In the last post I told you a story about my “avant-garde genius” Oud playing skills. Basically, my point was that everyone starts out playing a taqasim not knowing what the hell they are doing. Not being able to play a taqasim is going to make you feel like a Oud beginner forever. You’re going to yearn for those times where you can just grab your Oud and make beautiful…
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 MoreThe Dark Side of Learning Taqsim – Learn Taqsim
Learn taqsim… Easier said than done… This post is about the hard truth about learning how to play a taqsim on the Oud (or any instrument). The reality is much harsher than anyone wants to admit. And so, I made a video about the Dark Side of learning taqsim. I want you to see exactly what you have to do to learn how to improvise or play a taqsim on…
Read More2017 Highlights & Step-by-Step Taqasim
2017 is going by fast. It has been a very eventful year. I haven’t released any new videos on YouTube in a while, but a few things developed which you can totally take advantage of right now. You can now hear my self-recorded and self-released solo Oud album. And it’s free. I’m working on a new project with Cumbus with Oud strings. I would love to hear your opinion on a rough…
Read MoreUnraveling a Taqsim: Episode 3 – Maqam Husseini (free taqasim training download)
This week I have another taqsim for you to watch and follow along with. This one goes all over the place, and has a little Persian flair to it in some parts. Free Taqasim Training Audio In addition, I’ve created two taqasim training audio files that you can download at the bottom of this page when you sign up. A lot of people ask, “how do I…
Read MoreThe Descending Pattern Technique for Taqsim
The Descending Pattern Technique is something you will definitely hear when you listen to Middle Eastern music. You’ll hear it in short phrases and in longer phrases. It’s used during taqsim and in compositions. In essence, it is simply a musical phrase that gets repeated on different notes descending the maqam or scale. It’s like creating little musical theme and then copying it on different notes making a longer…
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