There is nothing you can't play on Melodica!! (Part 2)

Well, first of all sorry about the late update as I had an ukulele performance last Sunday :)

Today I would feature another piece that you probably NEVER expect it can be played on melodica.

Recently, I got a made in Japan Yamaha Pianica 37D, which is a GREAT entry level melodica, in a very good price, as I want to see how it is different than its opponent - Suzuki M37C. To me, basically they are about the same tier instrument, personally I like the tone of Yamaha better while I like the key action of Suzuki better. This is what I get after testing the Yamaha.

But well, even an entry level melodica can sound like million bucks if you know how to use it. This is proved by the Japanese melodica virtuoso Mr. Masa Matsuda, as he uses Yamaha Pianica 37D in his performances. Today, I would show you MY playing of this Pianica 37D, by playing an ukulele virtuoso piece - Honoka & Azita's version of "Bodysurfing", on Pianica 37D as a SOLO!!

Before you listen to my melodica playing, listen to the song "Bodysurfing" by Honoka & Azita first:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4u8n_CjUDY

Crazy isn't it? You probably never expect two ukuleles can create such music like THAT. But more crazy is that, how about arranging the song into ONE melodica that costs less than US$100? Today I would show you it is possible to do that. I haven't memorized the whole piece yet, but you could definitely tell it is getting there as the remaining parts are just the same chords looping with different improvisations. Next time I would probably use Hammond 44 to re-record the complete arrangement to get more bass, or use Mylodica to re-record to get a closer-to-nature tone :)

There will be part 3 for this series and stay tuned!!

Song from the movie "Keeper of Darkness" (陀地驅魔人)

I was too busy last several weeks hence I did not update my blog :P So this time I would show you some REALLY good stuff.

Several months ago, I watched a movie called "Keeper of Darkness". It is a Hong Kong horror movie, but in fact it is way more than horror in this movie. It has a great storyline, very authentic, and somehow quite touching. One of the spotlight is definitely the love story between the male lead and the female ghost who live in his house since he moved in when he was young. I am not going to spoil you by telling you what the story is really about. I would talk a bit more about the song from the movie.

The song itself is originally a song written by Wang Feng, a mainland Chinese rock musician. As I know, originally the director of the movie already planned to use some western music for the theme song, but he ended up realizing he could not get the copyright for that song. Afterward, one day he suddenly heard this particular song, found out that it suits the movie very well, especially the lyrics. The song actually has a hauntingly beautiful melody, and the style of the song suits melodica really well too. Hence I arranged a melodica version of it and here it goes. Hope you like it :)

Other than Melodica: Guitar is a LIE!!

As usual, sometimes I would feature something other than melodica, as I am a multi-instrumental player. This time it would be a standard instrument -- acoustic guitar.

Well, recently I got a decent quality acoustic guitar for FREE by applying a 30-lessons plan, which is also FREE. Of course, the teacher's quality is mediocre (at least that's what I see so far), but you know, there's no free lunch. The good thing is that I still got a decent quality guitar for FREE, and of course I tested it out and recorded myself playing it.

This recording made me remember one of my friend who taught me guitar from the very beginning, and told me "guitar, is a lie! You play four chords, sing something, then you wow the chicks like 'Oh you are so talented!!' "I made an improvisation of a famous classical piece "Fur Elise" from Beethoven, which the part I recorded is also "four chords", but it's just the way I played is more than simply strumming four chords. I personally think this improvisation would definitely make quite a lot of people think "WOW that is badass, how you do it?", even though to me making and playing this is just as easy as killing a cockroach :P What you think?