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SongsSilent Night
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  1. 5,
  2. 6,
  3. 5,
  4. 3,
  5. 5,
  6. 6,
  7. 5,
  8. 3,
  9. 2
  10. 2
  11. 7,
  12. 1
  13. 1
  14. 5,
  15. 6,
  16. 6,
  17. 1
  18. 7,
  19. 6,
  20. 5,
  21. 6,
  22. 5,
  23. 3,
  24. 6,
  25. 6,
  26. 1
  27. 7,
  28. 6,
  29. 5,
  30. 6,
  31. 5,
  32. 3,
  33. 2
  34. 2
  35. 4
  36. 2
  37. 7,
  38. 1
  39. 3
  40. 1
  41. 5,
  42. 3,
  43. 5,
  44. 4,
  45. 2,
  46. 1,

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain.

6 courses · C2–C4 open · C5 at the octave · The most widespread modern Arabic tuning. Fourths, except for the major third between the 5th and 4th courses.

Tap a course, or slide along a course to bend the note the way a fretless neck does. On a keyboard the letters on the courses are the ones to press — they run down the courses, 1 at the top.

OudFree · printable · plays in your browser

Silent Night — Oud Notes

Silent Night, written out for the oud as every note with its string and how far up it and set up above on the Arabic. Press Play to hear it, Practice to learn it one note at a time — the oud waits for you — or Play along to keep time with it.

  • Notes46, 11 pitches
  • RangeC3–F4
  • Key hereC major
  • Tempo150 bpm · about 29 s
  • LevelIntermediate

Can a oud play Silent Night?

Yes — every one on this page plays it. The check is made note by note against what each one can actually sound. Where the tune does not fit as the library writes it, another key or octave is tried, and the table says which; where nothing fits, it names the notes that are missing.

  • Arabic✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C3–F4 · loaded above
  • Turkish✓ Plays as writtenIn C major, C3–F4 · load it

Silent Night: oud notes

The large line is the note; the small line under it is the string, and how many semitones above its open note to stop it. A dash holds the note another beat, an underline is half a beat, and a dot beside a note makes it half as long again. Each line is one phrase.

▶ Play it above

Silent Night — oud notes (Arabic) · tonalics.com

The 11 notes it uses

Lowest to highest, with how many times each is played. Learn these 11 and you can play the whole tune.

  • CA·3×1
  • DD·0×1
  • ED·2×5
  • FD·3×1
  • GG·0×11
  • AG·2×10
  • BG·4×4
  • CC·0×6
  • DC·2×5
  • EC·4×1
  • FC·5×1

What to expect on a oud

  • It runs from C3 to F4, an octave and a fourth, using 11 different notes. That leaves 12 semitones unused below and 7 above.
  • 53% of its moves are a step or a repeated note. The widest is a minor seventh, E3 to D4, at note 9.
  • It is played on 4 strings (A, D, G and C), crossing between strings 22 times.
  • 18 notes are an open string, and the highest stop is 5 semitones above the open string — it never leaves the bottom of the neck.

About the tune

Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher and organist, wrote the melody on Christmas Eve 1818 for a poem by the young priest Joseph Mohr, and the two sang it that night in the church of St Nicholas in Oberndorf with Mohr accompanying on guitar. It spread through travelling Tyrolean singers and has since been translated into several hundred languages.

Franz Xaver Gruber, 1818. Public domain. The notes follow Wikipedia, “Silent Night” (engraved score), cross-checked against 2 other transcriptions. More about Silent Night →

Silent Night on other instruments

The same melody, in each instrument’s own notation. It is not offered for the guzheng or handpan, which do not have the notes.

More songs for the oud

All 36 oud songs · Christmas songs for oud · The online oud on its own

Playing it on a real oud?

If it sounds wrong, check the instrument before the notes. The oud tuner listens through your microphone and names what each note is actually sounding.

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