Kung Fu Panda - Oogway Ascends Guitar: Acoustic Guitar Tutorial # 1[Free...

My Most Popular Arrangement EVER!

This is definitely one of the most beautiful OST (Original Soundtrack) songs that you are ever likely to hear. Hans Zimmerman brings his composition genius to the fore with this stunning orchestral work for the movie "Kung Fu Panda" released in 2008 by Dreamworks. It is also my most popular transcription on YouTube with thousands of people viewing this tutorial and my video of me playing it at the kitchen table when I was living in Bali, Indonesia. 

This song is heard when Oogway is explaining the illusion of control to Master Shifu near the old peach tree.  Although it is written for full orchestra and what sounds like an erhu it sits extremely well on the guitar. Surprisingly enough it is in a wonderful key for guitar - D minor and it happens to be relatively easy. It took me an afternoon to figure it out and several months to finally get around to subscribing it. I felt ongoing guilt because I had promised my YouTube subscribers that they'd receive tabs/notation if they subscribed...8 months later...and I'd finally transcribed it.

This transcription has proven to be one of my most popular YouTube videos so in March of 2016 I did my first ever YouTube tutorial showing people how to play it the way that I play it. 

Performance Notes:

The song uses the second most common guitar tuning known as Drop D and it is in the key of D minor. Here is the tuning:

6 - D

5 - A

4 - D

3 - G

2 - B

1 - E 

It starts out with a slightly unusual D minor arpeggio and then moves around the guitar using a few particularly beautiful artificial harmonics. Don't worry about those just keep practising and you'll get the hang of it.

I hope you enjoy listening to my transcription and if you happen to be a guitar player or know someone that plays the guitar that would like to play this song please send them to the video.

My full transcription including tablature and notation is available for free to my Youtube subscribers. So, if you wish to have a copy just subscribe to my channel and leave a comment or send me a message with your email address and I will happily send you my transcription. Be sure to watch my tutorials for the song and have the transcription beside you so that you can learn this wonderful song quickly and easily.

Let your fingers fly!

Takamine TH5C Acoustic Classical Guitar Review

Here is my review of the Takamine TH5C 'Hirade' model electric/classical guitar.

What can I say? I love this guitar! I purchased it in New Zealand in February 2016 to use on tour in China and I managed to buy it at a very good price because it had some cosmetic blemishes that I still haven't found despite having gone over it with a fine tooth comb since I bought it. 

 My review is based upon playing this guitar for 3 months and using it both as a practice guitar and as a live performance instrument. I use the guitar daily (no exaggeration) and it has proven to be a true workhorse. 

The guitar is made from solid wood with the following specifications:

Top: Cedar

Back & Sides: Indian Rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Ebony

Scale: 25"

Onboard Preamp: CTP-2/CTP-3

I don't really use this guitar on my gig as most of the songs we play are more suited to electric and acoustic guitar so I use this as my primary practice guitar and for recording original tracks and/or making my instructional classical guitar videos for YouTube. It records beautifully due to the wonderful tube preamp inside the guitar located on the inside of the upper left bout. You can find out more about the Takamine Cool Tube preamps here: