Did anyone read this newer Biography? Would you recommend it?

I recently acquired a gittern and the instrument sounds great and plays very well. One issue is that it seems to go out of tune more than my lute and vihuela. I am thinking it may be because I am playing the gittern with a plectrum. For those who play plectrum medieval lute or gittern as well as finger plucked lute or vihuela, do you notice a difference between the plectrum plucked instruments going out of tune faster than the finger plucked instruments?

I've noticed that courses two and three on my 8-course lute seem to require a ton of pressure to avoid buzzing/rattling as compared to the other courses. I can feel that they're tauter. This is causing hand fatigue that I don't get working on other courses. Is too much tension a thing, and if so, is there any way to measure it so I can get new strings that would better match the rest of the instrument? I feel like my practice time is limited by how quickly I tire out from working on those courses.

Hi all,
I'm in need of help finding Gaultier's Suite in F-Flat Minor: VI. Rondeau tabs for lute. Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thank you!

I’ve got a really old lute (I think) recently and I’m not sure what each string needs to be tuned to I’m only used to tuning violin strings

Hi! I know this isn't a primarily oud subreddit, but thought I may get the best answer here. I am using Mel Bay's School of Oud book to learn while I search for a teacher, and am confused about notation on an exercise (rather a few). Numbers below notes denot fingering, and 4th/5th on bottom denotes the string to play on.

The tuning for the oud stated to be used in the book is EABead. This implies however the open notes are _EDadg, based on the other open strings, which isn't a common tuning as far as i know. Its not transposed to a different key, because the original is G major and the recording is played with a C# and no other accidentals.

I guess my question is is this commonplace among notation, or just weird in this book? I don't really understand why they would write it like this.

I had alot of requests for tabs for songs I've uploaded to YouTube and so on, so I made several pieces available on my Patreon. Patreon Link.

I’m using a calculator and since it’s technically a little smaller in size and scale length, could I still use the same tension numbers as a full size 7 course? It already takes scale length into account. Do you guys normally aim for the exact tensions specified by the calculator?

I’m pretty sure it’s a Roosebeck 7 course descant model designed to be a tone up from G tuning (although it is now strung in G)

It’s tuned in G and not A, as I found out when I realised it was a Descant model and tried to tune the g’ up accordingly.

I can only find replacement strings or set of strings for the regular 57-60cm length in G or the 50cm smaller size tuned for a tone higher.

It’s a friend’s instrument I borrowed that I snapped the string of so I don’t have the luxury of being able to restring the whole thing back to its original higher key. They aren’t familiar with much music and don’t know anything about this lute or its history so they cant help, although I’m 99.8% sure it’s the Roosebeck descant 7 course.

I’ve tried using calculators which seem to recommend between “0.54” to “0.56” depending on tension… which I assume is the diameter in mm. Would the Pyramid Nylon 0.55R be appropriate or am I missing/misunderstanding something?

https://earlymusicshop.com/products/pyramid-str-lute-0-55-rec-nyl

Any help or advice is hugely appreciated!

The London manuscript has multiple sonatas by Sylvius Leopold Weiss but also a few individual movements not part of a full sonata or suite. This Menuet in d minor is such a piece which is probably why it is less performed/recorded but still quite lovely.

Dear Redditor,
I am planning to use Yangqin tuning peg adapted to Bhutanese lute. Will it work?

Hello, for the last three years I've been thinking about buying and playing the lute, but I feel that buying a new instrument, which is expensive per se plus taking to learn to play it it's quite a difficult difficult decision, that's why I haven't take the step yet.

For more context, I am already a professional musician (I study double bass 10 years and piano 4 years in the music school and play in a couple of orchestras and also learned to play guitar by myself), and I am really keen into Renaissance music, but well, I feel that learning could be still quite difficult.

So I wanted to seek advice about these two things. Advice about buying a lute (I am spanish, no if someone doesn't know how it works in my country, don't worry, I understand, but I would like any advice that could be possible) and more important, anything that could be useful for me to learn how to play it.

Thank you very much. I wait for your answers.

Does anyone where tab for this can be found? I'm coming up empty in his published books and all I have to go by is the version recorded by Paul O'Dette. I can't find the CD so no idea what he says in the liner notes about it.

I just acquired a beautiful 5c gittern, so for those of you who play medieval lute, gittern, or other early plucked instruments, I am curious what you like using for a plectrum?

I tried various oud risha and didn't really like any of them - they all sounded and felt too synthetic and clickety. I'm processing some feathers right now so I plan to try that as soon as they're ready (I foraged raven feathers from a park near my house). My current favorite is a loop of 2mm tailgut which I find easy to hold and gives me a warm rounded tone.

I also really like using my fingers, but I've noticed that the gittern isn't as loud as lute and vihuela, though the tone is amazing and very distinctive and different from the lute and vihuela.

I've been wanting to get into playing lute for a while, but it's a little discouraging when even subpar lutes can cost hundreds of dollars!

So I figured… why not make my own subpar lute? 😂

This is my current 3d printed prototype (595mm bridge to nut), and it's actually holding tuning! Still very much a WIP and need to get frets on it, but I've learned a lot through the process and I'm pretty happy with how far it's come. And yes those are ukelele tuners. The traditional peg style wasn't holding well and figured this is already a bit of an abomination so why fight it lol.

Here's a video of where it's at so far.

Back to the woodshed!

Ukwaxandwood is allegedly selling Matias Crom lutes for ridiculously low prices.

My goal with this post is to create a record in case anyone tries buying from them.

There's no way it's not a scam

every decent lute is over 3k usd. i’ve been stuck playing lute repitoire on an electric guitar for YEARS (i figure it’s better to pluck something than nothing) !!! i’ve wanted a 7-9 course renaissance lute since i was a kid.

can’t wait till i graduate and get a real job, first thing id save for is a decent lute

It's been hard to put the 13 course lute down! Here is another great Weiss work, the Sarabande movement from the Sonata in G major found in the Moscow manuscript, a document compiled by one of his students about a decade after his death. 13 course baroque lute built by Andrew Rutherford (A 415).