Ni Fanglai

Ni Fanglai

Ni Fanglai, a guitarist in mainland China, is known as China's guitar master.

brief introduction

If you often listen to local music, the name "Ni Fanglai" can be seen everywhere, whether it's Mandarin album, Taiwanese album, karaoke, soundtrack... Etc., whether it's jazz, blues, popular, rural... Etc., as long as there is "guitar" voice, there will be Mr. Ni's shadow in nine out of ten places, at least there are more than 1000 albums with Mr. Ni's participation I think no one in Taiwan's music history can match this amazing record. The important thing is that up to now, Mr. Ni has kept the same amount of recordings without any reduction. Such a legendary figure is not only completely without any airs, but also very strong.

Interview content

Fang: how long has the teacher been in the industry today?

Ni: if you make a living by music, it should be 18 years. It's probably 15 years since you became a studio Guitarist!!

Fang: how does the teacher enter the recording industry?

Ni: it's because of Hou Dejian's relationship. The album before he went to the mainland was my first recording in the studio. In fact, I'm a younger generation than Xiao Huang (Huang Ruifeng) and a Shao (Guo zongshao). If I'm about the same age as a Kuang (Li tingkuang) and Xiao Jiang (Jiang Jianmin), the first generation is Masha (you Zhengyan), and then me.

In fact, I didn't think so much about it when I just retired from the army. I just wanted to do it. But I really worked hard at that time. I often went home to practice from 12:30 to dawn.

Fang: the recording in the studio is no better than that on the spot. Did the teacher spend a lot of time honing his skills?

Ni: it's really a training like hanging a beam to stab the thigh and eating courage. After entering the recording room, I found that timing is very important, so I went back to practice with the click (metronome). Syncopation, arpeggio and brush chord all started from the beginning.

Fang: is it possible to become a guitarist like a teacher as long as you practice hard?

Ni: of course, sense is also very important. We should grasp the feeling of songs quickly, and experience is also very important.

Fang: speaking of experience, could you please talk about your music experience?

Ni: now recording is actually simpler than before. In the past, there was no midi. Recording was all about recording live band. Click is a drummer. When recording, we usually only run once from beginning to end. No matter the repetition, coda and other marks, we call it "running one-stop". This saves time. We only take the music when we officially pass the tape, so our own beat should be very stable, accurate and fast.

At the beginning, I was still in the big band of CCTV for four years. Sometimes when the singers came to sing and lost the set music, the conductor would compare it with each other, and then it officially started. Some basic singers signed by TV stations borrowed the set music from others. We still had to watch the set music on the spot and transfer it on the spot, so the reaction should be quick.

Fang: I heard that the teacher is one of the few guitarists who have the ability to read staff?

Ni: when I was a soldier, I had to practice hard in order to get into the art team. Once a foreign Orchestra came to record, but there was no guitarist, so I came to record it. As soon as I lost the score, I watched it directly. The foreigner asked me, "are you familiar with this song?" I said, "no, it's the first time I got the score. I just play it according to the score.". (laughter)

Fang: how many albums did the teacher record? Is there any job burnout?

Ni: it's really not clear, but the highest record is more than 2000 songs a year!!

I don't think I'm qualified for job burnout, and my outlook on life is that God cares for me to be where I am today. In addition, I really like playing guitar. This is my job, so I never feel job burnout.

Fang: what kind of music does the teacher like in private? Do you often practice guitar now?

Ni: maybe it's a little bit of jazz, Fusion! Now I can still practice it when I go home. There are many things I have practiced. From George Benson's, Lee rittenour, Larry carton and so on, now I often think about the scale and timbre. The musicians in the recording studio should always think about new things. If there is only one move and a half, once it doesn't work, it will be over. Our older generation should keep up with the times and often upda Update.

Fang: what is the teacher's favorite work?

Ni: Yes, but I really forget that fan Xiaoxuan has a song called "your sweetness". It's probably made up by Wang Jikang. Solo in the middle can listen to it.

Fang: what's the change in the music style? What's the change in the music production?

Ni: in recent years, the music styles are more diversified. The old generation's producer concept is still in the past. The new producers are more innovative, and the reference materials are relatively new. In the past, there were not many people who could arrange music in the era of MIDI. Now there are more people who can arrange music. Therefore, the quality of music has been improved and the styles of music are diverse. Of course, no matter how we make player, we have to be able to meet the needs of different producers.

Fang: it's easy to say, but I think it's hard to do.

Ni: some producers are American in concept. As long as they feel right, it doesn't matter if they have miss. For example, Eric Clapton's album is like this. If it's Japanese style, it must be clean. If you want to be a musician like me, there are a lot of links that you can't lack. If you want to have only one chord, you have to solo 20 bars. The average person can't do it with about 3 or 4 bars. But we can change different things with 20 bars all the time, no matter it's Bossanova, You should be able to start at once and catch the feeling. On average, I will finish a song in about an hour, and I can give the producer a lot of choices. I think this is a reflection of my conscience.

Fang: it should be said that they are very dedicated!!

Fang: so the teacher's music theory is also very strong. Did anyone enlighten the teacher's music?

Ni: No, they all came from hard work. At the beginning, when I practiced guitar, watching my classmates play guitar would attract a lot of girls. As a result, I played Santana with my wooden guitar and attracted all the boys (laughter). I still remember reciting it with a complete book of chords. I studied a lot of playing methods, chords and scales, so I can have a lot of strange chords I will also press, when the beginning of learning guitar is really hard, a broken guitar play to the string broken, and then tie it up to continue to play.

Fang: does the teacher also play MIDI?

Ni: No, it's a bottomless hole. In fact, there are differences between real people and MIDI. After all, music is a living thing. For example, most music in the United States is still played by real people. MIDI is only used as an auxiliary or a tool for demo. After all, live play has its feeling.

Nowadays, many young people can't read music score when composing music. I don't think it's right. They can't even write chords, because using MIDI only needs cutting and pasting. But composing music is like building a house. What should we do without outline and blueprint?

Fang: what's the order of playing guitar?

Ni: first pick the music, then go through the rhythm, then go through solo, then go to O.K!

Fang: what suggestions do you have for young people who want to enter this industry?

Ni: it really takes a long time to become a player who can play everything. However, if it develops unilaterally, it may be more promising. For example, if you want to become a good player, you have to take root from the beginning. The basic work is not careless at all.

Fang: in other words, it seems that it's out of reach to become an all-round studio musician like a teacher!

Ni: in fact, I was born at the right time. In that era, there were many opportunities to practice. Today's young people don't have the opportunity and space to practice. The older generation of us really come out of practice. No matter how to tune the effector, pick tone, copy timbre or catch songs, they are very fast, fast and cheap. (laughter)

Fang: did you ever want to record a performance album?

Ni: about 6-7 years ago, Chen Yang's company once asked me to record it, and they all finished it, but later they didn't have the chance to send it. I think in the future!!

Chinese PinYin : Ni Fang Lai