Oud online: play a virtual Arabic oud
The oud is the short-necked lute of Arabic and Turkish music: a pear-shaped body, a fretless neck and strings plucked with a long plectrum, the risha. This virtual oud shows the most common modern layout, 11 strings in 6 courses: five pairs tuned in unison plus a single low bass string. Each tap sounds the whole course, using a recorded plucked nylon string (it is not a recording of an oud).
How to use it
- Pick the Tuning: Arabic or Turkish.
- Tap a position to hear that course; the light strip before the nut plays it open. You can use several fingers at once, and dragging a finger across the courses strums them, like a risha stroke.
- In Scales, choose a root and a scale; ▶︎ Play scale runs one octave up and down. In Chords, the ↓ Downstroke and ↑ Upstroke buttons strum the chord.
- On a computer, each keyboard row is a course: 1 2 3… is the highest, Q W E… the 2nd, A S D… the 3rd and Z X C… the 4th, and the first key is the open string. The ↑ ↓ arrows shift the rows to reach the 5th and 6th courses; Space strums.
- Use Full screen; on a phone, turning it sideways shows more of the neck.
Help and explanations
Since the neck has no frets, the screen shows dashed position marks, numbered only as a guide. Each mark is one semitone, so the page plays the 12 notes of the octave but no quarter tones. It opens in Scales with the minor scale highlighted on the neck; in Chords it marks the positions of each chord and strums it.
Arabic and Turkish oud tuning
From the 6th course (the single bass, lowest) to the 1st: Arabic tuning is C2 · F2 A2 D3 G3 C4, the same one the oud tuner on this site starts with. Turkish (bolahenk) tuning here is C♯2 · F♯2 B2 E3 A3 D4. From the A course up, each course is a fourth above its neighbor, so the same scale shape repeats from one course to the next.
Maqamat: what fits and what is approximate
Maqamat built only from whole tones and semitones fit on this neck: Ajam is the major scale; Nahawand is close to the minor scale (with the 7th raised a semitone going up); Kurd on D uses the notes of G natural minor, starting from D. Hijaz on D (D E♭ F♯ G A B♭ C) you play position by position, and it sounds approximate, because oud players usually adjust its intervals by ear.
Bayati, Rast and Saba use ¾-tone steps, with notes such as E half-flat. This page does not play quarter tones, so those maqamat only appear approximated, with the nearest semitone note.
Tunes to practice
Lamma bada yatathanna (لما بدا يتثنى), a traditional muwashshah; Zuruni kull sana marra (زوروني كل سنة مرة) by Sayed Darwish; and a simple sama'i, the classic instrumental form with several sections (khanat) and a refrain (taslim). Where a melody needs a quarter tone, play the nearest note and check the phrase later on a real oud.
Tips
- Play the open courses from low to high and say the notes out loud: C, F, A, D, G, C.
- For Kurd on D: set the Root to G, pick Natural minor scale and start playing from D.
- To see the same scale on other instruments, use the scale dictionary.
Frequently asked questions
Does the oud have frets?
No. The neck is smooth and players find each note by ear. The dashed marks here are only a guide, one per semitone.
Can it play quarter tones?
No. The page plays only the 12 notes of the octave. Ajam, Nahawand and Kurd fit; Hijaz is approximate; Bayati, Rast and Saba, which have ¾-tone steps, only get the nearest note.
What is the standard oud tuning?
The most common Arabic tuning is C2 · F2 A2 D3 G3 C4, from the bass course to the highest. The Turkish tuning here is C♯ · F♯ B E A D.
Is this a real oud sound?
No. It is a recorded plucked nylon string, loaded the first time you play (until then you hear a synthesized tone). The oud simulator is for finding notes, positions and scales, not for copying the oud's tone.