How To Learn Baglama Effectively?

Baglama or saz is the most renowned and used string instrument in Turkish music. It allows playing either heartfelt melodies and most fun and upbeat melodies and has a place in folkloric or modern music pieces. 

What are the Baglama Learning Methods? 

There are different types of baglama according to the countries or the type of music used. That’s why there are lots of baglama learning methods. In Turkey, most of the baglama players play by ear. Kids who learn baglama pick up the skills from a young age. Because the baglama was an instrument which used by wandering minstrels, the traditional way of baglama was thought as it was supposed to learn by ear and baglama compositions were hard to find as written. 

But nowadays, there are methods to learn baglama easy to find and accessible. Even if you can’t find a music course or baglama teacher you can always find online videos that teach baglama. Also, you can find books to learn about baglama. On Sala Music website, there are books for beginners, some of them even include DVDs that will provide easier learning. If you want to widen your repertoire on baglama music, the baglama compositions book would be very helpful for you. 

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How Long Does It Take to Learn Baglama? 

Baglama is a string instrument so the basics would be the same as any other string instrument. If you have prior experience with any instrument, it won’t take a long time to learn baglama. But it is necessary to listen to many songs that use baglama and practice a lot. Although recommended amount of time is 30 minutes a day to learn baglama, it depends on the person. Everyone has a different pace when it comes to learning a musical instrument. So what is essential is to make this process a fun journey and understand that to learn baglama is not a destination point but is an experience full of new things. 

Here are few tips to make your time of learning baglama more productive: Learn about the parts of the baglama, different styles to play it, and how to maintain it. Listen to different genres of music that are played with baglama, improve your ear. You can record yourself practicing, that's the way you can catch your mistakes and fix them easier.     

Is baglama hard to learn? 

Like every musical instrument, there are more manageable parts to learn baglama. If you are familiar with traditional baglama music, this will give you an advantage. But if you are not, you can get accustomed to listening to baglama music and have a lot of fun in the meantime. A critical point of instrument learning is to pick the right instrument. Baglama has different kinds and sizes. So you should perform good research to find what variety of baglama you want and need before buy it. You can find a type of short neck and long neck baglamas on Sala Music. Also, they vary in color and material. Once your baglama is of good quality, learning it will be a smoother journey. 

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