I tried to get my classical guitar to sound like a Japanese koto

[6stringer Pete]

I just was kind of searching for a feel/touch to match the koto sound with my classical guitar. So it really was just an experiment, can I do it? Hmm… Actually in a few places I felt I came really close. I hope to get down some Japanese scales and give it another try soon. This is clean recording and then I mixed a bit of reverb to it. I quite surprised at how close I may have nail the tone of the koto. LOL

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
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[charjo]

You could have fooled me, Pete, and the cricket sound was very authentic, too. 🙂
John

[6stringer Pete]

You could have fooled me, Pete, and the cricket sound was very authentic, too.
John

It’s life in Japan, John. Yeah, them crickets they got me playing alright.

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
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[smilefred]

Hi pete such intresting experiment..and I say You came up with a sound very close to koto’s one. How can You di that?
Ale

[Tim Lee]

Pete,
I think that if you made a video of Japanese landscapes and had this audio playing in the background then many folks would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the Koto & your classical guitar. I think in the past you posted some pics of Japan so you may want to put some video/audio together and see how it all comes together.
Tim

[Tremelow]

Wow, an original “Da Koto-Blues”! Cool feat, Pete!

[sunjamr]

Or you could do some Koto blues, like Luna Lee’s arrangements. BTW, why not just buy an actual koto? I’m guessing they are hard to play, but then, George Harrison learned to play the sitar in a kind of rudimentary fashion.

Sunjamr Steve

[6stringer Pete]

Hi pete such intresting experiment..and I say You came up with a sound very close to koto’s one. How can You di that?
Ale

Hi Ale, thanks for listening. I had to really use a “staccato” technique on it with a mental Asian musical feel at the end of my fingertips. I think rock guitar players call it “raking”, but I wasn’t trying to blend raking into the playing at all. I played it “clean” and thought something was missing so I added what I felt was the right amount of natural sounding reverb that would match a “koto” tone. I kind of think I nailed it in a few places. This classical I bought puts out a nice tone and I like to experiment by just getting different sound ideas in my head and that is how I approached. What I need to practice now on is the “bend/release” that actually gives true koto tone. And some Japanese scales. It was all just a beginners experiment at just diving into something new for me.

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
Active Melody
Forum Moderator

[6stringer Pete]

Pete,
I think that if you made a video of Japanese landscapes and had this audio playing in the background then many folks would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the Koto & your classical guitar. I think in the past you posted some pics of Japan so you may want to put some video/audio together and see how it all comes together.
Tim

Hi Tim and thanks for listening to my little experiment. I like your idea. Let me get this tone down a little more with some kind of Asian scales in it. Again, thank you.

Pete

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
Active Melody
Forum Moderator

[6stringer Pete]

Wow, an original “Da Koto-Blues”! Cool feat, Pete!

Hey Trem, thanks for listening. Yeah! “Da Koto-Blues”, cool name, can I use it on my next experiment?

Pete

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
Active Melody
Forum Moderator

[6stringer Pete]

Or you could do some Koto blues, like Luna Lee’s arrangements. BTW, why not just buy an actual koto? I’m guessing they are hard to play, but then, George Harrison learned to play the sitar in a kind of rudimentary fashion.

Hi Steve, thanks for listening. Koto blues, hey that sounds cool. You know it would be nice if they can make a koto the size of a ukulele. I might be interested in that. 🙂

The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

Pete
Active Melody
Forum Moderator

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