Rast is one of the most important maqamat in Arabic and Middle Eastern music, and a common place to begin learning the maqamat. It sounds stable, open and dignified. Its signature is a quarter tone on the third and seventh degrees.
Choose an instrument and a root above to see Rast on the fretboard.
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.
Degrees: 1 - 2 - ½b3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - ½b7
Notes on D: D E F♯↓ G A B D♭↓
Notes on C: C D E↓ F G A B↓
In maqam Rast the quarter tones are on degrees 3, 7. On D these notes are F♯↓, D♭↓. On the fretboard they are marked in yellow, and the symbol ↓ marks a note lowered by a quarter tone (half-flat).