Fan Music Spotlight: Zelda Goes Acoustic

Hello and welcome back to our Wednesday Weekly Feature: The Fan Music Spotlight! In this feature, we’ll be presenting a YouTube musician showcasing their abilities through a Zelda-related composition or cover. After last weeks excursion into ten different genre interpretations of the main Zelda theme via electric guitar, we’re taking a bit of a step in the other direction this time. While our starring artists still excel in the guitar, they prefer the acoustic route, taking our favorite tunes and strumming them out, without amplification.

With two artists this week, first up is Tom Winter, an English guitarist who not only covers some Zelda musical pieces, but extends his talents to other video game series such as F-Zero, Chrono Trigger, and Donkey Kong. While each piece impresses in its own unique way (e.g. Chrono Trigger‘s melody is haunting and mellifluous, Donkey Kong’s tune really nails the rhythms), his Gerudo Valley cover is the focal video of his part of this spotlight. Featured above, this cover utilizes multiple recordings to fill out this fan favorite, even going so far as to feature some of the characteristic percussion through rapping upon the body of the guitar. In addition to his video game music (VGM) covers, Winter has original compositions, all available on his YouTube channel.

The other guitarist we’re taking a look at it is no stranger to posts here at Zelda Informer. Just a couple week ago, we featured Swedish guitarist, Isac Saleh’s, Deku Palace Theme guitar arrangement – and he even took the time to chat with a fan about another version he made! Unlike our other musician above, Saleh’s page is positively LOADED with Zelda arrangements, from Midna’s theme, to Fi’s Gratitude, to Ganondorf’s Theme, to Kakariko Village, to a New Wave Bossa Nova arrangement of the Majora’s Mask theme to….far too many more to name right here! As for the video above, it’s a tutorial with guitar tabs (a type of musical notation for guitar), meant to teach fans how to play the classic Song of Storms (as known as the Windmill Hut Song) from Ocarina of Time. Suffice to say, whether you’re a budding musician and want to get started with some Zelda tunes, or just a fan looking for an enjoyable guitar arrangement of your favorite song from the series, this guy’s got you covered.

If you’re interested in supporting either, or both, of these incredible artists, check out the various links below leading to their respective YouTube pages, Google+ pages, and more. What’s your take on these acoustic covers? Do you typically prefer these kind of arrangements to electric ones? Have you found any new favorites from among their various videos? Personally, I’m stuck on Winter’s DK Island Swing and Saleh’s Kakariko Village. Share your thoughts on these artists, and suggestions for future features, with us here at the Fan Music Spotlight!

Tom Winter

• YouTube Page
• Facebook Page
• Bandcamp Page (Tablature for both original compositions and Zelda arrangements can be found here)
• Google+
• Soundcloud

Isac Saleh

• YouTube Page
• Google+
• Twitter
• Gametabs (Tablature for many, many arrangements)
• Album #1 (These and the below albums are available for download through dropbox.com)
• Album #2
• Album #3