Jins nikriz is built from the semitone offsets 0, 2, 3, 6, 7 — a whole step, a half step, an augmented second, then a half step to the fifth. Like ajam it is a pentachord, spanning a fifth; unlike every other shape on this page, its stretched interval sits in the MIDDLE of the cell rather than at the bottom.
That placement is the whole character. In jins hijaz the augmented second arrives immediately, between the second and third degrees, so the ear is told what it is hearing in the first two moves. Nikriz opens with an ordinary whole step and an ordinary half step — two degrees that could belong to almost any cell — and only then stretches. Approached from below, it sounds like a minor shape that changes its mind. It is the lower pentachord of maqam nikriz and of maqam nawa athar, and every one of its five tones is a whole number of semitones from the root, which is why it can be charted here at all.
Positions on every course, rooted on C
The table below is derived, not typed by hand: for the root C, every one of the jins’s five pitch classes is checked against each of the oud’s six courses, and its POSITION on that course — semitones above that course’s own open string, within the twelve-position board this fretless neck is approximated with — is recorded. Course 1 is the highest-pitched course, course 6 the lowest.
| Course | Open note | Positions (semitones above the open course) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | C (4th octave) | 0, 2, 3, 6, 7 |
| 2 | G (3rd octave) | 0, 5, 7, 8, 11 |
| 3 | D (3rd octave) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 10 |
| 4 | A (2nd octave) | 3, 5, 6, 9, 10 |
| 5 | F (2nd octave) | 1, 2, 7, 9, 10 |
| 6 | C (2nd octave) | 0, 2, 3, 6, 7 |
Courses 1 and 6 agree, as always, both being C two octaves apart. The interesting rows are 3 and 5: on course 3 the cell’s positions run 0, 1, 4, 5, 10 — the augmented second showing up as the three-position gap between 1 and 4 — while on course 5 the same five tones land at 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, with the stretch wrapping around the top of the board. Same cell, same root; only the open course underneath it changes what the hand has to do.
Hearing it against what you already know
Play the first three tones alone until they are dull — root, whole step, half step. That flatness is deliberate: it is what makes the fourth degree land the way it does. Then add the fourth tone and stop there, letting the stretched interval ring against the root before resolving up to the fifth. On a fretless neck the temptation is to shave that interval narrower than written, because a hand trained on Western minor scales expects a whole step; sound it against an open C course and the beating between them will tell you immediately when you have.
Where it sits
Set it directly beside jins hijaz, whose augmented second sits one degree lower — the two shapes share an interval and share almost nothing else in how they are approached. Then compare the reach against jins ajam, the other pentachord here, and check every position by ear with the tuner rather than trusting the hand.