Are you a minimalist or extravagant Oud player? Compare these 2 Oud pieces.

These days you hear the term “minimalist” in describing one’s interior design, fashion or lifestyle, but what about Oud playing?

Some Oud players like to keep their pieces simple highlighting a few robust techniques, and others prefer to sneak in technical arrangements in every phrase that they play.

So today, I want to compare these 2 Oud pieces and see what you think. Have a listen to both, and try to pick up stylistic differences.

Samai Husaini played by Hamza El Din

Samai Muhayyar played by Nizar Rohana

How were they? They play similar phrases, but their styles are distinctly different.

To highlight the differences, Hamza al Din’s playing features sparser playing. He gives space to the notes, and uses rhythmical fills in a very targeted way. Overall, his playing sounds relaxed and down-to-earth.

He uses one or two dynamic fills that are characteristically HIS. You could spot his playing, by the way he executes it.

On the other hand, Nizar Rohana uses slides, adds extra notes to embellish melody, adds doubling up, bass note jumping, rhythmical fills in between the melody, and syncopation. This one gives a more dramatic, modern, and intricate impression than Hamza al Din’s.

So which one did YOU like and why? Comment below 🙂

It’s really up to your personal preference. Both pieces are beautiful and perfect in their own way, and use techniques in different ways.

But just because one is simpler than the other, it doesn’t mean the simple one sounds boring.

Or just because one is full of techniques, it’s not necessarily the most professional playing.

What makes both these pieces beautiful is not just the players’ ability to play those techniques but their tasteful choices of them. That’s really the difference between an amateur player and a seasoned Oudist.

So no matter which style you prefer, arming yourself with all the techniques and being able to make choices of what technique to use here or there is what makes the music your own.

So how do you learn to play Oud like that?

Listening to quality pieces as above and analyzing what they do is one way to do it. After all, that’s how musicians have always learned… by stealing techniques from one another.

But it takes a long time. You’d have to listen to the same piece over and over again to decipher what notes they are playing and what really they’re doing. Then you can finally try to re-create it. And because this process is time consuming and frustrating, many Oud players fail to follow through.

So I’ve done the boring work for you 🙂

In my Masterclass premium course, you can learn various techniques that allow you to step up the game, and how to arrange pieces. You can start by simply copying what I do and play a beautiful arrangement of the famous Samai Bayati Al Aryan. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to add techniques and arrange any piece and make it into your own, so you feel GREAT about your own playing.

I’m offering a special promotion on this course next week, so if you want to finally play really great arrangements, be sure to check it out.

Click here to check out the Masterclass premium course

In the course page, I also share the 5 Golden Techniques, which create the majority of the outstanding character of Oud playing. Take a look!