So, finally I get to upload me playing To Zanarkand. Bare with me, as I said before I have had no piano lessons and I don't know how to play a piano. I just play by ear really.. So I don't have the whole entire song down quite yet. And there are some mess ups.

Here is me playing the normal To Zanarkand:
http://home.comcast.net/~melee54/MyZanarkand.mp3

And this was odd, but one day I was trying to play Fur Elise and I accidently started playing zanarkand when I got the idea to mix the intro to fur elise with zanarkand and then play the song on lower keys...
http://home.comcast.net/~melee54/FurEliseZanarkand.mp3

Oh, and if any of you have heard of the band Relient K, there is a song I did of theirs slightly remixed if you want to hear it. If none of you have heard of them, then I guess I won't post it.

This is the first time I've heard Zanarkland (although everyone here says it's a good song). I like your playing considering it's the first time I've heard the song. Is there the music sheet on this site? Listening to how you play it, I would make it more delicate with a softer touch in the intro (though I'm not sure whether it just sounds like your pressing too hard because of the sound), but everyone plays it in their own way. I add my own touches when I play a piece usually. Is yours the proper thing or are you adding stuff or editing stuff (whilst playing it)?

NOTE:I only listened to the first one.

I won't judge your performance since you're obviously a beginner. What I can suggest is:

a) play simplier pieces that have useful practice in them.
b) try to play more delicately. You're too tense, try to practice your wrists so that you can play with a softer touch.

@ an-kun: There's a version of To Zanarkand on the site, yes.

An-kun: No, I didn't add anything to it. Yeah, sorry about pressing to hard but I'm not using a real piano..its just a keyboard. The touch sensetivity is a bit out of wack. I need to get a petal and see if that will help change anything. If you need sheet music of Zanarkand (There are TONS of different versions) go to www.NobuoUematsu.com and go to the sheet music section.

Noir7: Thanks for the suggestions. To begin with I don't even know HOW to place my wrists...no one has ever taught me, so I play where ever my fingers go XD

Simpler pieces? lol I've tried all these easy songs, but I can't get the hang of them.. I would like to learn Sadness and sorrow (the piano part) from Naruto, 600AD theme from Chrono Trigger, umm.. Suteki Da Ne from FFX, and I have no idea what else at the moment.

If he's a beginner I don't think he's that bad. Actually without lessons he ain't bad at all. I didn't really want to comment on the playing that critically because I know how hard it is record yourself playing the piano because the sound quality screws up how it actually sounds sometimes. That holds me back on agree with Noir7 on the tense thing. If the sound is a good representation on what you played, I would agree with Noir7. You're doing well I think. I can't remember what I was like as a beginner. :think:

I'd go against playing simpler pieces. You won't improve as rapidly in my opinion. Challenging existing skills is what I prefer although you do have to take it in steps. Happy playing ^_^

EDIT:- It's on a keyboard!? ok then ignore what I said above. Get a friend who's quite good to help you improve technique or pm me if you really want and I'll try and explain (though it's pretty hard to).

Well I'm more of a visual learner, so a PM probably wouldn't help all that much. But yeah I could get a friend to help me, but my close friends don't really play the piano. One of my friends does, but she well..er, wouldn't want to come over to my house to help me learn how to play the piano :heh: And she's going to another school next year so forget that. Dunno, maybe I'll take lessons. I don't like following the traditional finger placement rules of piano, though I guess I could get used to it if i learned..

I'm just like you, I'm self-taught. About the wrist thing - you'll get the hang of it, it kinda comes after a while. I did the same thing as you too when I started playing. I began with To Zanarkand :) After you've completed it, you get a better sense of arpeggios with the left hand, which is good. I see you're into Final Fantasy music (I did play a lot of ff pieces too.. ) so I suggest that you learn the following songs. They all have simple pattern in them, and you learn a lot from them actually.

Cornelia Castle
The Prelude

Also, if you're willing to learn some easy classical pieces, I'd suggest:

Piano Sonata op.27 no.2 "Moonlight" 1st movement
Piano Sonata op.13 "Pathetique" 2nd movement
Canon

I don't know what you mean by traditional finger placement. Is that the arched fingers thing?

By the way, who transcribed that piece on ichigos?

dunno.. but it's not the real version.

Noir7: Thanks for the songs..I'll listen to them to check them out

an-kun: Uh, What I meant was like, the correct way to place your fingers on the keys. When I played in front of my friend she was like "WHAT the HECK? How on earth do you play like that? Your fingers are all in the wrong position, ew thats weird! Here, put them like this..."

I'm just like you, I'm self-taught. About the wrist thing - you'll get the hang of it, it kinda comes after a while. I did the same thing as you too when I started playing. I began with To Zanarkand :) After you've completed it, you get a better sense of arpeggios with the left hand, which is good. I see you're into Final Fantasy music (I did play a lot of ff pieces too.. ) so I suggest that you learn the following songs. They all have simple pattern in them, and you learn a lot from them actually.

