Not only Zhao Lao felt strange, Xu Wei himself was even more strange.
Although Zhou Yan explained why he came here, Xu Wei still felt strange.
Many people don’t know Zhou Yan, but Xu Wei knows Zhou Yan quite well. He knows how famous Zhou Yan is now. When their band was interviewed by "Voice" last time, the Neon reporter specifically asked Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan had nothing to do with their interview, but the reporter still asked Zhou Yan, and asked more than one question. It can be imagined how popular Zhou Yan was in Neon, which made the reporter endure He kept asking questions related to Zhou Yan.
Now in Neon, as long as Chinese music is mentioned, no matter what type it is, the first person who thinks of Neon people must be Zhou Yan, and there will be no second person.
They haven't seen the news about the record-breaking box office of "The Sixth Sense", but they have been paying attention to the best-selling "Piano Boy" and "Mysterious Country".
At that time, Xu Wei even thought that it would be enough if a musician could reach the level of Zhou Yan.
But Xu Wei knew that they and Zhou Yan were destined to be from two different worlds, so it was strange for Zhou Yan to come to him.
Seeing the confusion in Xu Wei's eyes, Zhou Yan added, "Actually, I am also exposed to a lot of rock music. My junior brother Wang Feng and my former good friend Zhao Muyang also formed a band together."
When Zhou Yan mentioned Wang Feng and Zhao Muyang, the expressions of the band members changed, and they all looked at the man sitting by the stage smoking.
This man is about thirty years old, with small eyes, fluffy hair, and a high hairline. Compared to everyone else in the room, he was clearly the uncool one.
The man looked at Zhou Yan with a look of surprise on his face, "Do you know Mu Yang?"
Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, I'm quite familiar with you, who are you?"
"I am Zhao Mu Niu."
Hearing this name, Zhou Yan suddenly understood. This person is Zhao Muyang's brother Zhao Yiran. Zhao Mu Niu is his alias. One of the brothers is a herdsman, and the other is a shepherd. , it sounds like the family is in the livestock industry.
Zhao Jiran is also a rock musician, and it can be said that he was the one who brought Zhao Muyang into the music industry, but in terms of fame, Zhao Muyang is definitely more famous.
Zhao Muyang is now very famous in the rock and roll industry. Some people say that he is the king of drums in the northwest, and some people directly remove the northwest and call him the king of drums.
As for my elder brother Zhao Siran, he has been around for several years and has not gained much fame in the music industry. Sometimes when people introduce Zhao Siran, they will say that he is the elder brother of the Northwest Drum King.
Looking at Zhao Yiran's appearance, there is no doubt that he and Zhao Muyang are brothers. The eyes are so similar.
Zhou Yan was quite surprised. He didn't expect that when he came to Xu Wei, he would meet Zhao Muyang's brother.
Zhao Jingran was also surprised. He didn't know that his younger brother was very familiar with Zhou Yan.
A few years ago, Zhao Jianran was still hanging out in Yanjing. At that time, he also formed a band called Red Army. However, due to lack of money, the band eventually disbanded and he went to the coast to do business.
Zhao Jianran was doing well in southern Fujian, earning more than one million yuan a year at most, but he returned to Yanjing last year because he still couldn't let go of rock music.
After he came back, he found that the world had changed a lot. Some of the friends he hung out with had withdrawn from the industry, while others had quickly become superstars.
As for his younger brother, he actually only knew that he formed a new band called Baojia Street No. 43, but he didn’t know the rest.
For most of this year, he has been hanging out in the northwest. He has no time to participate in activities held by these bands, and he does not have a fixed band.
After all, he was somewhat famous in the northwest before, and he had many acquaintances, and everyone was willing to take him to play.
Zhao Weiran has been in business after all. Hearing that Zhou Yan had a good relationship with his younger brother, he quickly moved three stools and said, "Come, Master Zhou, sit down."
Zhou Yan didn't either He was polite, took the bench and sat down.
Because they have common acquaintances, everyone’s attitudes towards Zhou Yan are completely different at this moment.
