王力宏 (Lee Hom) - Forever Love (Piano by Kai Ming)

I'm back! But this come back might be shortlived, as I am in a foreign country with no access to a piano (at least for now). I shall treat this upload as my last upload for this series, until I am able to get my hands on a nice piano again.

Lee Hom's Forever Love is beautifully composed, with some jazz chords that makes it hard for many beginners, including myself to master. I had not paid much attention to this song, until I came across the performance by Shila Amzah on the Asian Wave competition in 2012. That was when I started listening more intently, hoping to get the chords right. This is the end result after some listening and practice. As always, I used C Major as my key (as it's my favourite & easiest key).

For those learning the basic chords used in Forever Love, you may find it useful to refer the tutorial clip below, created by leshmye:

======> Click here to download the mp3 file! <======== (hosted on OpenDrive)

张学友 - 祝福 [Jacky Cheung - Zhu Fu] (Piano by Kai Ming)

祝福 [pinyin: Zhu Fu], is one of my favourite childhood pop songs by 张学友 (Jacky Cheung).

It has a beautiful melody, with a typical structure that starts off with a soft introduction before reaching its climax. I decided to remove the second half of the introduction to make it sound less repetitive. The bridge gets a little emotional as it paves the way for the climax. The piece is ended with a repeat of the introduction (with a slight variation at the very end).

As with most of my other plays, this piece is presented in C major. I find that it is the simplest key to master for most beginners like myself. I have some friends who have criticized my choice of key (e.g this song was originally presented/sung in xxx Major, you have used the wrong key etc).

In my opinion,  most songs are written in a specific key to suit that particular singer's vocal range. Since our fingers are not bound by our vocal limitation, I do not see the need to abide by a singer's vocal range to determine the key for your own playing, especially when there are 12 fantastic keys for us to choose from. Happy playing!

====> Click here to download the mp3!! <====== (hosted on OpenDrive)

Boys Like Girls - Two Is Better Than One (Piano by Kaimingz)

It's that time of the year again when flowers start to clutter the desks around office cubicles (and some classrooms!). Happy Valentine's!

This song, sung by American boy band [Boys Like Girls], featuring Taylor Swift, was released in 2009. It made it to the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.

In the original song, it begins with a solo guitar as the accompaniment, before being followed by the rest of the band. In my piano rendition, I have tried to make it sound close to how I feel (the rhythms, drums etc) after listening to the original vocal parts (duets) and their accompaniments.

Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what other style you would choose if you were to play this piece!

<=== Click here to download mp3 ===> (Hosted on OpenDrive)

光良 - 握你的手 [Guang Liang - Wo Ni De Shou]

Michael Wong (王光良; pinyin: Wang Guang Liang), born August 30, 1970, is a Malaysian Chinese singer and composer. He began his singing career in a duo with Victor Wong (品冠). The pair had attained notable success in Taiwan, but in a mutual agreement the two split in 2000. Guang Liang has released five solo albums, the third being his breakthrough album Fairy Tale.

This song -  握你的手 [translated as: holding on to your hand] is not as popular as his breakthrough songs like 第一次 [pinyin: Di Yi Ci/ translated: First Time] or 童话 [pinyin: Tong Hua/ translated: Fairy Tale]. What I like about it is the gradual ascent to climax - imagine eating a mango, each bite getting sweeter towards the core, something similar to 童话 [Fairy Tale] as well.

I thought it would also sound nice on the piano and so, it got recorded.

The original song was in G major. I decided to play it in my favourite key (C major). One special chord: the eleventh chord gave the song (and many other songs) a nice cadence towards the ending of the chorus part, resolving from Chord V¹¹ (G,F,A,C) to Chord I (C,E,G). Eleventh chords (and those 7th and 9th chords) are some of my favourites as they give a little clashing/colliding taste but still remain pleasing to the ears when done properly.

<=== Click here to download mp3 ===> (Hosted on OpenDrive)

Jackie Chan - The Myth [神话] - Endless Love (Piano by Kai Ming)

I grew up watching tons of Jackie Chan's action movies. This movie - The Myth (released in 2005) was no exception. Its theme song (the version featuring Jackie Chan and the Kim Hee-Seon), titled Endless Love, blends Mandarin (sung by Jackie) and Korean (sung by Kim) vocals very nicely.

The chorus is a little tricky as it is the part where Mandarin meets Korean, and these parts are sung in different octaves (Jackie with the lower voice; and the opposite for Kim), and also with secondary layers that create a nice and rich harmony. For simplicity, I have arranged this section to be played in 6th / 3rds apart, and gradually increasing the tone by playing them in octaves as well.

<==== Click here to download the mp3!! ====> (Hosted on OpenDrive)

Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are (Piano by Kai Ming)

This song was requested by my sis in the 3rd quarter of 2010. I hadn't been listening to the radio lately to notice who Bruno Mars was, and my first reply to her request was: Sorry, who's this Mars Bruno? I started imagining a beastly hunk from planet Mars (I couldn't help associating Bruno with the Bluto from Popeye). Alas, it turns out this is no ordinary Martian Bluto!

The song is relatively easy, with only 3 different chords throughout the piece and a looping subliminal melody in the background. If you choose to play the piece in the same key (F major) as the one in the original song, the chords are:

王力宏 - 你不知道的事 [Lee Hom - Ni Bu Zhi Dao De Shi]

This is the theme song in 戀愛通告 [Lian Ai Tong Gao / Love in Disguise], a movie directed by and starring Lee Hom. This song also formed part of the storyline in the movie, hence creating familiarity with audience through repeated plays. This song topped the charts for several weeks and was well-received.

It is a slow-paced song, with piano and strings as the core accompaniments. I like this song so much that I decided to make some simple piano arrangements and eventually made a recording out of it.

<=== Click here to download mp3 ===> (Hosted on OpenDrive)