Play Bağlama (saz) online

The best-known string instrument of Turkish folk music; it is played using the frets tied onto its long neck.

Dizi

On a keyboard, the keys A S D F G H J K play the eight pitches of the scale.

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Turn your phone sideways or switch to full screen to see the instrument larger.

Tonic (karar) Dominant (güçlü) Course with its own mandal setting

Keyboard: the up and down arrows select a course, Space or Enter plays it, plus and minus move the selected course's mandal by one comma.

Tap or swipe on the right side; tap the labels on the left to select a course. No sound on iPhone? Turn off silent mode.

Mandals

Lower or raise each pitch one comma at a time with the mandal levers. The setting applies to every course that has no setting of its own.

Course mandal

Tune a single course separately from the pitch setting. Courses you don't adjust follow the pitch setting.

About the Bağlama (saz)

In brief

Family: Plucked string instrument (long-necked, fretted lute family)
Body and materials: Carved or stave-built bowl of mulberry, walnut, chestnut or hornbeam; spruce soundboard
Strings: In three courses, 2 to 12 depending on the region; most common is seven strings, 2+2+3
Frets: Nylon frets tied to the neck; 8 to 30 depending on region and maker
Tuning: Nearly forty regional tunings; the main ones are bağlama, bozuk (kara) and misket tuning
Sizes: From smallest to largest cura, bağlama, tambura (çöğür) and divan sazı
Other names: Saz; regionally bozuk, çöğür, ırızva, meydan sazı^{[1, 2]}

Getting started: types, sizes, tuning

Sizes: Cura, bağlama, tambura and divan sazı are the best-known sizes; there is no standard for dimensions, and the order also varies by source.
Short neck, long neck: Turkish Standards (TS 13263) divide the bağlama into two types; the long neck is based on bozuk düzen and the short neck on bağlama düzeni (tunings).
Size and tuning: The body size determines the tuning; on bodies smaller than 40 cm the strings stay too slack for C, so these are tuned to C sharp or D.
Strings: There are 2–12 strings in total in 2 or 3 groups; the thinnest string is called cin teli and the thick wound string bam teli.
Tied frets: Since the second half of the 20th century, 17 frets per octave have been common; today the frets are made of fishing line.
First step: Most beginner books start with bozuk düzen; at first the tuning (düzen) is usually set by the teacher.
Starting age: According to 291 bağlama teachers who teach children aged 6–15, ages 7–10 are suitable for starting; the teachers use the short-neck and long-neck bağlama together.
Aptitude: Teachers look at the child's musical memory (repeating melody and rhythm) together with physical characteristics.^{[1, 3, 4]}

History

The most widespread Anatolian form of the long-necked string instruments descended from the Central Asian kopuz tradition. As the core instrument of the âşık (minstrel) tradition and of folk music, it has been played everywhere from village to city for centuries.

Construction

It consists of a pear-shaped body carved from mulberry or walnut, a spruce soundboard and a long neck. Nylon frets tied to the neck divide the octave into intervals different from those of Western music; usually seven strings are fitted in three courses. By size it is divided into divan sazı, bağlama and cura.

How it's played

It is played with a tezene (a plectrum of cherry bark or plastic), or without one using the şelpe technique, in which the strings are struck with the fingers. Bağlama düzeni, bozuk düzen and misket düzeni are the main tunings.

Useful while you practice

Bağlama (saz): history, construction and sound samples Sheet music archive: listen to pieces and play along Comma tuner Usuls of Turkish Music Learning path

Makam lessons Hicaz Rast Uşşak Nihavend Hüseyni Segâh

Project notes

Pitch system: Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek pitches are shown on a scale dividing the octave into 53 equal parts (the Holder comma, ≈22.6 cents), a close approximation of the theory's Pythagorean-ratio pitches. Each pitch is computed as its letter position plus the mandal shift; reference A4 = 440 Hz.
Interval abbreviations: B = bakiye (4), S = küçük mücenneb (5), K = büyük mücenneb (8), T = tanini (9), A = augmented second (12–13 commas).
Sound: real kanun recordings, retuned to comma precision for each pitch. With the synthesis option, each course is generated as three slightly detuned strings.
Mandals: per-pitch tuning is the default; any course can also be tuned separately. Makam presets are per pitch.
Known limitations: pitch names are referenced to Rast (G); makam presets are awaiting expert review.

Frequently asked questions about the Bağlama (saz)

How do I play the virtual bağlama in the browser?

You can play it on this page without downloading anything. In the realistic view, the pitches appear as finger positions on the neck; tap or click to play them, or slide your finger to play them one after another. On a computer keyboard, the keys A–K give the first octave and Q–U the second. On a phone, turning the screen sideways or switching to “Full screen” makes the saz bigger.

How do the virtual bağlama's pitches change when I choose a makam?

The scale of the makam you choose from the makam strip is laid out along the neck for two octaves, starting from its tonic. On a real bağlama the tied frets are fixed, so some commas are approximated by the nearest fret; on the virtual bağlama, every pitch plays at the makam's exact comma value. The tonic and dominant are marked in color, so you play while seeing the makam's skeleton.

Is the sound of the virtual bağlama a real recording?

Yes. The sounds are real bağlama notes from the “Baglama Notes” pack shared by fcerim on Freesound (CC0, free to use). Each pitch is played from the nearest recording, tuned with comma precision. The recordings are downloaded the first time you open the page, and synthesized sound plays in the meantime; with the “Synthesis” option you can switch to generated sound whenever you like.

Can I practice pieces from the sheet music archive on the virtual bağlama?

Yes. In the “Learn this piece” section of a piece page, choose the bağlama in the “Play it yourself” step and tap “Start”; the virtual bağlama opens with the piece's makam selected. After listening to the piece, trying to find the melody yourself pitch by pitch develops your ear and your knowledge of makams together.

Sources

TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi
Wikipedia
DergiPark
acikerisim.erbakan.edu.tr