Learning Chinese Songs

[afriday11]

Hey, I am interested in learning to sing/play more Chinese songs. I have been learning 在雨中 xai yu zhong by 汪峰 wangfeng and am having a good time learning new words and sentence patterns. I find the vocabulary in songs isn't always that hard. I have the lyrics downloaded and learned the chords by listening (I can give them so someone if they want them). This said I have two questions.

1. Can anyone recommend any good Chinese songs that I could play on guitar?

2. What is the best way for me to go about downloading Chinese songs without getting viruses? I don't really trust p2p (especially in China).

I figure if I can download a bunch of songs and slowly memorize the lyrics I can retain the new vocabulary better than by reading my books. I am thinking about getting a guitar teacher who can't speak English, since I could never really afford music lessons back home. After I am comfortable playing a few Chinese songs I'd like to go play them at open-mic.

谢谢!

[roddy]

You might want to have a look at 吉他谱 - there's a load of stuff on there, both .txt files, scans of tab books, and tab files for Guitar Pro. eg (the scans aren't always great quality, as you'll see).

For downloading the actual songs - I'd go via verycd.com. If you don't mind listening online and not being able to download, Google.cn/music is decent.

For actual songs I'm not sure, but 许巍 is probably a good place to start for stuff suitable for one man and a guitar.

[isela]

If you are talking about acoustic guitar, then you should know 老狼 the "campus singer" and 高晓松 his buddy song writer. They together did quite a number of nice pieces based on campus life, around year 1995 I think. And till now these songs are still learnt and played by young university students.

Some "evergreen" songs by them are "同桌的你“, "睡在我上铺的兄弟“, “美人“, “蓝色理想“, just to name a few.

And I agree with roddy that 许巍 is another good choice. His songs sound a bit monotone to me though.

[John20050249]

For your first question.you might want to find 张震岳，Beyond, or 罗大佑。they are my favorite. their songs are beautiful in tune and deep in lyrics. For your second question, you need a good anti-virus software.

[trevelyan]

You might find the KTV Wednesday series we're doing at Popup Chinese useful for quickly figuring out which artists you like. Lots of decent songs that go well with acoustic guitar. Some of my favorites:

http://popupchinese.com/lessons/ktv-wednesday/zhang-xuan-baby

http://popupchinese.com/lessons/ktv-wednesday/lao-lang-the-dust-of-love

Once you've figured out what artists you like it's pretty easy to find their full lyrics and chords online. Search for the artist name and 歌词, etc.

[afriday11]

Thanks everyone, I really like jitapu.com and have found some stuff I like on g.cn. I will start learning 在雨中 (汪峰) and 有没有人告诉你 (陈楚生). Hopefully I can start playing them at open mic in two weeks.

[LurvJenny]

I think that music really helped me learn Chinese. I started off memorizing the songs (and a good friend sat there explaining the words). The first Chinese song I learnt was by Ado 堅持到底. After that I started learning all of Jay Chou's slow songs (cuz I'd never be able to rap so quickly). From being the person that hated going to Karaoke, now they struggle to drag me out.

So I don't know much resources that you can learn Chinese songs from, but I know going to Chinese KTV really helps. (And I don't live in China, but you'll find that most places should have a Chinese Karaoke).

Good Luck

[doraemon]

1. Can anyone recommend any good Chinese songs that I could play on guitar?

白桦林 by 朴树 (I think he plays the song on guitar)

2. What is the best way for me to go about downloading Chinese songs without getting viruses?

I use Baidu.

I am thinking about getting a guitar teacher who can't speak English

Why? Wouldn't it be easier for you if he/she could? If you get really stuck on trying to express something in Chinese you might find it hard to get your point across...

[taijiphoenix]

I love the song 'Ai wo bie zou'. Here is a link to the original song

And here is a link to some guy playing it on guitar.

This song is pretty easy to play. I played it for my husband and he was able to figure out how to play it in a few minutes.

[LurvJenny]

Yoh!! Taijiphoenix,

I love that song.