Modern US musician handpicks traditional Chinese instruments

Experimenting wildly with guzheng

Played traditionally, the about 1.5-meter long guzheng can be "very daunting," he admitted.

"Of course, it will take years and years of practice. But if your goal is just to express yourself and to make sounds that are pretty and just lose yourself in music, I find that the guzheng is the fastest route to creating that sound pleasing to the ears," he said.

Because of its pentatonic scale (the traditional tuning), the sounds guzheng naturally produces are "always complimentary and pleasant to your ear", according to Scholar.

"I am convinced that anyone, with 10 minutes of focus, can produce something that they are proud of. It's an outstanding experience for young children and adults who are often afraid of trying to play music, although they'd like to," he said.

Scholar said he is "experimenting wildly" with the guzheng.

"I've invented my own tuning by shifting its scale around, and adding a new note which allows me to make western-sounding chord changes," he said.

"I am building an electric guzheng sound using a loop pedal, synthesizer and amplifier," he said. "I can play standing up, with hammers; I even played a show in complete darkness."

There is "great potential" for guzheng and other instruments to "be reinvented and shared", he said, "This is my lifelong passion."

Scholar's music video debut Thinkinbout features the young musician alone in a dark room with the guzheng, delivering a stirring vocal performance while the Chinese characters for his English lyrics flash across his face.