Cornelia Castle
The Prelude

Also, if you're willing to learn some easy classical pieces, I'd suggest:

Piano Sonata op.27 no.2 "Moonlight" 1st movement
Piano Sonata op.13 "Pathetique" 2nd movement
Canon

1st movement of Moonlight Sonata is actually more of an intermediate piece in my opinion - it's slow and pretty arpeggiated, but you really need to put a lot of personalized expression to make it shine, and beginners are often awkward in doing so. I don't know about Pathetique, having never played it (Beethoven's, right? you might want to list the composer name for the uninitiated :P). Canon's works for beginners, I guess, but I really grown to detest that piece of music (along with many other overplayed classical cues - Fur Elise, William Tell Overture, Tchiakosky's Romeo and Juliet, etc).

As for your playing (I only listened to the 2nd one), it's rather good for a beginner. But as Noir7 said, it feels somewhat lifeless without much expression (or softness, as he called it). It might just be that you too concentrated on getting it right technically that you can't really even start to think about that phase. Practicing regularly always helps, though. And for technique, I'd recommend Hanon's exercises. They start off simple, but are neverless effective if regularly practiced. Check it out.

You know what, ive been playing the piano for almost 10 years now, and I can barly play that song (All those damn notes going up and down and up and down) I just have the treble clef down, and barly...

also, for your remix, thats really good! Its a sadder version of Zanarken...

wow that sounds good ^^

I have a keyboard too, how did you change it to mp3 format? I use a microphone and sound recorder but it saves to wav at a bad quality. I dunno what compresion method is good

Hey, thanks for the help, suggestions, and comments everybody!

Charchar, I used a program called Acid Pro 5 to record. I didn't use a Mic, either. I found that when you use a Mic the sound quality is really bad. SO I just took a wire and plugged one end into my keyboard and the other end into the Mic hole on my computer and hit record.

an-kun: Uh, What I meant was like, the correct way to place your fingers on the keys. When I played in front of my friend she was like "WHAT the HECK? How on earth do you play like that? Your fingers are all in the wrong position, ew thats weird! Here, put them like this..."


Lol. Okay then! I have no idea what it is about then. If it wasn't that, then I'm not sure if there is a proper way. :heh:

oops sorry for duble-post.

I liked the second one, cuz the intro was much better. Much softer.
If you want good piano sounds etc. use Reason 3 , it´s easy too use and there are good soundfonts.
You have it ? PM me and I can send you an Excellent piano-font.

Um, actually, I have no idea what A sound font is. :heh: I just recoreded it straight from my piano. I've also never heard of Reason 3. If you can explain what they are, thanks :)

As I said before, thats very good for someone who just started. One note though, To Zanarkand is a soft song, light and creamy. Try not to press so hard :)

heres a good MP3 of it :http://www.emp3world.com/mp3/49287/Nobuo%20Uematsu/To%20Zanarkand

just click on where it says to download at the top, it wont download, just play in Windows Media.

Whats surprising is that song it over 12 minutes long....

Yeah, I'll try not to press so hard next time. By the way, I've got just about every version of Zanarkand on my computer, including that one :)

Um, actually, I have no idea what A sound font is. :heh: I just recoreded it straight from my piano. I've also never heard of Reason 3. If you can explain what they are, thanks :)

Soundfonts replace the original MIDI instruments, making them sound like real ones (depends on *which* fonts you are using, of course)

Reason is a program which you use to record and handle audio (and video) files.

Well that sounds cool. I'm guessing there's no way to add sound fonts to my keyboard, just the program.

I thnik what your doing right now is alot better, the quality is much higher, actualy sounds like a grand piano.

Hehe, the name of my keyboard has "Grand Piano" in the title, so yeah haha

wow your remix sounds great, i love it. It sounds awesome. Its like a sadder version of To Zanarkand.

I actually thought it sounded rather good. There were those notes that were semi-hammered, but my speakers aren't that good, so I dunno.

But personally, I think recordings sound better than something played on noteworthy or something. Gives the piece personality. >.>

Mmm... Not bad. This song gives hope to beginners like me. Like you, I figure out the fingerings of songs by trial and error. I always thought To Zanarkand a very difficult song to play (I'm more into Johnny C Bad kinds of things) This makes me want to record myself :D I'd like to hear more of you, Melee54.

Rather than trial and error you could figure out the notes first and write down their names.Then erase it after you practise a couple of times.

Wow, you are really good for a beginner! Especially being self-taught! I could never teach myself piano, and lessons cost too much, and now I am too old! :heh: Oh, well! But I must say, you did an excellent job! That is quite a difficult piece! Keep up the good work!

~GS

Thanks everyone :)

I'm going to upload something else I just "composed", too.. :heh:

Melee, you play beautifully! I hope you will keep us updated on your progress.

THAT MIX WAS SO COOL
i have been palying piano for a while now and i just started playing Zanarkand a few weeks ago and that remix think was cool. think anyone could transcribe that for me. PLZ it was AMAZING

The version you played was very different from the version I play (the one in the FFX OST). Also, by the beggining, you missed out on a few half rests. :huh:

The remix was nice, though. :)

Lol dude, I don't even know what rests are...well.. Um, you pause at playing when you see them, I think. But I don't use sheet music. I just play from memory.. And I was really nervous while recording them.

Thanks for the comments though.