Transcription
Hello, hello friends, I am Egemen, a dedicated music educator. On my channel, I provide guitar, bağlama, and piano lessons from scratch, as if in private lessons. Additionally, I invite guests to my channel so that you can benefit. I do things related to music and art. Before we start the lesson, you can send me any questions that come to mind by writing them on Instagram or in the comments of my latest video. As you can see, we are starting the long-neck bağlama videos from scratch, as if in private lessons. I will explain this series in great detail for friends who have never held a bağlama before and are starting from scratch. Let's get to the lesson. First, I need to say this: in a new endeavor, we are beginners, right? Just like teaching someone who is learning to drive a car, you need to teach them about the accelerator, clutch, brake, gear, and many other things related to the car. Then they gain experience and then they go out into traffic, right? So, first, we need to get acquainted with the bağlama, think of it as an extension of our body, and establish harmony with our body. The long-neck bağlama, like its shorter sibling, the short-neck bağlama, consists of the body section, the neck section, the tuning peg section, the lower bridge, the upper bridge, and the resonance cavity. So, when we look at the body of the bağlama, as we scan towards the neck, we see the string group. These are the lower strings, so we will call them the lower string. We will call the middle string the middle string, and the upper string the upper string. So, when I say press one of the upper strings, it means not one of the upper strings, but all of them. When I say press the middle string or the lower string, it means not one of the strings, but the entire group. So, think of it as the lower string, middle string, upper string. Before we get to how to hold the bağlama, I want to remind you of something, friends. A video will come every week. The reason for this is that, just like a student going to private lessons, you need to practice the lesson we did that week for a whole week. Don't find the lesson simple and give up saying "What am I doing?". For at least half an hour to 45 minutes every day, and ideally an hour, practice finger exercises, drills, or whatever topic I showed you in that lesson for a week until the next lesson arrives. Sit on a straight chair without armrests, place your right leg slightly forward, with the body of the saz facing directly forward, and place it on your right knee. Place the bağlama on your lap in a straight position and place your right arm like this. We place our hand on the saz. We slightly bend this wrist part. Remember, this wrist part needs to be formed. Otherwise, we will move the plectrum with our arm, which is something we don't want in bağlama. I placed it upright, bent my elbow, and I can't reach the strings, can you see? This means we place it not on the straight part, but on the sharp part here, between the elbow and the forearm. That is, this part, the sharp part. We don't hold the saz like this. How do we hold it? We face it forward, slightly bend our wrist, and now we can reach the strings, you see. Now that we can reach the strings, when we release the neck part of the saz, the saz should stay like this. We strike the strings of our long-neck bağlama only with wrist movement. Downstroke, upstroke, only wrist movement. We will not move our arm too far forward and move it from the arm instead of the wrist, because this is a wrong way of holding. One of the topics that beginners struggle with a lot is the way of holding the plectrum and not being able to hit the strings accurately when striking them. We need to hold the plectrum at an angle. We will not hold it completely upright. How to hold it, look. We hold the middle part with the thumb and two fingers, towards the tip, and strike the strings at a slight angle. Not upright, but at an angle. But not like this. Like this. When we strike from the top right, this is the angle of the plectrum. When we pull from the bottom, it's like we're snagging it and pulling. This is how we hold the plectrum and how we strike the strings. After learning this, we can move on to all-string practice. When you're striking, your bağlama will probably keep sliding downwards, and you'll feel the need to correct it. This is due to incorrect holding and inexperience. Let's start with plectrum practice. Our practice is to strike all strings downwards and pull upwards, strike, pull. And remember these terms. Look, I strike all strings downwards at an angle. See, I pulled all strings with my wrist. I didn't pull too hard, as you can see. That is, I didn't pull as if I was going to break the strings, very strongly. Here's your first exercise. Practice this exercise three times every day, and each practice session should be three minutes long. Let's do a sample practice. I put the timer in front of me and started. [Music] While doing this practice, make sure only your wrist is moving. Pay attention to striking the plectrum at an angle. Let's say three minutes are up. Then, rest your hand a bit and start again for another three minutes with a correct strike. This time, speed up a bit. If you stop