It was 1997 and I was about 13 when I first fell in love with the Oud. At that time, the internet was still a baby, we didn’t even have internet access at the time. The only recording I had of the Oud was a short clip from Microsoft Encarta 97’ that came with the PC my family bought that year. In 1998, I had the…
Read MoreIn Memoriam: Said Chraibi
The Oud world lost one of it’s greatest heroes of the Oud this week. Said Chraibi passed away Thursday March 3, 2016. This is a great loss especially for me. Said Chraibi was one of the first Arabic Oud players I was ever exposed to. I first heard his playing on the Fez Festival CD Box set “B’ismillah”. He played a piece from his album “Oud”, called Souleimane. Hearing…
Read MoreOud Practice
I’m an introvert. Playing the Oud allows me to enter my own world. Even though I have a lot of performing experience, I think playing the Oud has always been a stress reliever, and I always get energized after I play the Oud. How about you? Are you an introvert? Oud practice I come to the Oud from Persian music. Persian music, at it’s core,…
Read MoreDecember Oud Exercise Challenge
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES! Oud Exercises Teaching Video Week 1 Post your exercise videos in the comments below. In the meantime, you can watch mine… Before Video Week 1: This is how I play the Oud exercises before daily practice of 15 minutes. After Video Week 1 Oud Exercises Teaching Video Week 2! Before Video Week 2 After Video Week 2 Teaching video Week 3 Before Video Week 3…
Read MoreBecome an expert on Arabic in 15 days with this FREE Email Course!
I found it really difficult to get into Arabic music when I started investigating it and listening to it. I didn’t have the cultural background or even friends to ask about it. Even the Arabic Oud players I knew about were hard to listen to because I just wasn’t diggin’ it yet. It took me a while to get a taste for Arabic music… and Turkish music. I had only…
Read MoreYour Body is a Wonderland – Oud Cover
Here’s my cover of John Mayer’s ‘Your Body is a Wonderland’ on Oud. I used to play this song on Guitar way back when… It was one of the first songs that I learned to play and sing on Guitar. On Guitar it’s not that challenging, but on the Oud, it’s another story all together.. 3 Rules of Doing Covers… Arrangement and Approach If you ever want to do a similar…
Read MoreWhat’s the most exciting Arabic musical form? Here’s what I think…
If you’re like me, then you like to hear a little bit of everything in the music you listen to. You need a good balance. You can get that with this one type of musical form, which is super fun to play and learn. It’s called Tahmila. Tahmila is great because it’s dance music, traditional dance music. It’s bound to be fun because it’s usually played with…
Read MoreCeltic Oud – Slip Jigs and Jigs
My relationship with Celtic music When people encounter my name, it’s often with confusion. They have no idea where either of my names are from. My surname, “Goldrick”, is an Irish surname. I enjoy Irish Celtic music, and other European Celtic music. The musical tradition is also very similar to Middle Eastern musical tradition in that music is learned primarily by ear, and music can be interpreted rather than followed note by note…
Read MoreSamai Ajam
BDCW Jingle
Read MoreEverything you need to learn in one song – Doulab Bayati
Learning the subtleties of Arabic music can take a long time. When I was learning Arabic music, I was listening to lots of music so I could hear examples of everything and absorb all the melodies and nuances of all the different maqamat. I was copying these melodies on the Oud and trying to bring them out. It was a very long process, and I became very good…
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