Versanjalos It's nice to be back... Hello everyone. First of all, please disregard a post with my name attached to it, asking for help retrieving passwords and such. I solved my own problem shortly after placing an inquiry. *nervous laughter* Anyways, if it's not too much trouble, i've recently began to teach myself piano and was thinking about martial arts. I'm just curious as to what opinions are held for the various styles, and also, your opinions as to a song to learn on the piano. I usually only go for classical, but any suggestions will be nice. Thank you for your time and patience. Ranma Saotome Hey man, no problem on this whole password log in thing. I get confused a lot too from time to time. I'm not all that great when it comes to that techno computer stuff. Ranma Saotome Anyway... piano and martial arts, eh? I guess it could work. You could teach yourself how to fight by lugging around a grand piano to give you good muscular strength... and have like one of those electronic keyboard thingies for close hand to hand. You could even devise melodies that could serve to confuse your opponents... maybe even hyponotise them! Ranma Saotome That's brilliant! I've never thought of that before! Versanjalos! I will train with you and your martial arts piano until I've mastered it! Naru Narusegawa I don't think that's exactly what he meant... Ranma Saotome I'm not really the guy to ask about different types of music... but I can tell you about different schools of martial arts. At least, the more common, easier to find dojos. Wushu, Hung Gar Kung Fu, Wing Chun Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Aikido, Boxing, Capoeira, Eskrima, Hapkido, Jeet Kune Do, Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Kendo, Kempo, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Ninjitsu, and Tae Kwon Do are all very common martial arts in the United States and you could probably find a school near you to teach you any one of these. Ranma Saotome OK, first you gotta figure out what you wanna use your martial art for. Defense? Offensive fighting? Style? Fitness? Coordination? Wushu is probably the most popular one, even if it's not the most famous, because it looks really really cool. If you wanna fight with style and look good doing it, take wushu. Just a warning though, it's not very practical in a fight. It was what chinese opera schools taught back in the day and it's really only used for stage fighting and hollywood movies now. It also teaches you basic weapons... the staff, the straight sword, the broad sword, the seven segment chain. Hung Gar Kung Fu is based on the tiger and the crane. It uses a combonation of close rang and hard powerful movements which represent the tiger... and long rang elusive movements of a crane. If focuses on strength and muscle control. It also focuses on the use of nunchaku, so if you wanna learn that, Hung Gar will teach you that eventually. Ranma Saotome Wing Chun, or "radiant springtime" kung fu is the cousin to Shaolin Kung Fu. In it's doctrine, there are five ways to defeat an enemy. Striking, kicking, joint lock, throws, and weapons. Wing Chun focuses on self defense, using blocking motions which flow into attacks. It's also known for quick punches and low kicks. Tai Chi isn't exactly a martial art. Think of it as exercise martial arts. It's used mainly for energy redirection and meditation. It's a good way to build up muscle endurance but it's very slow and methodical. Aikido is the Japanese style that focuses on grappling. It uses the opponent's movement against him or her. It teaches you the basics of locking your opponent and shifting your opponent's weight against them. There's very little kicking or punching... it's a lock-down and throws kinda martial art. Ranma Saotome Boxing. Uh. Pretty straight forwards. You put on some padded gloves and like... punch someone else with padded gloves. Capoeira is a brazilian martial arts which looks a lot like dancing. It has a lot of kicking and spinning... a lot. It relies almost completely on your legs. Don't think this means only your legs will get a work out though... you'll spend a lot of time in handstands too. Eskrima is a Indonesian martial arts. It's very practical and good for fighting. Most people know it for it's stick fighting techniques but it teaches you a lot of different types of practical fighting skills. Hapkido is a lot like Tae Kwon Do... at least the throwing part of it. The only difference is, instead of focusing on throwing, it focuses on kicks and strikes into the art too. Ranma Saotome Jeet Kune Do is pretty much what I think I study. More accurately, it's what I train for. Jeet Kune Do is the martial art made famous by it's creator, Bruce Lee. It means "Way of Intercepting Fist" and it's basis is having no style. There are no forms or techniques, it's mainly to teach you how to get what you need to do done in a fight, which basically means to win. In this style, you "absorb what is useful and reject what is useless." Judo is a defensive martial art which focuses on grappling. It emphasizes getting your opponent off balance and uses lots of throwing techniques. Contraty to popular belief, there is no such thing as a judo kick or judo punch. It's a lot of locking and throws. Jujitsu is a grappling style which focuses on disarming an armed enemy. It teaches how to defeat an enemy in any way possible using the least amount of force. Ju-jitsu was taught to samurai to help them disarm and defeat their enemies, even when they were defenseless. Ranma Saotome Man there are a lot of martial arts. Sorry if this is boring you, I'm kinda good at this stuff. It's not everyday I get to look smart or anything. Ranma Saotome Karate is a basic hybrid hands/feet martial art. It focuses on being unarmed and is what a lot of people take to learn the basics of unarmed combat. Kendo is what Kuno uses. It's mainstay is fighting with a sword. Kempo is the art of vital strike kung fu. It focuses on attacks which hit the points on the body which will do the most damage. Krav Maga is a very very brutal Israeli martial art. It has no forms or kata but it teaches you how to effectively hurt someone else. I wouldn't suggest this one to a beginner unless you wanna get beat up a lot first. Muay Thai is thai kickboxing. It's also a very difficult thing to train in being very brutal. It combines american boxing with lots of kicking. Ninjitsu has also been made famous by hollywood movies. It's supposedly what ninja learn to use, but it's more like a martial arts you learn if you want to be silent and stealthy. And finally Tae Kwon Do! It's a korean martial art that focuses on kicking and strikes in a very linear way. It's very straightforwards and form is very important. This is a very spiritual martial art and it's purpose is mainly to teach disciple and self control. Ranma Saotome Uh. So, like.. that's mostly it. There are hundreds of different martial arts... which ever you find, the most important part is sticking with it. Especially if you wanna get good at it. Practice and discipline are necessary for learning any good martial art. Ranma Saotome But mastering piano martial arts... this may be your key to victory! Versanjalos That's, uh, alot of various styles. I mean, I knew there were alot, but I didn't really think this much. However thanks for the advice, I will put it to good use and good luck with your own training.