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Hey there.

I got my new Cura Saz today and sadly it's missing it's bridge...

Can I diy anything to play it while they send me a bridge? What's the bridge height?

Thank you!

Hi everyone! I impulsively bought a saz from someone who was looking to sell a lot of their instruments before moving — I've never played saz or any similar instrument, I can play a bit of guitar and ukulele and that's about it.

Now, the instrument seems to be mostly in good condition, the only issues are a missing tuning peg and the last two strings. I doubt i'll be able to find the exact strings as it's not a common instrument here where i am, do you guys maybe have suggestions regarding string alternatives?

I'm assuming something like tambura or perhaps bouzuki strings could work, but yeah truly i don't actually know.

Thanks in advance:)

Hi all, I've been playing various stringed instruments for about 20 years but self-taught on the saz so I'm wondering about picks.

I've noticed that the very soft ones that come in packs of strings are very nice for playing and getting a pleasant tone, however whenever I try to play something technical I feel like I'm producing a lot of noise and accuracy is tough.

If I use a hard pick, let's say a medium guitar pick, the tone is very loud and it almost seems like you lose some of the pleasant tone, yet it is easier for a faster/more agile attack when playing songs that go up and down the scale quickly.

What is the general guidance from formal saz teaching about picks? Is a softer pick what I should really get good with or is it sort of up to the player? I'm not commited to full traditionalism but I also don't want to sound terrible.

I'm also very handy and make my own accessories, so if you have recommendations for homemade picks I'm very open to material suggestions.

Hi guys! Picked up a beautiful cura today. No experience in baglamas prior, only self taught guitar which can only help so much.

Any online resources in English to start learning? Advice on first steps?

I will probably get lessons but can only afford to start next month, and want to get going in the meantime.
Thank you for your help!

I watch a lot of reels of Turkish players where they are playing to a backing track of some sort. Sometimes just drums. The style of music is kind of Turkish pop or Arabesque. YouTube doesn’t have any that I can find.

Anyone have any info of how this is being done? Is there a particular keyboard most are using to generate these or are their backing tracks available for this sort of thing?

Here’s an example. Try not to get too mesmerized (yes I know it’s impossible not to be)

https://fb.watch/IjHyPb0i0f/?mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

Are there any places to buy the thinnest plain strings separately? I don’t change strings frequently because I get very frustrated when I do, in particular because of those strings. Today changed strings (German Pyramids) and have had the worst experience with these thin high strings. First just getting them separated took over 10 minutes. Then in the stringing process ended up tangling and crimping two of them and they broke which leaves me one more only (they supply three because they must know you’ll damage or break at least one). This whole experience is a nightmare for me!

Herkese merhaba,ben bağlama çalmaya yeni yeni başlayan biriyim.Kursa gidiyorum bazı parçaları çıkarabiliyorum ama kurstaki hoca surekli baglamayı yanlış tuttuğumu söylüyor ve çok şey etkiler diyor.Oyle dediği gibi çok etkiler mi ve nasıl düzgün tutabilirim tavsiyeniz var mı?

Is there anyone who wants to play kisa sap together or give me some tips to improve myself. I started playing 7 months ago that means i am a beginner and i am only taking group lessons so i am making very slow progress:( i can speak german, turkish or english btw🙏🏻

title says it all, from previous post i mentioned im a oud player intermediate ive not played guitar but plan to learn the fretboard. i am into how the saz is played & the folk music, especially the electric saz, i didnt know it can play chords and in few videos it can play latin, some jazz i suppose, it can play blues in a 12 bar progression, can play western covers that needs chords, can fingerstyle & pluck or strum, the antolian psychedelic rock and just normal rock & metal, and it can go with edm/house/dubstep & pop. I've not found any bands or duo of musicians playing together with the saz & other instruments besides just house-like pop beat/backing tracks for the genres into except just some youtube videos. Does anyone have any suggestions please? And ARE THERE ANY NON-TURK ENGLISH SPEAKING FELLAS HERE?!?! Am i one the very very few or any american guy here or are there others? Seems this be the only floating forum around, no facebook groups, no other reddit sub's, are there any saz forum websites? Am i just shit out of luck finding others in my position or bands? i very am close to just buying one and finding a teacher or rushing to this music camp happening for a week that has a professional baglama teacher there. Im already in the position that im learning the oud & want to do the same thing with an electric oud, but that im the only white boy american around that knows/into/plays it, & idk how to connect good with the arab musicians locally as i know nothing of arab or turkish culture, but i'd like too. I just don't want to get off-put on the saz being a non turk, & unable to find people locally or in near cities to play with, but it seems its very similar to a guitar just with less notes is all & can play with most western stuff like guitars pianos drums sax etc....

The tanbour kabyr tourky in the centre,
to the left the tanbour charqy and the small tanbour boulghâry,
and on the right by the tanbour bouzourk and the small tanbour baghlama.

in turkish they would be named
Tambûr-ı Kebîr-i Türkî,
Tambûr-ı Şarkî,
Küçük Tambûr-ı Bulgarî,
Tambûr-ı Bozuk,
Küçük Tambûr-ı Bağlama modern video of it being played nowadays it's called a üçtelli

the term baglama originally referred to smaller sized saz's and it's usage to refer to bigger sized ones started recently, the majority of people still call it just a saz and sometimes rarely a tambura or a bozuk

The Greek name for a baglama Saz is baglamadaki (μπαγλαμαδάκι ). This was very cool to see! There seems to be a lot for sharing of culture between Turkey and the Greek islands, including the drinking of Raki.

