Hal Leonard Oud Method Kindle Edition

Not a bad book, but not very comprehensive either. For example the section on picking takes up less than a 1/4 of 1 page, and isn't very descriptive.I guess what confuses me is the market for this book... it's completly geared towards music novices and gets into reading odd time signatures within a couple of pages. It also defines makam as "the traditional system of quarter tones" which is misleading at best, and closer in truth as outright wrong. Quarter tones are avoided entirely, which is understandable given that its trying to get people to play the pieces in tune.If you know some musical basics or if you already play guitar, you should be able to get by. I would just like to see a little more practical information. Having said that and having taught guitar for a number of years, if I were an oud teacher, I would probably recommend the book to students, as I think a teacher could help fill in some of the omissions.

I found this book to be very helpful. It is for the beginner only, it has good descriptions and pictures, and a cd which allows you to hear what the tunes should sound like -- very important if you are trying to learn to play an oud by yourself from a book. Hal Leonard Oud Method is much better than the typical 'teach yourself to play...' book for an instrument. I would highly recommend this book.

The instructional book is straightforward and it includes basic music fundamentals, excellent for a beginner like myself. The book does not include the breakdown of the Maqam method which is also part of playing the Oud itself. Quarter tones (Maqat)gives the Oud its distinctive sound. I contacted the author through the website available in the book and he was extremely helpful and very responsive to my additional questions and inquiries.

An oud has several legitimate tunings. This book deals only with the E-A-B-E-A-D tradition. Thus, it is close to worthless for people who are learning on strings tuned differently. I say "close to" because (1) the information given is accurate and helpful, and (2) with enough prior musical training, the reader can adapt the book to his/her own oud.

This is a very unusual instrument. Not for the faint of heart. This is an excellent book if you want to to try it out. Highly recommend

This book is very Western in outlook, teaching an strongly Armenian use that seems to me (as a non-musician) to be closely tied to Western modes. As it is Armenian biased, there is naturally no discussion of Iraqi maqam or of Iranian radif traditions. It's also aimed at the user of the smaller Turkish oud. Frankly I didn't find it much use being committed to Arab maqam music, but if one is interested more in the Turko-Armenian traditions then it may be just what one needs.

Good product

I would like to see more tuning options and more chord examples. Good book.Walt

This is a useful little introduction to the oud but it suffers from three common failings of these kinds of books:1. It assumes you know nothing about music so several pages are taken up with "boiler plate" stuff on musical notation, scales etc.2. Having assumed you know nothing it then switches to assuming you can sight read music and dispenses with all guidance on what string and position you should use for a given note.3. Many of the tracks on the accompanying CD have arrangements that go beyond the associated notation in the book.As I say, these are common failings of almost every tutorial book I've bought so this particular book is neither good nor bad by the general standard.I found it useful to understand my new instrument and the CD helped me understand the style of music that suits it but I'm not sure it really helped me "play" the instrument.

Very basic, with little or no information that is not easily available online. It may just as well have been a book about the guitar just minus the frets. There does not seem to be much "method" here. The major failing is that it assumes that oud music is played in Western diatonic equal temperament scales - no mention of makams/maqams and their microtonal intervals. There is a little information on Middle Eastern rhythms.Save your money.

Basic but good for a guitarist moving to Oud

Comme son titre ne l'indique pas, cette méthode est dédiée au 'ûd turc.Il faut donc transposer d'un ton si vous avez un 'ûd arabe.La méthode en elle-même est très basique, n'aborde pas les techniques de plectre et donne des doigtés de main gauche surprenants (n'utilise pratiquement pas le majeur par exemple). L'intro type 'solfège pour les nuls' aurait gagnée à être remplacée par des pièces spécifiques .. ainsi d'ailleurs que tout le reste, qui est du niveau 'au clair de la lune'. Pas un mot sur les Jins et Maqams, rien sur les quarts de tons .. faut le faire tout de même.Finalement cette méthode pourrait s'appliquer à n'importe quel instrument à corde, on n'y apprend rien de spécifique. C'est du travail bâclé, pas cher et probablement mal rémunéré.Suggestion à l'éditeur: pourquoi pas une méthode de country 'ûd ?

First of all, this book is intended for Turkish oud players, not arabic oud players (I did not know that). Second, I would have to say that the help provided in this book is way too basic. How to hold it, tune it, hit the strings, etc. It eludes maqamat on the pretext the it is too advanced, and only provides the most basic needs of a very debutant turkish oud player. Do not buy if you are medium or advanced player, it will not help you at all.