Entertainment
Telephone Tone Musical Puts Some Real Life Musicians to Shame
Posted by Jack Loftus at 3:30 AM on August 4, 2008
This video makes the 15-odd years I put toward practicing and performing with a musical instrument to shame, and I'm pretty sure this guy probably set this all up in an afternoon. Sick, nevertheless. [ExciteChina via Random Good Stuff]

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Curves
Posted 4:27 AM 4/8/08
@Valicious: I was just waiting for you to suck up some of that nasty bong water. ;)
Curves
skiterr
Posted 4:12 AM 4/8/08
@shenanigans61: I agree with you to a certain degree, but It takes years to learn to play an instrument (give or take). Most teachers are snotty loosers that never made it big, and their lessons are incredibly boring. Playing the phones on the other hand is a lot more fun, and in this case way more creative than learning to play a real instrument. Besides I bet this kid already knows how to play some kind of instrument.
skiterr
FötoGenetix
Posted 4:07 AM 4/8/08
can we send him requests?
FötoGenetix
sakko
Posted 3:56 AM 4/8/08
Err.. DTMF tones don't have those kinda ranges? Or did I skim and miss a crucial concept behind the performance?
sakko
Poon
Posted 3:52 AM 4/8/08
Notice the exact timing and precision with which the artist plays the cell phones. Awesome.
Poon
Fused7
Posted 3:44 AM 4/8/08
@Migo:
He was actually hacking the DOD with a "56k" connection, get it? get it? no? aww...
Fused7
Valicious
Posted 3:43 AM 4/8/08
beats me
+ Watch video
Valicious
Quips Ahoy!
Posted 3:41 AM 4/8/08
concept is great, but the execution seemed a little phoned in! :)
Quips Ahoy!
shenanigans61
Posted 3:38 AM 4/8/08
...I am completely at loss. It's weird how people will spend hours and days playing music-simulating games to get as good as theyt can, but God forbid more than a handful of people learn how to play a freakin real instrument.
shenanigans61
Migo
Posted 3:36 AM 4/8/08
@willyolio: Must be an international call
Migo
willyolio
Posted 3:33 AM 4/8/08
i wonder who he called.
willyolio
jakebathman
Posted 5:10 AM 4/8/08
@sakko: I am thinking the same thing....maybe "foreign" tones are a bit different??? I don't see why, though...
jakebathman
skwish
Posted 4:52 AM 4/8/08
Ok Mr. Head of China
See what happens wen you block all kinds of internet sites and prevent your general population from spending there free time looking at porn like the rest of the world...
You get dudes instead using their free time to use the phones they cant use to call tibet with to make music... *sigh*
skwish
prsiii
Posted 4:44 AM 4/8/08
I was hoping for the Mario theme song...
prsiii
Aristeia
Posted 4:43 AM 4/8/08
@shenanigans61: Why the hate?
What's wrong with playing fake instruments? I think this was a pretty sweet video. This isn't one of those things that the guy will expect to take to bloody Carnegie... it's a youtube video.
God knows, there are enough vids of some sad sap playing his accoustic, singing "piano man" of all fuggin things ("piano man guitar" video results 1 - 20 of about 788), let's see more kooky stuff like this!
Me? I love guitar hero and rock band. I've spent countless hours playing w/ my friends or alone trying to get better.
Also, i've got about 20 years of piano under my belt, and around 10 of guitar. Yeah, real instruments. But i'm not gonna disparage those who choose to, you know, just have fun their own way, rather than conform w/ some supposed "ideal" method of performing music.
So, again. Why the hate? Why not just enjoy a neat vid?
Aristeia
FinalValgas
Posted 5:44 AM 4/8/08
@Dooga: maybe it doesnt matter which key he hits.
FinalValgas
FinalValgas
Posted 5:44 AM 4/8/08
I bet he's Godly in Guitar Hero and Tap Tap Revenge.
FinalValgas
Dooga
Posted 5:43 AM 4/8/08
How does he press the cellphone so fast and press the right key? The buttons are so small! I'm suspecting a fake now...
Dooga
josecardozo
Posted 5:34 AM 4/8/08
this guy probably is a musician who could recognize the tones from different phones thus using them for a particular purpose like this one.
or he just spent thousands of hours trialing and erroring, we'll probably never know.
josecardozo
RP747
Posted 5:34 AM 4/8/08
I was trying to learn that song on piano yesterday. I was also trying to learn how to play a diatonic button accordion, but I guess this guy beat me to both at the same time, playing the Turkish March on buttons!