Before, they would have thought that Zhou Yan was far away from their circle, but because of Zhao Muyang and Wang Feng, they discovered that Zhou Yan was actually quite close to their circle.
After sitting down, Zhou Yan praised them a few words, "Your performance today was very good, and the atmosphere was very warm. I have been listening in the audience and was very shocked."
This sentence is not against his will. He can say that these people's singing skills are not good, he can also say that their musical instrument level is poor, and he can even say that their songs are rubbish, but he has to admit that their expressiveness on stage is completely lacking. question.
Zhou Yan has never seen anyone who doesn’t like to flatter others, and these rock musicians are no exception. When they heard Zhou Yan’s words, they were also very happy, but some showed it on the outside, while others hid it behind their backs. heart.
"Master Zhou, as a top musician like you, can you give us some advice so that we can improve?" The tall and thin man who started talking to Zhou Yan said with a smile.
Zhou Yan waved his hand, "I don't dare to be called master, just call me by my name. I don't have any opinions, but we can communicate. Although we specialize in different directions, music, well, we reach the same goal by different paths. We are exploring on the road of music. When we are together, we will definitely have our own experiences and feelings, communicate with each other, and make progress together.”
Some people present who had some knowledge of Zhou Yan’s deeds were very surprised at this moment. They did not expect that a musician like Zhou Yan could actually do it. So humble.
Although everyone has said nicely that music has no hierarchy, there must be chains of contempt in the music industry. The chains of contempt in each circle are different, but no matter which chain of contempt you are in, people like Zhou Yan They are definitely at the highest level, far above them.
Actually, Zhou Yan is not falsely modest. He personally does not feel that there is any hierarchy between himself and Xu Wei. It is just that they have different preferences. Otherwise, he would not go out of his way to watch Xu Wei's performance.
Of course, although there is no hierarchy, from a technical analysis, Zhou Yan's level is definitely much higher than these rock musicians.
Zhou Yan had no intention of finding fault with them, but as they chatted, they naturally talked about technical issues.
When talking about technology, Zhou Yan couldn't help but talk about the history of rock music, and then extended to blues and country music.
However, Zhou Yan doesn’t talk too much. He usually starts from the beginning and then guides others to express their opinions. He is not here to lecture today.
Zhou Yan has always regarded himself as an "observer", and as an observer, he is also very interested in the psychological state of these rock musicians. Although the Zhou family owns No. 43 Baojia Street, Wang Feng They are atypical rock musicians with little reference.
In the middle of the chat, Zhao Jiran said, "Teacher Zhou, you just said that pop music wants to sound good and have a sense of high-end. In fact, it is not suitable for stacking too rich musical elements. What's so special about that? Skills? ”
Zhou Yan shook his head and said, "There are no special skills. It just depends on the accumulation and the sense of music. I'm not sure how to arrange a certain piece of music to make people feel good. Sometimes we make music by ourselves and play a random piece of music. , but I think it’s pretty good, but I’m not sure, so I asked a few people to listen to it, and everyone thought it sounded good, so it’s basically right.”
Ibel said with a smile, “Isn’t that the same as us? "
"Well, actually there is no difference, they are all the same."
Zhao Jiran said, "It seems that there is no difference, but the effort of composing is not in the time of composing. In addition to composing, Teacher Zhou is familiar with various types of music and plays things in a systematic way. "
"Does Teacher Zhou usually play guitar? "Ibel? asked.
Gao Song smiled and said, "Then you don't know about Teacher Zhou. Teacher Zhou's most important thing is probably the bamboo flute and violin. I have seen Teacher Zhou's concert before, and the bamboo flute is very good."
"Actually, I can definitely play ordinary instruments, but a person's energy is limited. I'm not familiar with the guitar. I may not play it once or twice a month. I usually play the guitar because I think of some comparisons. Interesting stuff, I want to try it on the guitar."
"Interesting stuff?" Ibel asked curiously.
Zhou Yan nodded and said to Ibel, "Please lend me your guitar."
"Okay." Ibel handed the guitar to Zhou Yan very simply, "It has been tuned. Passed.”
