I used to play erhu but now find myself obsessed with guitars.

But these days i rather listen to guzheng than erhu.. they're quite.. depressing sometimes

u r right.. erhu can sound depressing at times..... its mellowness can makes the soul goes wandering...


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This post has been edited by subangman: Oct 16 2010, 06:11 PM

My sister has an erhu, she used to play in orchestra during high school. I tried to play it, i gave up. i pick up guitar instead. My sister no more playing, it's collecting dust in the room now. Just now i took out and play, the tone becomes very horrible, my sis told me the snake skin is worn out. I think i'll just leave it there.

This post has been edited by la bella: Oct 16 2010, 10:21 PM

la bella : just watch tis .... howz the sound of ERHU ? GOOD RIGHT ?

FACELESS : u know 2 out the 3 instruments alridi....LOL!

This post has been edited by subangman: Oct 17 2010, 03:25 PM

subangman, thanks for the song. Not bad. I heard the song before, it's from a hong kong old movie theme song, i actually like the lyrics, very meaningful. I like hong kong's old days songs, nowadays hong kong doesn't have this kind of songs anymore.....

I'm interested in gu zheng after i listened to 渔舟唱晚 (fishermen singing at dusk). I have not played a guzheng before. What level is that song? Is it hard to play?

I actually prefer gu zheng than erhu, i just love the strings sound. I went cd shop and bought a classical gu zheng cd. I like songs such as 渔舟唱晚 fishermen, 战台风 fighting typhoon, 寒鸭戏水 jackdaws playing on water, 高山流水 high mountain and flowing water and a lot more. Wah those songs are very nice, really classic.

P.S: Ah.. You dont need to copy the whole youtube URL when you post in forum. For example, you want to post this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6V5DA5TK7g...layer_embedded#
You just need to copy paste those numbers and alphabets after the first '='
Just copy this U6V5DA5TK7g&feature=player_embedded#

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Added on October 17, 2010, 2:54 amI just watched this guzheng video. I like this performance. 彜族舞曲 The Dance of Yi People


This post has been edited by la bella: Oct 17 2010, 02:54 AM

Thx for sharing the Vivs. clip.

渔舟唱晚 is Grade 4 exam piece.

战台风 , 高山流水 are Grade 7 songs... 战台风 normally the so call complusory song.. dun no why

寒鸭戏水 is Grade 8. Mei-mei now doing all these songs as now she is between these Grades... ah pa often can hear them @ home.

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i gtg now for BKT @ klang ... will update u later a veri good song ... mei-mei fav.

This post has been edited by subangman: Oct 17 2010, 03:22 PM

When the bridge is left on the snake skin for more than 3 months without playing, the stress from the string pessure will gradually rip the skin. Once the skin is destroyed, there's way to you can reapir it...unless you change the skin. This is easier said than done. Where the heck can you kill a Phyton...and how do you know the way to skin it and glue it to the erhu?

That's why it's only logical to throw that erhu away and buy a new one.

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Added on October 17, 2010, 10:54 amI always remove the bridge when I dont play it. This will free the skin from any pressure.

This post has been edited by empire: Oct 17 2010, 10:54 AM

u r right Empire but dun throw it away lar.... donate to Old China Cafe. I'm sure the boss will be more than happy to put up in his shop
as for decoration and will be appreciated by all patrons.

ok.. as i promise.. mei-mei fav. song.



This post has been edited by subangman: Oct 18 2010, 01:15 AM

Are they the first three songs on the CD? 高山流水is song No7 on the CD? Look like I have the same CD too.

渔舟唱晚is one my favourite. You want to try playing it? I have an easier version. If you know chinese 123 notation, you can play it on the guitar. The only thing is you cant produce the specialised guzheng sound effects. The other thing is you have to transpose +2 since the guzheng is tune to key of D (1 = D, 3 = F#). You should know these stuff since you taught me a great deal about music theory at the scale thread. If you want to appreciate the song more, tell me what comes to mind when you hear it. These classics are good at painting images in you mind when you hear it. We can discuss it here.

高山流水was carved into my guzheng. I been wanting to play the song since I had my guzheng. After getting the song on CD (two months ago) I been doing this song on my own (that means not asked by teacher to play because it is not my level yet). I only manage the first 50 seconds of the song so far.

战台风 I got to know at the MPO concert this year. It was played by mei mei's teacher at the concert. It is not an easy song to play. I will come to this when I am done with 高山流水.

战台风

That is the reason for the erhu to be a standard item in funerals

Even if you can find one you had other issues to deal with because now they are endangered spieces. I know a carpenter who also makes erhu. He is going to take me pyton hunting when I am ready to commission him to make my erhu.

I will be going into Taman Negara via Jerantut ; Kuala Tahan next week to one of my site ... near completion for handing over back to client.

can ask around the kamping folks there for ur erhu 'soundboard' ... there not only got ur 'soundboard'.... 'BIG' strip cat & elephants also
got... will be inside the for couple of days before out to civilisation.

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YIKES !!!

Yes, do inquire about the erhu soundboard. It was nice of Empire to enlighten us to remove the bridge when not playing for a long time. So, I can make the erhu first and keep it until I am ready to take it up. As I understand it the soundboard is chosen because it wide enough. Other speces are too "thin". I dont even know the required dimension.

This post has been edited by faceless: Oct 18 2010, 12:02 PM

Emm.. seems the erhu really cannot pakai already, nevermind la, i keep it as an antique. Not going to buy a new one cos my sis not interested to play erhu anymore.