RP747
johnnyabnormal
Posted 5:17 AM 4/8/08
Now all you gotta do is use more phones and add a ringtone :)
[www.johnnyrandom.com]
johnnyabnormal
Timooo
Posted 5:51 AM 4/8/08
+ Watch video
Timooo
Stem_Sell
Posted 6:24 AM 4/8/08
Impressive but pales in comparison to Mini-Me's rendition of 'Flight of the Bumblebee' on his Casio calculator watch...
Stem_Sell
shorty63136
Posted 6:17 AM 4/8/08
It's much more difficult to learn to play an instrment than to peck and at keys like that. When you hit the button, you get the tone - and that's it. There's no volume, no phrasing, no learning what's in tune and what isn't. I play 3 different instruments - and it's not comparable to a telephone keypad...at all.
Then again, it appears that he could already be a piano player from the way his hands and fingers were moving.
shorty63136
Faslane66
Posted 7:16 AM 4/8/08
OH, I see.........!
dumb, Although he's got to be as big hit with the ladies!!! LMAO
Giz, you owe me 33 seconds. J/K
Faslane66
johnnyabnormal
Posted 7:06 AM 4/8/08
@EVERYONE: There's no such thing as a "fake" or "real" instrument. If you can play it and create sound, it's in the club.
johnnyabnormal
buyj3llo
Posted 6:55 AM 4/8/08
one time i learned how to play "marry had a little lamb" on my cellphone. But that was nothing compared to this.
buyj3llo
the.schimmi
Posted 8:25 AM 4/8/08
it's like stepmania for phones!
the.schimmi
TDBURN
Posted 8:20 AM 4/8/08
I swear that was fake, I mean why the hey would someone do that?
TDBURN
AJ_Syrinx
Posted 10:47 AM 4/8/08
This is good enough for being Sunday, at least for me...
AJ_Syrinx
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
Posted 9:34 AM 4/8/08
Nice. But not awesome enough...
Bokusatsu_Tenshi
mushroom73
Posted 9:25 AM 4/8/08
How much time did it to find the right tones?? Time well wasted in my opinion. Even if it was fake, the impression is really cool.
mushroom73
RG_Shrike
Posted 11:39 AM 4/8/08
wow they actually spent time to figure that all out and do it..
Kinda like those hood rats who record themselves committing crimes...
RG_Shrike
markarian
Posted 2:32 PM 4/8/08
Mozart's 'Rondo Alla Turca' never sounded so inspiring...
markarian
Platypus Man
Posted 3:27 PM 4/8/08
@sakko, @jakebathman, and @Dooga: OK, I hope I'm not being an idiot here, but it doesn't matter what sound the phones are actually making in the phone system. That's just the sound the phone itself makes when you press buttons. It doesn't matter where you are or anything, that can change from one brand to the next. It all sounds the same in the system. And as for the cell phone buttons, I'm not sure, but maybe he has it set up differently or something. I don't know.
Whatever. This is extremely awesome. Awesome to the max.
Platypus Man
atomic1fire
Posted 3:45 PM 4/8/08
This would make good techno with a drum beat
atomic1fire
citizen024
Posted 1:49 AM 5/8/08
@Timooo: that made my day:)
citizen024
rickster999
Posted 10:01 PM 6/8/08
brilliant
rickster999
shenanigans61
Posted 12:41 PM 7/8/08
@skiterr: You're the kid that "quit after a year..." right? Figured. Because now that I've got the technical basics pretty well down, I can do almost whatever I want. It's just about getting faster, higher, and lower now, which is more fun than anything.
shenanigans61
BillEccles
Posted 9:55 AM 8/8/08
Oh, good golly.
I can't believe the number of gullible people who think this is real. Discounting the fact that all phones in the world now use dual tone, multiple frequency (DTMF) for dialing (go ahead, check Wikipedia... I'll wait... back? OK, good!), just pick a few notes, notice which finger s/he "plays" those notes with, and then note that those keys seem to magically be able to produce different notes depending on where in the song he or she is.
I had to watch it several times too many to make that assessment.
I really should get a life.
BillEccles