Although Ibel said it had been tuned, Zhou Yan still strummed the strings and tried the tuning. The guitar's strings were tuned well and quite accurately, but Zhou Yan still tuned the first string separately.
Seeing Zhou Yan tune the first string again, Ibel originally wanted to say something, but was stopped by Gao Song.
Gao Song knew that it was impossible for Zhou Yan to tune the tune incorrectly. He must have tuned it this way on purpose. It should be a special tuning, in which the first string was tuned from a half-step down to D-sharp.
After finishing the tuning, Zhou Yan started playing.
His playing is very short, using three chords in total, the b chord followed by the f#6add11 chord and the E major 7th chord. These three are very simple chords. When paired together, they sound very nice when strummed together. And because Zhou Yan tuned the first string to D-sharp, the strumming taste is very special and the mood seems to be fuller.
After hearing Zhou Yan’s arrangement, Zhao Jiran and the others found it very interesting. The only regret was that Zhou Yan’s guitar skills were really bad. He missed two notes in such a short section and the chord changes were not good. Extremely smooth.
Ibel heard anxiously, "Teacher Zhou, how about I give it a try?"
"No problem." Zhou Yan returned the guitar to Ibel.
After getting the guitar, Ibel began to play according to Zhou Yan's arrangement. Sure enough, the effect was much better than Zhou Yan's playing.
The arrangement of this section is very magical. The more Ibel plays it, the more energetic it becomes, and the more others play it, the more it sounds good to them.
Listening to Ibel's playing, Xu Wei couldn't help but sigh secretly, the master is indeed a master, and he can make people's eyes shine with just one move.
The key is that Zhou Yan did not use any complicated techniques, the music was composed of very ordinary things.
B chord, f#6add11 chord and E major 7, which chord do they usually not play? As for special tuning, although they rarely use it, it's not something awesome.
Usually, they have to specially tune the strings, that is, in order to play other keys without changing the fingering, that is, in order to reduce the difficulty of playing other keys, and like this, just use a clip to clamp it. .
But it is such a simple thing, but it feels a bit advanced. Whether the chord arrangement is advanced or not is a very mysterious thing. Some things feel very advanced when you hear them, and some things feel very vulgar and very boring. rotten.
This set of chord combinations created by Zhou Yan also confirms what he just said. If you want to make popular music something that everyone likes to listen to and has a sense of high-end, it does not need to be too complicated.
After Ibel played it several times, he was still not satisfied, "This chord arrangement would be perfect if paired with a nice melody."
Zhao Jianran looked at Zhou Yan, "Zhou Yan Teacher, did you write a melody when you were doing this section?"
"Yes." Zhou Yan nodded, "But if I finger-play, the effect will definitely not be good. Why don't I hum it for you? Give it a listen.”
Although Zhou Yan doesn't sing well, he still has no problem humming. Zhou Yan is the kind of person who can listen accurately but not sing accurately, but he can hum accurately.
When you hum a song, you feel like a singer. Once you start singing, you feel like a fool.
Hearing that Zhou Yan was going to hum, Ibel said excitedly, "Teacher Zhou, I will accompany you."
"Okay, thank you."
"You Say start, I will start.”
"You can just start."
Ibel nodded and started to play the accompaniment, and Zhou Yan's humming started to come in during the third time.
When he finished humming the first sentence, Zhao Jiran and the others opened their eyes wide. The feeling of this first sentence was so good that it immediately opened up the aura of this chord arrangement. .
When Zhou Yan finished humming the third sentence, Zhao Jingran and Gao Song glanced at each other, and they both saw surprise in each other's eyes.
Zhou Yan actually noticed everyone's demeanor, which was what he expected.
He was humming one of Coldplay's most famous songs, called "Yellow," and it's self-evident that this song is famous in the rock world.
Although the style of the song "yellow" is different from that played by Zhao Yiran and Gao Song, they must be knowledgeable, and they immediately heard the extraordinary quality of this song.
