This is I think the third project I have done with my friend Wendy from Amoy. We decided to try and play "Big Fish"

《大鱼》

(Click on the Chinese to see the YouTube video)

The way videos in this series work is we send videos back and forth to each other so we can practice our parts and then arrange video chat sessions to brainstorm ideas. Wendy plays an instrument called the Guzheng which is a little like the zither. Here in the United States some folks might have heard of the Japanese instrument called the koto which is a close cousin to the Guzheng.

It took me a long time to finally get my part right and it started to come together when Wendy suggested we use a slower tempo than the Original Soundtrack version. We had already decided the best approach was for me to record my part first and that would allow Wendy to play her part to my video and make it much easier to sync the videos in the end. After a few attempts we finally landed on the right tempo.

I used my 1976 Guild D-40 for the final version and tried as best I could to capture the song using my iPhone as a video camera. I think the take away after listening to the final version is that for softer fingerpicked guitar parts like this, I need to use a better camera so that I can close mic the guitar with one of my studio mics. I tried to splice the videos together but I was unable to get something I liked with iMovie, so the other thing I need to do is get a better video editing app.

Wendy did a wonderful job playing to my part and looks lovely in her traditional style clothes and the final video editing is all her. We are already going over ideas the the next video in this series. I love working with her.