for even a second during the three minutes, it means you have had an unsuccessful practice. Three minutes are up. In three minutes, we have done this practice for nine minutes. Now let's move on to the second practice. We will do plectrum practice only on the lower string. Look, we practiced on the lower string according to the three-plus-three-plus-three technique. Now let's move on to the middle string. We practiced on the middle string according to the three-plus-three-plus-three. Let's move on to the upper string. While doing these practices, sometimes your plectrum will get stuck on the middle string, or it won't work. The plectrum will remain in your hand. Don't worry about these. Correct them and practice again. However, try not to stop while practicing the drills. Now that the plectrum practices are finished, let's move on to our practice by looking at the neck a bit. Now we see the neck, which consists of frets and fret intervals. The fret, my friends, is this: the first line that encircles the neck, the first fret line, the second fret line, the third fret line, it goes up to 4, 5, 6, 7. The fret intervals are the interval between the lower bridge and the first fret, which is called the first fret interval. The second fret interval, the third fret interval, the fourth fret interval, it goes up to five, six, seven, eight, nine. When I tell you to press the sixth fret interval, it is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This is the sixth fret interval. I will tell you which string to press: lower, middle, or upper. Now let's look at how to hold the neck of the bağlama. This is something I attach great importance to, and one of the most common mistakes is how the neck is held. Generally, the hand is extended to the end, or the palm is used to hold the neck. These are wrong, friends. We need to learn the correct way of holding to be able to move comfortably. You need to hold the neck correctly and insist on the correct way of holding. Otherwise, your body will suggest you practice like this, which is wrong. I will show you how to do it soon. I am holding my hand like this. Look. I held it straight. The palm should always be facing the body. Even when pressing with our fingers, we should do it with our palm facing the body. If you bring your palm close to the neck of the bağlama like this and start playing, it will become difficult to play. After learning to hold the bağlama and strike with the plectrum, let's move on to exercises that will work both our hands. I told you where to position our left hand. I told you about holding the right arm and the wrist part. I told you how to strike with the plectrum. The next exercise we will do is related to using the first finger. We press our first finger on the 7th fret on the lowest string group. Look, while I am pressing, my palm is facing the body. My other fingers are not spread out or closed like this, friends. This is very important. Keep your other fingers close to the other frets as if you are about to press them. My palm will face the body. I will remind you of this many times. And when pressing the fret, our finger will press at an angle, not upright. So, not from below, but upright. And when using the plectrum, we will use all the strings. Now let's do it. While my finger is not pressed, I will pull all the strings up and down with my first finger pressed on the 7th fret. Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up. Now let's use our second finger. We press upright on the 8th fret interval. Like this. When not pressing the frets, place your second finger down on the 8th fret and lift it up. Up, lift, up, lift. Pay attention. One of the key points is that when the plectrum is on the second string, I lift my hand at that moment. When striking, I strike at the same time. Look. [Music] Now let's move on to the third finger. Down, I press my third finger on the 9th fret and pull up. Down, up. So, when my third finger is pressed, look, my hand is already turning towards the neck. What did I say? The palm should face the body, but a slight turning angle is enough. Physically, your hand will naturally approach a bit, but it won't be like this. The wrist will not be like this. I'll do it again. Down, up, press on the 9th and pull up. Down, 9, down, 9. Let's look at the fourth finger. Down. Apply the three-plus-three-plus-three technique to each of these exercises. But I have one last important point to tell you: do not stick the inner part of your hand to the neck like this. So, we held our hand like this, and placed our fingers accordingly. Even when placing our fourth finger, do not stick the inner part of your hand to the neck. Let it always be upright. Yes, friends, we have come to the end of our first lesson. Practice this lesson for a week. Since I upload videos in many areas, there may be delays, but generally, I keep my word. I will continue this lesson until you learn to play something on the bağlama. If you liked the video, please like it and leave a comment. For very special questions, you can follow me on Instagram and write to me via Instagram DM. Likes are very important, friends. If you like it, the video series will continue. See you in more beautiful lessons. Goodbye, stay well.