The Art of Strings

Interactive fretboards for guitar, bouzouki, bağlama and bass, with quarter tones

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Maqam Hijaz Kar on guitar, bouzouki and bağlama

Hijaz Kar is built from two Hijaz segments: one above the root and one above the fifth degree, so it contains two augmented seconds. It has no quarter tones.

Choose an instrument and a root above to see Hijaz Kar on the fretboard.

RootQuarter tone (half-flat ↓)Other notes (including regular flats and sharps)

Note: a regular flat (like E♭) is a semitone, so it is blue. Only a half-flat (↓, e.g. E↓ or B↓) is a quarter tone, shown in yellow. Each quarter tone is drawn inside the fret box above it, and if that box also holds a regular note, both are shown side by side. Play it by bending the string or on a fretless guitar.

Structure and notes

Degrees: 1 - b2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - b6 - 7

Notes on D: D E♭ F♯ G A B♭ D♭

Notes on C: C D♭ E F G A♭ B

Quarter tones

Maqam Hijaz Kar has no quarter tones, so it can be played on instruments with regular frets without any change.

How to practice

Instrument sounds are based on open-source recorded samples (Karoryfer Samples: Black And Green Guitars and Black And Blue Basses; University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios; tonejs-instruments).