We have the same CD. Track 1 渔舟唱晚, track 2 战台风, track 3 寒鸭戏水, track 4 漢宮秋月.. track 7 高山流水. Bought the CD from Speedy mid valley. rm19.90

I tried to play by ears. i play it on the guitar, it's the guitar version. Only manage to figure out some melody only. Haha. But of cos very different feel cos can't get the sound effect from other instrument. I never played the 1234567i numeric notation before but i understand how it works. 1 is the root note right?

I saw guzheng players pluck the strings on the right, at the same time left hand press and bend down the string, what's the technique called?

This post has been edited by la bella: Oct 18 2010, 12:52 PM

the only type of soundboard i know in tat area is the normal type lor..... 100% not Anaconda ... hahaha.
last few trips seen the act of one stole some chicken from them... only the bulu ayam remain.

Subang,
I dont know about anacodo. According to tradition only pyton will do. I came by a pyton 2 years ago in a cave in Kedah. I should have took the sound board. The createure will die anyway because it dont know how to look for food inside a cave. Besides it does not have the skill to feed on bats (the only food in caves for them) like caves snakes do. These stupid creatures who accidentally end up in caves usually cant find their way out and will die of hunger. I guess if I go back to the cave now I will find the bones. There goes my soundboard.

LaBella,
The fourth song is the same too. It is most likely the same CD except mine cost 9.90. I got it at a chinese book shop.

The 7 methods for the left hand are generally know as 按音。It is further divided to 4 basic types. Two of them (上滑音,下滑音) can be produced by guitar. It is similar to pushing the string up until it reaches the next string or further with the left hand while pressing the notes at the fret using a guitar. With 上滑音the string gets tighten so the note gradually gets higher. With 下滑音the string is pressed before plucking. After plucking you will release the tension slowly. In this case the note is from a higher pitch decending to a lower pitch. With a guzheng you can change a pitch by two full notes. I tested it with an instrument tunner. 点音 guickly press and let go. 揉音rubs the strings. Hehehe, I was just kiding you on rubbing the strings. You tap lightly a few times for the duration of the note. Due to this gentle tapping the unskill ear usually cant pick it up. Beginers will usually confuse it with .振. 颤音which is shaking the strings more violently compared with 揉。按音is getting a note by pressing. Based on the 滑音 concept you may use a string to produce up to 2 note higher. Let me use the guitar tuning concept. Press fret 5 of string 1 for note of string 2. Although string 1 (with 5th fret press) has the same note as string 2, they do sound a bit different. This is because both strings are of different width. Due to preference, a composer may want you to play F# with the D string. You will do this with 按音。 回滑音 combines both 上滑音 and 下滑音 in one note duration.

I guess key is not the right term to use. Normally 1,2,3 ..7 = do re mi ... ti. Guzheng strings are tune to the Scale of D. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 = D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#. This tunning is referred to as D调.

This post has been edited by faceless: Oct 19 2010, 10:33 AM

faceless,
Thanks for your explanation. Bending the strings to get the pitch to change, there's something similar as the bending in guitar. I guess 揉音 and 振音 is the vibrato. How much would a beginner full size guzheng costs? The strings are all nylon or some are steel strings?

la Bella,
I had made some changes to my previous post. I wrote it form memory of what I have learned. I had just consulted my "teach your self guzheng" book for a more comprehensive list of left hand methods and amended the post accoringly. Do read it again, please.

振音should actually be 颤音。Sorry, it is my mistake. I am a banana that got confused with the pin yin. Both word means shake. You can say 揉音is a gentle vibrato and 颤音 is a stronger one. The difference is in 揉音you tap stop tap stop tap ... In 颤音you dont stop but just keep shaking.

The guzheng has 6, 11, 16, 21 and 25 strings. The 21 strings had been endorsed as the concert size by the major Conservatories (Beijing, Shanghai, Xian) in China. Ever since then the 6, 11, 16 strings are no longer in the market. 25 strings are still available but rare. So, I am not sure how the term full size guzheng applies today. Most people get the 21 strings because of the endorsement. Furthermore the 25 string is way too bulky to carry around. As it is the 21 strings is bulky enough, adding the 4 strings make it worse. The 4 extra strings also dont add to much to the range of the instrument anyway.

I do not know nylon and steel strings that well. Subang is better at this. As a good papa, he studied these little detail and the pros and cons carefully before deciding which is best for his daughters. Guys like me are more eagar to start lessons as soon as possible than to pay attention to these details. As I know from him certain conservatories endorse the nylon (wrapped with steel) and certain endorse the steel strings. Which is which I never bother to remember. I am pass the decision making process.

I strongly advise against an entry level guzheng. It is throwing money down the drain. All guzheng are still made in China. I dont mean made in China is no good but it is a land of crooks. When it comes to 偷工减料(cutting corners) they are many times better than Malaysians.

I had wrote in previous post about a fellow class mate whose guzheng is always brought to the school for teacher to tune. This reminds me of my stupid Kapok. The tunning peg (for string 5) is so sub standard that I can never get it right. I can put up with the Kapok. It only cost me 40+ back in the late 80s. For something that is about 2000, you cant afford to say never mind. If you are lucky then all the tunng pegs are good. Then the issue is the soundboard. Most soundboard for entry level guzheng will deteriote in a year or two. When that happens you will end up tuning the guzheng every day. Having imitations is also not much of a help. It makes buying a guzheng a big headache for a beginer who know little about it.

This post has been edited by faceless: Oct 19 2010, 11:17 AM

faceless, thank you for explaining about the left hand techniques. Very much appreciated. I already got some idea how does it work. Can't wait to try it one day.

la Bella,
Have fun looking for a guzheng. Dont be too hasty to buy. See more and ask questions. You can always consult this thread before making a decision.