Ouds

The oud instrument is a member of the lute family of instruments. It has a pear shape, no frets, and typically has 11 or 13 strings tuned in five or six courses. It is most common in music in the Middle East, but has been used in some modern Western music, including music by Prince.

Depending on quality of construction, materials used, brand, age of the instrument, and more, an oud can range in price from a few hundred to thousands of dollars.

The oud has a unique sound due to its shape, doubled string courses, and fretless construction. Its timbre isn’t dissimilar to a classical guitar or another stringed instrument with doubled courses. However, since it doesn’t have frets, oud music can utilize seamless slides up and down the fretboard, as well as microtones.

The modern oud is most likely originally from Persia, but similar instruments can be found across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.

Common oud strings are tuned to D2 G2 A2 D3 G3 C4 for single string courses or D2, G2 G2, A2 A2, D3 D3, G3 G3, C4 C4 for doubled string courses. The Turkish tuning is also common and is C#2 F#2 B2 E3 A3 D4 for single string courses or C#2, F#2 F#2, B2 B2, E3 E3, A3 A3, D4 D4 for doubled string courses.

The main types of oud are:

• Arabic oud
• Turkish oud
• Persian barbat

To exclusively browse ouds near you, reference the list of top cities and countries available on Reverb to search within a desired location. You also can review shipping details within an item’s “Shop Policies” section.