When Zhou Yan was chatting with Zhao Yiran about the chord arrangement of popular songs just now, the song "yellow" suddenly came to mind. This song is very good in both the accompaniment of the chord arrangement and the melody. Make people remember it instantly.
As expected, this song clearly conquered Zhao Yiran and the others.
Chen Hong sat next to Zhou Yan, bent over, holding her chin with her hand, looking at Zhou Yan dreamily. The surprised expressions of the people around her made her feel particularly good.
In fact, Chen Hong couldn't tell whether she liked or admired Zhou Yan. She didn't know Zhou Yan very well, but every time she saw Zhou Yan, she could find that he had talents that she had never discovered before.
She may like Zhou Yan's eye-catching and talented image, but it doesn't matter to her. She feels that it is very normal to like a man from the beginning of worship.
If a man doesn’t let her admire him, she will never like him.
When the band performed on stage before, she hugged Zhou Yan and felt that she also had Zhou Yan at that time.
Chen Hong's face turned red unconsciously when she thought of kissing Zhou Yan just now.
Zhou Yan didn't hum too much. He only finished the first seven or eight sentences and then stopped.
“That’s all I’ll write for now. I’ll write the full version later when I have the opportunity, and I’ll listen to it for you. And even if I hum it out, it still sucks.”
Zhao Jianran took the lead in applauding, "Teacher Zhou, you are so awesome. If you come to play rock music, will we still have a way to survive?"
Gao Song applauded while expressing his dissent, "You are wrong. If Teacher Zhou comes to play rock music, , then our domestic rock music can really develop."
Ibel agreed with Gao Song, "Gao Song is right, this song written by Teacher Zhou is so flavorful."
Facing the compliments from everyone, Zhou Yan smiled, then looked at his watch and said, "It's getting late tonight. We have to rush back to the crew, so we'll leave first."
Gao Song made an invitation on behalf of everyone. , "Teacher Zhou, don't leave in a hurry. We have agreed to go out for dinner together, why don't the three of you come together."
Others also echoed, "Yes, Teacher Zhou, today is such an opportunity." It’s rare.”
“Yes, yes, we had a great time chatting today. It was an eye-opener for us.”
Facing the enthusiasm of everyone, Zhou Yan declined, “It’s true. Sorry, the crew has work tomorrow. I only have a few days to come to Yinchuan this time. I have to hurry up and finish my work. If you have time to go to Yanjing, I will entertain you well. It is easy to find me directly. Just ask Mu Yang. They usually rehearse in my studio. If you have nothing to do, you can go over and have fun.”
Gao Song and the others were very sorry to hear that Zhou Yan could not attend the party. Although the contact time was not long, Zhou Yan's talent conquered them.
Actually, when we first met, some people knew that Zhou Yan was a well-known musician, but they did not think that Zhou Yan understood rock music.
Gao Song is one of them. He feels that although Zhou Yan is very good at writing classical music and scoring music, rock and roll are two completely different things.
But I didn’t expect that Zhou Yan could really play well.
After rejecting their invitation, Zhou Yan stood up and said, "Everyone, let's see you again."
Then Zhou Yan looked at Xu Wei again. The reason why he came to this concert was because of Xu Wei.
He actually had the idea to recruit Xu Wei to the Zhou family, but with so many people there now, it was hard for him to mention it.
In addition, if he wanted to sign Xu Wei, Zhou Yan did not want to sign anyone else in the band. The most, most, would be to sign Gao Song.
But if Xu Wei is the only one who signs the contract, Xu Wei is unlikely to agree. He doesn’t want to be a villain who “beats mandarin ducks with a stick”.
Zhou Yan was able to sign No. 43 Baojia Street, but he didn’t want to sign the entire Fei band because the two bands were different.
Except for Gao Song, the other people in the Fei band actually didn't help Xu Wei's creation. In Zhou Yan's opinion, it would be better for Xu Wei to go solo.
But No. 43 Baojia Street is different. Except for the drummer Zhao Muyang, everyone else is from Yangyin. They have a chemical reaction together and can make the band produce many high-quality songs. (End of this chapter)