SethItari

It might actually. Might commission you for album art if I need something your style, not that I know what that is. Always love to meet artists for that reason. Same here, you're probably better than me, haha.

Could be interesting to see the band share vocal responsibilities. A scandal like, no lead vocals, all shared vocals situation. Off the top of my head I can't think of any Japanese bands like that asides from all girl bands like Scandal.

No worries, I knew what you meant. Though I'll admit when I read the first few words I immediately thought the same thing: "Lies, I know a Swedish person and a Canadian" (from my hometown actually). But don't worry, it was easy to tell what you mean by the context of your message.

Thanks for the warm welcomes everyone! Looking forward to discovering new music here and conversing about great Japanese music. Well I'm hard at work improving my Japanese and my portfolio so that's the dream. Hoping I can work in Japan after I'm done school so I can be closer to that goal. That's awesome. I gotta ask, you wouldn't happen to be a drummer too would you? Please say yes. Also noticed you do song translations from your signature. I'll pay close attention to these! Seems like a good way to discover new music. They are indeed! Though the way that's worded makes me wonder if you've met them before? I'd be quite jealous. Not really sure why since I actually know very little about him on a personal level, but I really look up to TK. I guess as a musician.

日本人じゃないけど、勉強しているので日本語で良くしゃべりたい。　最近、スレには誰もポストしないね。　私としゃべりたい日本語は出来る人がいますか？

You are certainly correct, these are not the same chords. This being said, all the chords (or at least the start of the song) appear to share the same function. As you may or may not know, if you know the key of a song you can write a progression like 'E B C#m G#m' as 'I V vi iii'. The reason the chords don't sound the same as what the tabs have you playing is their acoustic arrangement, as is shown in this video, is transposed a whole step down. The original song is in the key of E, this video seems to suggest the acoustic arrangement is in the key of D# (one fret down from E). It would appear he is still playing the chords as though he is playing in E based on the video, so there are one of two possibilities: either the video has been pitched down a half-step, a common trick used to avoid automatic copyright strikes when uploading to youtube, which would mean on the original DVD it would sound like the chord sheet for the original song, or toru has tuned down a half step to D# standard for this arrangement. It is not uncommon for Toru to tune a half step down so that is just as likely. It would also make the high notes easier on Taka since they just won't be as high. Either way: here are chords that would sound correct. How you use them is up to you, you can either tune your guitar down a half step (every string down half a note, D# standard tuning) and play the same chord shapes as on the tabs you linked, or you can learn the chords in standard (since he appears to be playing as though the guitar is in D# in the video, you may not be able to hit the low D# Major chord exactly as he does if you chose to go the E standard route). I know this is very late so I'm sorry if it isn't helpful, but it was good fun to work this out either way.

I looked up their music and I really enjoy what I hear. I am particularly fond of discovering good mandarin music. I like how this songwriting seems to be mid way between a more "Chinese" approach to popular music and a Japanese approach to rock. I could be looking in the wrong places but this is also one of the first if not the only mandarin/Chinese heavy rock acts I have heard, the next closest thing being perhaps R-Chord (謝和弦) who I guess would be considered a pop artist.

Well as seems to be pointed out, their roots are with a talent agency and their songs may be composed by someone else (thanks for finding that out by the way, I wasn't aware.) This being said, I had the pleasure of seeing them perform live in May and I can say without a doubt I would not for a second doubt that they are a "real" band. They can certainly perform the music extremely well.

Well, I am not sure about one-man band, but I do remember reading from the post where he mentions the band will be disbanding that he did specify he is not going to stop writing / releasing music. Given his skill as a songwriter and his long and successful career, I think it is very possible that he'll front some kind of solo project, sorta like Yasu with Acid Black Cherry. I am not so curious about if / when he comes out with a new project, but more so curious as to whether he'll stick to the drums or take on lead vocals or something else on whatever project comes next. Given, as displayed, that he can pretty much do it all.

Honestly my pick for a band to introduce as a nice overview of what J-Rock is all about would probably be Girugamesh. They were the band that really got me into Japanese music (or re-kindled my interest really, given I was really into Gackt and a bunch of anime openings from my youth). To me their style is kind of all encompassing, especially with the recent string of albums utilizing electronics / pop infused passages. They've got a bit of Visual Kei, mainstream "One Ok Rock" vibe, Japan's underground post-hardcore scene, classic X-Japan type J-Rock, and I dare say even a bit of an anime opening sound on occasion (though they haven't done any anime tie-ups, I maintain at least some of their catalogue could have made good openings. Notably INCOMPLETE has the right song structure for it, in my opinion). A very well rounded band that I think portrays J-Rock very well, objectively speaking, in a variety of ways.

I seem to be a minority here that actually enjoys five finger death punch and would love to hear this collaboration. I'd love to see some mainstream recognition for a band like Dir En Grey in the west, but maybe that's just me. From what little I know about Dir En Grey I can see why people would be unsure what to think about the collaboration though, admittedly the styles don't appear to mesh too well from one band to the other.

May be a bit late to this party but I'd love to contribute to your online band as a drummer if you still need one. I can also help with mixing / mastering / arrangement / composition if you'd like.

I've recently been working on my guitar from a composer's perspective (with a focus on chord progressions) and discovered something that would fit well into this topic while playing along to a few songs. Notably, for those who'd like to play along to a relatively complex sounding (musically) arrangement but that is easy for beginners, [Alexandros]'s new track "New Wall" can effectively be summed up into 4 chords. You can get by for pretty much the whole song (save maybe the bridge, if I recall). G D Em C I V vi IV So definitely a great choice to practice simple chords for a beginner. I notice this is a fairly old topic that frequently gets revived but if there's any interest in these kinds of simple chord progression play-alongs I could post them as I come across them, or start a new topic I'll keep updated? (I expect to discover many more as I study them).

Hello everyone, My name, or at least the one I go by, is Seth. I'm a student and musician from Ontario, Canada. I love all sorts of Japanese music, but particularly J-Rock hence my interest in joining this community to hopefully stay current and discuss the music I love with other fans. While I study computer science in school, with a minor in Japanese, my dream is to become a musician or composer, particularly, as unrealistic a dream as that may be for a Canadian, in the realm of J-Rock / J-Pop. I play sing, play guitar, drums, Saxophone, and a bit of violin which I may or may not have picked up as a result of my infatuation with TK's use of strings in tracks like Unravel. Though I am more familiar with what I would consider "mainstream" J-Rock, I do enjoy Visual Kei bands such as The GazettE, DIV and MEJIBRAY. I get the impression a lot of you are particularly Visual Kei savvy, which is fine as I'd love to improve my knowledge of the genre, though I like that all the same I do see a lot of variety around the site and hope that you'll accept my musical openness. (I'll try not to profess my love for Nishino Kana and FLOWER as openly to stay on topic with the rock music. Can't make any promises for Eir Aoi and LiSA though. They rock hard enough for me.)