I have a long neck saz but I don't think it's a standard instrument. It's very old, and has 23 frets, but the body is much larger than what you'd expect from that length of neck saz. Anyways, whenever I try to put it in a normal tuning the strings break without fail. This is not just a one time problem. the only thing I have found that works is tuning it to CCC' ff gG with the lower G being higher than the highest C string, using Divan thickness of strings. It sounds nice, but like a divan as opposed to the normal long neck sound which is higher pitched. I can play all of the traditional melodies and songs because the triple course is just an octave lower, but it doesn't project or blend as well, especially since I usually don't play this instrument amplified. Are there any special string brands that you recommend resistant to breakage?, or another way of doing things I'm not aware of? anyone with an instrument like this that knows a trick?

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1363218369001045/?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

This seems to be baglama tuning. The additional information on the video says it is “40 cm tekne uzun sap”. The upper course (closest to the head) is tuned to C#.

I tried tuning my short neck to C#. It sounds dull and not as loud. Even tuning down a half step to C sounds much better. It’s usually tuned to B.

So my question concerns this long neck saz in baglama tuning tuned to C# (which sounds great to me). How is he getting such good sound and what set of strings could he be using? The standard set of long neck strings would usually be played in Bb for the upper course. And the middle at F and the lower at C. His appears to be tuned C# B F#. I’d think the standard long neck strings could not be tuned anywhere near those pitches.

Hey guys, I’m a newcomer to the bağlama community and I’ve been playing for 2 ish weeks and it’s going great playing wise. I’ve been playing the guitar for a few years too so it was much easier.

That being said, my uzun sap bağlama is tuned to the classic AGD tuning (top to bottom).

I absolutely love the sound of the strings and the octaves accompanying each other, but I can’t help but notice that the middle GG strings sound weird.

They’re not out of tune, and I’ve made sure of that by tuning everything several times. It’s not the notes sounding dissonant or out of tune, but rather the sound. It sounds like the G string of a guitar when played open.

Just sounds weird? Out of place kind of. Twangy and doesn’t sound warm like the AA or DDD strings. I don’t know which strings I have, since i bought the bağlama from a reseller. It’s in great condition and I see no problems with it.

I was wondering if any of you had a similar issue. I’d love to be able to make it sound a tad bit nicer without having to buy new strings. And if i do need to buy them, which ones should I get? I live in Bosnia.

Song is Mavilim if anyone’s wondering.

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Looks like a standard electric guitar with a midi controller like a Roland GR-55 using some VST plugin? Sounds incredible. Anyone have any info on this?

https://fb.watch/HLSnjxKEkM/?mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

Just got my first long neck saz, and am looking for a sound closer to the neset ertas sound. im pretty sure all I need is a low octave string on the middle course, but I have no idea where to get either a set of strings that includes one, or somewhere to get individual strings at the right gauge (or what the right gauge for that string would be). I think what I'm looking for is called bam bam teli, but that doesnt seem to yield anything outside of standard string sets.

source: (PDF) Bağlama Sazı İcrasında Bir Zenginlik Unsuru Olarak Düzenler

some of them are repeated and it's missing all of the variants each tuning has

im looking around in case i get a long neck electric as my first saz, and im in the usa so pretty clueless. i saw sala muzik had compositions for baglama by erdal & the baglama saz a method book (but review said all tuning was for short neck, so for long neck you'd have to change tunings so im confused on how you even follow the book with different tunings). also found playing baglama for beginners by kaiden gavin, and a youtube channel by guitar101ramstein for some tutorials in english. I saw this site superproof, rhythmica and some other supposedly has a teacher or two for 30 minute lessons. I also found some other baglama site that says there's 11 lessons with "tons of material for year of study in each" for 270 bucks as teaching video courses. Id love to know if anyone can help me out if anyone knows a teacher online, or backup to if anyone has these books or sites!!!

debating on which instrument to get next as i want one with frets and electric as im trying to avoid the guitar and western instruments besides the sax harmonica & clarinet. Hearing the persian setar is more quiet good for meditative, solo's, or jams with handpans, bowls, drums, other stuff, while the saz can be used to play with more instruments, and western since their steel strings & louder instrument with strumming. I am looking at these electric solid black saz's, one direct from sala muzik in cali, as it sounds almost like an electric oud & while there's barely any videos out there of people playing blues jazz or even being on stage with a saz is little, i hope to get some feedback, unless im going to be one the rare individuals, since i already plan on buying a electric oud & being one the few "rare" musicians fusing the electric saz or oud or setar with blues jazz reggae world jams or whatnot.....

I'm wondering if anyone can help me adjust intonation on my baglama? I've had one for a while. I can now do rather a lot, but it doesn't sound great all the time. I have it tuned B-A-E and I play a lot on the E. My problem is this. The high E strings are in tune with the low E string that accompanies them in their course, but when I play higher on the neck with that course/those strings, the low string is no longer in tune with the high ones, and it sounds very unpleasant. What to do? It's not a particularly good baglama; I just bought it to learn, so perhaps that is the problem, but I'd like to do what I can before I go out and get a better one.

Hi, guys!

For a long time I wanted to buy a saz/baglama – I just love the sound of this instrument, it's magical for me!

Recently I found one listing in my country, not far from my place actually, and it's seems like a bargain, but there's one problem. The seller informs that the body has a crack (I added a photo that's with the listing).

I don't know anything about acoustic, let alone folk instruments – I mainly play electric basses and learn drums.

So... do y'all think that it's worth it? Do you know if you can repair it and if you can – will it cost more than instrument itself? Right now it's listed for 420 PLN (around 100€ or $115). What do you guys think?

Thank you for any help and reply, very much appreciate it!

I have around 1.5 years of experience playing the Albanian cifteli, and I am wondering how to learning curve would be for the baglama. also, I have played Turkish tunes on my cifteli, so I was wondering if Albanian tunes could also be played on the baglama.