Chapter 52

Xu Qinling, who was in the audience, felt a bit anxious. She had never seen Cheng Xiaoyu play the guitar before and was not very familiar with his guitar skills. However, after watching Du Xing's performance, she couldn't help but worry about Cheng Xiaoyu. She thought that as long as the gap between the two wasn't too large, the number of flowers wouldn't be a problem. The real fear was that if the gap was too wide, no matter how many flowers were given to Cheng Xiaoyu, it would only invite ridicule from the audience. The Chinese have always prided themselves on fairness.

Xia Shamo, on the other hand, was very confident in Cheng Xiaoyu, though this confidence was somewhat blind.

Cheng Xiaoyu was unaware of the many people in the audience who were concerned about him. Sitting under the spotlight, he held the guitar in his arms, somewhat dazed. He wanted to play a classic guitar piece from his previous life.

Yes, it was "Hotel California."

Cheng Xiaoyu felt his thoughts drifting far away. He was so familiar with this song that it could be said that this piece was the holy land in the hearts of every guitar enthusiast. This world-class hit, unprecedented and unparalleled, was one of the most famous pop music works of the century, creating a legion of super fans for "Hotel California." Perhaps because this single was so famous, it even overshadowed its creators, the Eagles.

The guitar solo in "Hotel California" is ranked first among the best guitar solos in history!

Cheng Xiaoyu looked around the dim and hazy bar, seeing the noisy crowd, the hands holding glasses, the faces shrouded in smoke, and the hazy eyes. These images filled Cheng Xiaoyu's mind, making him feel as if he were in the "Hotel California," which was metaphorically referred to as a mental hospital.

While Cheng Xiaoyu was lost in thought on stage, the audience below became restless. Some were heckling, some were clapping, and most thought that Cheng Xiaoyu was too nervous to know what to do. Little did they know that a god-like performance was about to begin.

Cheng Xiaoyu felt the heat of the spotlight, and a drop of sweat fell on the guitar strings, snapping him out of his reverie. As he woke up, he accidentally kicked the microphone stand, causing a sharp screech from the speakers, which made the entire bar fall silent.

Ignoring the audience's surprised expressions and discomfort, Cheng Xiaoyu spoke into the microphone with a rich, deep voice, "A song from 'Dunmen Inn' for everyone here."

The introduction and outro of "Hotel California" were originally played by two guitars, making it more challenging to play solo, especially the outro. However, the highlight was still the introduction, particularly the echo section, which required the index and little fingers to repeatedly pluck the strings, demanding strength and independence from the little finger. The outro also featured this technique. The accompaniment could be improvised in any key. The main and accompaniment parts of this song were played on classical guitars, while other parts used acoustic guitars, making it one of the most classic and well-known guitar arrangements in pop music. There was also a rock version, but it was far less popular than the acoustic version.

The version Cheng Xiaoyu played at the Forest of Lights used a technique that did not exist in this timeline, a god-like skill called "fingerstyle."

"Fingerstyle" started relatively late in China in the music director's timeline, so if you were just a music enthusiast, you might never have heard of this style. The English name for fingerstyle is FingerStyle.

As the name suggests, fingerstyle emphasizes the role of the fingers in guitar playing.

In the 1970s, with the emergence of a large number of American folk guitarists, most of whom performed solo without the help of drums or bass, they began to use or invent new playing methods to diversify their guitar performances. For example, you can listen to the classic song "Diamonds & Rust." Completed in the 1970s, you can already hear a subtle difference from typical accompaniment. Joan Baez deliberately separated the bass and treble accompaniment and used a thumb pick to enhance the bass volume, making the acoustic guitar accompaniment sound like two guitars (more accurately, the strumming of a guitar and the bass controlling the melody). In fact, the performance was done with one guitar. This is almost a common feature of modern fingerstyle playing, where guitarists hope to achieve the effect of multiple guitars or instruments playing simultaneously through the performance of one guitar.

At the same time, amplifiers for acoustic guitars appeared. Additionally, many listeners wanted to hear more natural sounds, not just the effects and post-processing reverb. Acoustic guitar playing was reborn, and modern acoustic guitar techniques gradually evolved. Fingerstyle naturally emerged.

