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Former guitar player new to the Cumbus world.

topic posted Mon, April 27, 2009 - 10:09 PM by  Grey 		Share/Save/Bookmark
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Hello everyone, my name is Grey and I just got my very own Cumbus for my birthday. I'm new to Middle-Eastern music, the Cumbus, and this site as you might have guessed. I actually bought the instrument on a whim off of Ebay, I'd never played it before, but it looked cool, and thought it might be a nice accompaniment to the Gypsy Jug-band fusion band I'm forming. (think Tom Waits meets Gogol Bordello!) Kinda different, but so is the Cumbus right?

Any way as a guitarist I was wondering If i could simply tune my standard Cumbus to the EADGBE I'm most comfortable with, or perhaps a six string Banjo tuning?

If not, what resources are available for Cumbus playing in English?

Th
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Grey
offline Grey
SF Bay Area
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  • david
    david
    offline 91

    Re: Former guitar player new to the Cumbus world.

    Tue, April 28, 2009 - 4:37 AM
    email eric : www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~ederer/c...umbus.html
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    • Grey
      Grey
      offline 0

      Re: Former guitar player new to the Cumbus world.

      Wed, April 29, 2009 - 4:45 PM
      Ok so i tried tuning it to guitar, didn't work so well. I got it tuned like a Cumbus, but it's still kindof weird to play because the fretboard looks like it's covered with paper. Not smooth at all, makes scratchy noises when i try to do slides. Is that normal?
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      • Carmine
        Carmine
        offline 492

        Re: Former guitar player new to the Cumbus world.

        Wed, May 13, 2009 - 4:00 PM
        Hmm.
        Can you take a photo of it?

        The neck should be pretty smooth. Also.. it's supposed to be fretless (unless you got a cumbus-guitar).

        I use this tuning (from low to High)
        G, C, D, G, C, F
        (my low G string is the same tone as the 3rd fret on a guitar's E string).

        With these instruments you play across the neck (more than up it so much). Most cumbus/oud players don't pass where the 7th fret would be too much.

        It's also more about melody than chords. I play chords for effect (cause I used to be a rock guy) but most of the time it's about melodies.

        Oud and Cumbus are very similar. It might be hard to find specific Cumbus information but pretty much any Oud information would apply directly to the cumbus.


        If you're interest in learning some scales/modes check out: www.maqamworld.com

        You may also dig my band Djinn, I play cumbus in that band:
        www.djinnnyc.com

        -Carmine
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