i was thinking mostly of medieval and early renaissance music with simple, two finger chords but .. fair enough ... your advice is better.
new boy - there are some friends you should never ask to go shopping with: have you thought of a vihuela? depending, of course on what sort of music you're interested in, you might find the vihuela or baroque guitar to be the easiest and most satisfactory option of all. buoan fortuna (II) - bill --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > 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 > > > > > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > > > > Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC > > calling worldwide with voicemail > > http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________ > Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 > === message truncated === ___________________________________________________________ To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
