Chapter Ninety-Two: Fingerstyle Guitar

It seemed Kim Hee-seon on the other end had no idea at all. "What is it, Jaycee? Did Shanzi suddenly go crazy?"

"You’re the crazy one," was what Liu Qingshan thought, though he did not dare say it aloud.

He knew Kim Hee-seon well enough to tell that this girl was obviously pretending not to know, deliberately trying to make him look foolish.

Though he was five or six years younger than her, his emotional maturity seemed almost to run in reverse, except that he still had never been tempered by the fires of romance between men and women.

Kim Hee-seon often used that weakness of his to needle him, whether they were together or speaking on the phone.

Take this time, for instance: her seemingly careless blurting out of "I love you" may well have come from her subconscious, but she could also easily imagine Liu Qingshan’s panic.

At times, Kim Hee-seon seemed more like a child, with the slyness girls were born with and the emotional richness unique to women, along with a mischievous spirit that always overthought things and a touch of anxious instability.

So in Liu Qingshan’s eyes, Kim Hee-seon was never the female star others saw, but only the tender woman he cherished.

Facing Chen Zuming’s teasing, Liu Qingshan said nothing. He rose, switched off the phone’s speaker, and walked into the bathroom.

He lingered in there for quite a while before coming back out, saying, "That guitar really is excellent. Just pay for it and buy it outright; if someone comes looking for it later, at least it’ll be easy to talk."

Chen Zuming sniffed with disdain. "Have you forgotten who my teacher is? I’ve got four Lee Guitars in my hands, and each one is no worse than a master craftsman’s work, each with its own name."

Lee Guitars were made by his teacher, Lee Zhongsheng, himself.

His guitars were not factory knockoffs. Every one was handcrafted, and every one was personally tuned by him.

As he himself put it, he was using a modern heart to do traditional things.

Because they were made entirely by hand, even if two guitars used the exact same wood, followed the exact same process, and were built with the same basic techniques, the finished instruments, and the sounds they produced, would still be vastly different.

Lee Guitars might not be all that famous outside, but in the music world, especially in the Chinese-speaking regions, they were highly renowned.

Many well-known musicians regarded owning a guitar personally made by Lee Zhongsheng as a badge of honor.

For example, the guitars used by Hua Jian, Mayday, and Chen Qizhen all came from his hands, and though the materials differed, their quality and tone were astonishingly superb.

"Right now, Teacher is busy moving his guitar workshop from Magic City to the Great Sand Town in Capital City. I helped find people to renovate the place. It’s a bright, open studio, two hundred square meters, with constant temperature and humidity."

Liu Qingshan immediately became interested. "Teacher Lee moved to Capital City too? That’s great. I’ve got another place to visit now. When the time comes, I’ll ask him for a guitar!"

"It’s not easy to get him to agree to make one. He still charges clearly according to the price, and he’ll also look at your own guitar skill. If you’re not up to it, no amount of fame will move him."

"What’s that supposed to mean, Jaycee? Your tone sounds a little dismissive."

"Shanzi, don’t blame me for being blunt. I’m not as good as you in other areas, but if we’re talking about guitar skills, you may not necessarily beat me."

Liu Qingshan did not argue. He simply sat down, picked up the guitar, and casually played a wildly intricate melody.

Though it was only a simple alternation of a few slides and percussive taps, it was enough to make Chen Zuming cry out in alarm. "Fingerstyle guitar! You can actually play fingerstyle guitar!"

Fingerstyle was a playing method, a guitar embellishment technique widely used with many tunings. Percussion and technique were entirely unrestricted; it was a fresh form of performance in which a single guitar could produce any beautiful music.

Compared with traditional fingerstyle technique, modern fingerstyle placed greater emphasis on sound effects and sometimes used effect pedals. In the music world, the saying that one person could be a whole band referred precisely to this kind of fingerstyle guitar performance.

From the standpoint of pure performance, classical guitar leaned more toward interpreting musical works through the instrument’s tone and control over it, whereas fingerstyle, while also considering tone, paid more attention to rhythm.

In other words, classical performance focused more on the guitar’s tone and playing technique, while fingerstyle, beyond tone and technique, concentrated more on the sense of interplay that a band or orchestra could create. The differing creative approaches naturally followed from those distinctions.

But in Liu Qingshan’s own view, fingerstyle was a solo form that made full use of the guitar’s fretboard, a limited number of fingers, and time itself to play richly layered pieces.

Its harmonic fullness was comparable to that of two or more guitars played in the usual way, and could even rival the piano; in some settings, it was perfect for showing off technique.

So after exchanging for this skill in the marketplace, he had chosen without hesitation to make it the future main direction of his guitar study.

Though his current level was only grade A, or intermediate, the skills he had acquired included many modern fingerstyle techniques from the future. In the eyes of professional guitarists, he was already infinitely close to master level.

Chen Zuming had a teacher at the quasi-master S grade level, so naturally he could sense the unusual quality in Liu Qingshan’s technique.

"How’s that? Isn’t it a little better than yours?" Liu Qingshan asked with a smile.

Chen Zuming suppressed his shock and clicked his tongue. "In my opinion, you’re not much worse than my teacher. But he’s been immersed in the guitar for decades—how old are you?"

"I can’t compare with Teacher Lee, but I’d say I’ve reached a professional standard!"

"Not just professional. In my view, you’re not far from being a guitar master. Shanzi, tell me the truth—how did you do it? I’ve been learning guitar since I was three. I know the tricks inside it, and reaching your current level normally takes many years of hard practice."

"It probably has something to do with the martial arts I’ve practiced since childhood. In my school, besides the Thirty-Six Flower Fists, there’s also a unique skill called the Seventy-Two Divine Seize, what people usually call grappling. Though I still can’t claim to have mastered it, my hand speed has been extremely fast since I was little."

As he spoke, he extended both hands and performed several flamboyant motions in the air. His hand speed was indeed so fast it was almost impossible to see.

He had originally not wanted the Seventy-Two Divine Seize to become known to the outside world so soon, but in order to support his lie, he had no choice but to borrow its name.

Chen Zuming was once again dumbstruck. "So you were hiding a trump card? The Thirty-Six Flower Fists aren’t your real foundation?"

"That’s not quite right. The two ancient martial arts serve different purposes. I’m only telling you this. Even Kim Hee-seon has never heard of the Seventy-Two Divine Seize, so remember to keep it secret."

"So that’s how it is. Don’t worry. Since you trust me, I have to live up to that trust as your brother. This’ll stay sealed in my belly, and I won’t tell a soul unless you order me to!"

Being treated as especially important, Chen Zuming immediately grew excited. It was obvious Liu Qingshan was starting to treat him as one of his own.