okay, so how do we know this is not just some random guy playing the piano? the story surrounding it is cute enough, but it´s just a guy playing the piano. he seems to have great technique, self taught? need more data...

He played with such passion I almost think the piano was just the the tip he needed.

Personally I would have floated him a C note for the great video.

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Anna Kendrick is really pretty. When she smiles it looks like she has a piano in her mouth.

Dude! Watch your back. I think you know too much.

I'm willing to bet you wear a lab coat and can play the piano really well.

*wondering how much of my life I've squandered*

I didn't hear Smashmouth, and I'm familiar with the song, and I've never heard the jumping transmission line tower. I did however hear the talking piano, and legislators. The Risset Rythem has always been hit or miss for me and generally resets at a point before it gets too fast, but an odd subtle reset if that makes sense.

I do agree that he should have been silent a bit longer when telling us to listen.

I could hear Smashmouth song lyrics, and the talking piano (reminded me of Dr. Who Dalek), but didn't hear the thud of jumping transmission line tower.

TBF, that's an accurate description of the original song

I didn't really hear it either, but the piano words worked really well.

I didn't hear the song in the piano, I just heard noise.

On an unrelated audio topic, is anyone familiar with the concept of Out Of Phase Stereo (OOPS)? I discovered it by accident back in the day where i would short out Walkman headphones from constant use and hear only the difference between the left and right channels. So a piano (e.g.) mixed only in the left channel would become prominent and everything else would sound far away. It brought out some interesting effects in some songs and I didn't know it had a name until I found it on the internet. People use it to discover background mutterings in Beatles recordings, among other things.

A few of those didn't actually ring a bell in terms of having heard them before, and I knew the names of a few that I had heard:

(spoilers, I guess?)
1. I instantly knew that was the William Tell Overture, I would think a lot of people know that one?

2. Know the song, but didn't know the title without seeing it. But I'm sure that I've heard the title (Entry of the Gladiators) before.

3. Didn't know the song (or the title -- Liechtensteiner Polka).

4. Know the song, knew it was Strauss, didn't know it was "Fruhlingsstimmen". Gesundheit. As an aside, the stare plus the eyebrow action in this one is hilariously well-suited to the song.

5. Knew a variant of the song, didn't know it was "The British Grenadiers". Pretty sure I first heard this one as music in the old-school NES game "Pirates" by Sid Meier.

6. Knew the song, knew it was Chopin's "Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 35", also know that it is commonly referred to as "Marche Funebre" (although that title can be applied to other songs also). Dude also gets a lot of mileage out of the creepy stare at the camera on this one.

7. Don't think I've ever heard this one, didn't know the title (A Dog's Life).

8. Knew the song, knew it was by Strauss, didn't know the title (An Der Scthonen Blauen Donau).

9. Knew the song, knew it was the "Chicken Dance". I'd think that anyone that's ever been to a wedding pretty much has to know this one -- but maybe that's just a midwest US thing?

10. Eventually recognized the song, but not until he got a bit into it. Didn't know the title (Colonel Bogey March). Still think it should 'properly' be titled "Lisa, her teeth are big and green. Lisa, she smells like gasoline."

wiki link to Foley Sound

I was going to say; I wonder if it is a continuation of old radio show sound design, and it is!

I think there will always be a place for it just like the acoustic piano. There are too many variables and our subconscious is too in tune with sound that a digital sample will ever be enough to trick us. MAYBE they will get there but I can always hear when they use digital instruments in music.

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@ChaosEngine --

I've only seen one other piece by this dude, so I can't claim that I definitely "get" what he's going for, but... To me, his shtick is: "I wanted to be a rockstar / guitar hero when I was growing up, but my parents made me learn the piano instead of guitar. So, I'm going to live that rockstar dream via the piano instead of guitar, partially because I enjoy it, partially to stick it to mom and dad, and partially because other people seem to enjoy it as evidenced by views / likes / comments, etc." (And importantly, he can't play the guitar, so he uses the skill that he has available.)

I like his stuff (well, the 2 videos I've seen of his). This one is pretty reliant on bends, and to nitpick I think he should have used an analog pitch bender for that instead of the fancy touch digital one he had. On the other hand, it isn't too critical, and he seems to go for playing by ear without a lot of (maybe *any*?) practice run-throughs which would definitely be required to nail those bend sections perfectly. So, the imperfect on-hand equipment (digital vs analog) and imperfect execution don't detract much from the performance for me.

You're also correct that he played the wrong notes a few times, but in a musically acceptable way -- he was still playing chord notes in the scale and key of the song, but not exactly the same ones as in the original. So while I noticed it, that also doesn't really detract much from the performance for me either.

Taking a piece for another instrument and adapting it to a different one as opposed to trying to "imperfectly" emulate the original can also be very cool. Youtube covers of rock songs on a Korean Gayageum come to mind. BUT, I also get a kick out of my interpretation of this guy's shtick, and don't feel like he's trying to do the musical equivalent of forcing a round peg into a square hole or anything.

Definitely all subjective though.

Yes, you are 100% right in that he does a great job of getting about as close as possible to the sound of the guitar on a piano.

But I'm not questioning his playing ability, I'm questioning the choice to do it in the first place. Or more specifically, the choice to try and REPLICATE the sound of the original.

Here's what I would consider a good example of adapting a guitar piece to the piano. She's not trying to make the piano sound like a guitar, but using the piano to create a different version of this.

Or the other way round taking a famous piano piece and adapting it for guitar.

Obviously, art is a subjective thing and you're not "wrong" for liking or disliking this... I just feel like it doesn't really add anything to the original.

Also, since I'm posting unpopular opinions.. .he actually plays the wrong notes a few times... amateur