Each of the above pages includes a fingering diagram, which shows where the notes of the makam are played on the neck of the oud. The oud is viewed from above, so that the uppermost string corresponds to the highest string on the oud (the 6th string of the oud is not shown as the tuning of this string may vary depending on the makam). The tuning I have used is the standard Turkish tuning of F 2-B2-E3-A3-D4 (low to high), which is actually notated as B-E-A-D-G. On the diagram, black ovals indicate the 'base' note of the maqam and white ovals indicate the other notes. Ovals to the left of the nut indicate that the note produced by the corresponding 'open' string is also part of the scale. An arrow inside a note indicates that it is modified in the descending part of the scale to the note shown by a red oval. The roman numerals along the top of the neck indicate the standard positions on the neck used in oud methods (and show where the notes C, D, E, etc. of the Western scale fall) - the separation in commas between these positions is marked below the neck. The vertical dotted lines indicate 1 comma either side of these standard positions.
Example - Rast makamı:
|