
> > the string near a
> > fret. Hold it *FIRMLY* in place and, using a bit
> of
> > contortion, hold
> > it and fret the string with one hand and pluck
> with
> > the other. (You
> > may also use an assistant, preferably one with a
> > dazzling smile and
> > a sequined costume.) Remove it and pluck again.
> > Repeat several times.
> > Did you notice the sound being ruined ?
> >
> > Most lutes that you encounter with metal frets
> *do*
> > sound terrible -
> > but that's because they are most likely to be
> heavy,
> > guitar-like,
> > "battleship" lutes. The terrible sound is the
> fault
> > of their design
> > and construction not of the metal frets.
> >
> > I'm certainly not advocating metal frets - I like
> > unequal
> > temperament, being able to replace them myself and
> > besides, metal one
> > just plain look ugly.
> >
> > But I'm always amazed when people make sweeping
> > generalizations based
> > on little to no evidence.
> >
> > Bob
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > To get on or off this list see list information at
> >
>
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
> >
>
> "and thus i made...a small vihuela from the shell of
> a creepy crawly..." - Don Gonzalo de Guerrero
> (1512), "Historias de la Conquista del Mayab" by Fra
> Joseph of San Buenaventura. go to:
> http://www.charango.cl/paginas/quieninvento.htm
>
>
>
>
>
>
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