Alan the Performer

Let me start with this...Turkish people are very accepting and encouraging of people who try to speak their language and learn about their culture. They are also very accepting of people who get on stage and sing. This is how I ended up doing this:

Although my playing is very basic and my singing is off key the audience still applauded and I received many compliments later. 

The bağlama, a traditional Turkish instrument has 7 strings grouped into 3 groups. There are 2 strings tuned to A, 2 tuned to G, and 3 tuned to D. When I play I actually have it tuned up a few steps to C, A#, F. Mostly Turkish players use the bağlama to play the melody, not so many chords.