Acoustic guitars have a wooden soundbox, which means that, creatively, an acoustic guitar has an extra drum compared to an electric guitar. With the right techniques, a fingerstyle player can produce the effect of a guitar performance with jazz drum accompaniment by tapping different parts of the guitar body to create different drum sounds.

One of the main playing methods in fingerstyle is using both hands to produce sound. This makes the gaps between different notes smaller, as if more than one guitar is playing. Additionally, the left hand can use tapping to create bass notes, freeing the right hand to perform techniques like tapping, hammer-ons, pull-offs, strumming, and drumming, making the guitar sound full and diverse, creating a rich and colorful auditory experience.

What does this mean? It means that Du Xing, with one guitar, was fighting against a band, while Cheng Xiaoyu was about to bring a more impactful performance to the audience.

Cheng Xiaoyu started with a gentle strum, breaking the calm of the space. Then, with smooth fingerpicking, he filled the silent space with beautiful notes. The repetitive melody opened the curtain of an old movie. The melancholic fingerstyle made all the audience feel as if they were on a vast, deserted desert road at dusk. Everyone could see the blood-red sunset and a lonely man driving an old car on the road. When the words "Dunmen Inn" appeared, the guitar strings suddenly started to jump rapidly, foreshadowing danger. The long introduction built up a mysterious, elegant, and chilling atmosphere to its peak. Cheng Xiaoyu's weathered voice, like a spell, led everyone into the Dunmen Inn. All the audience felt like they were in a religious ritual, bound by invisible chains.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair,

Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air.

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light.

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim,

I had to stop for the night.

There she stood in the doorway;

I heard the mission bell.

And I was thinking to myself,

This could be heaven or this could be hell.

Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way.

There were voices down the corridor,

I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place

Such a lovely face

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Any time of year, you can find it here.

On a dark desert road, the wind was fierce, and the travelers longed to return home.

Tired and sleepy, they suddenly saw a flicker of light and smelled a fragrance.

A graceful woman stood there, and the sound of bells echoed in their ears.

They forgot about heaven and hell, feeling as if they were not in this world.

She lit a candle and led them through the corridor, and the noisy crowd welcomed them:

The Hotel California warmly welcomes you, always ready for the weary traveler.

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends.

She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends.

How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.

Some dance to remember, some dance to forget.

So I called up the Captain,

'Please bring me my wine.'

He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty-nine.'

And still those voices are calling from far away,

Wake you up in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place

Such a lovely face

They live it up at the Hotel California

What a nice surprise, bring your alibis.

The fragrance of the women and the beauty of the men, the jade-faced men always come for you.

Singing and dancing in the front courtyard, the sweat of the summer night was not yet dry:

Even if the music can intoxicate the moon, how can I forget my feelings?

So I asked the captain for some wine, but he said it hadn't been available since 1969.

In the middle of the night, the old inn echoed with voices,

The weary birds lingered in the deep forest, finding joy and forgetting to fly.

Mirrors on the ceiling,

The pink champagne on ice.

And she said, 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.'

And in the master's chambers,

They gathered for the feast.

The stab it with their steely knives,

But they just can't kill the beast.

Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door.

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before.

Relax, said the nightman,

We are programmed to receive.

You can check out any time you like,

But you can never leave.

The mirrors reflected the flickering candlelight, and the pink champagne was chilled on ice.

The guests gathered for a grand feast, and the women and wine added to the splendor.

She spoke, stunning everyone, and the guests stopped eating:

Holding steel knives and forks, they could not overcome their inner demons,

Imprisoned by their own devices, they were unaware of their own captivity.

Hearing this, he frantically searched for the old path, but found nothing but confusion.

Where would he go tomorrow? The nightman calmly said:

Even if we part ways, we cannot abandon our fate,

The journey ahead is long, and the cycle of life is endless.

The beautiful and tragic finale seemed to lead all the listeners through a bizarre and eerie story. They saw the rise and fall of the inn, the guests aging, dying, and withering into bones. Until everything turned to ashes, a group of black-robed priests prayed under the vast starry sky.

The ethereal guitar notes turned the music into twinkling stars. As the last light faded, the music disappeared, and darkness descended.

The world was destroyed.

The page turned, and the AD began.

The page turned, and the AD ended.