Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone! I’m Alesahna, a hardcore fan of the harp and a long time player of both the game and all of the in-game instruments. I’ve been playing and transcribing songs since the first Wintersday when Bell Choir became my favorite mini-game ever, and since then I’ve worked on transcribing new, more challenging songs for myself and bringing beautiful and familiar music into Tyria.

Now I’d like to help you play them too!

Since macros have been officially OK’ed by the mods, I’ve noticed a lot of people buying harps or lutes to play pre-programmed music that they find on GW2MB or similar sites. While sometimes the songs sound beautiful and complex, it lacks the expression, personal touch and enjoyment of a hand played song, both for the performer and the listeners. When I ask if they know how to actually play songs, most people will respond “ah, it’s too hard.” I’d like to try and change that. If you can type, you can play!

I’ve put together a playlist of songs to help you learn!
GW2 Instruments for Beginners

The playlist takes you through some short, familiar songs with both a simple version and a more complex version for you to advance to. There are also original, repeatable practices that you can continue to play for as long as you like to get your fingers used to movements like pressing keys together for chords, swapping octaves, or flourishes like sliding chords. I’ll be adding more songs to this list over time, so check back every now and then.

Once you’re comfortable playing as smoothly as the example piece, try out some of the songs in my instrument playlists!

If you think of any lessons or practices you feel I may have missed, please do let me know, as I would be happy to help you learn. Hopefully, together we can fill Tyria with beautiful music.

Any recommendations for keybinds? I’ve altered my keybinds to suit normal play, so my skills aren’t set to 1234567890 like the default.

Do you use 1234567890 for your skills or something else?

Mo Mo.1947:

Any recommendations for keybinds? I’ve altered my keybinds to suit normal play, so my skills aren’t set to 1234567890 like the default.

Do you use 1234567890 for your skills or something else?

Hey! GW2 actually allows you to use two different keys to activate the same command, it’s a second column in the control options window, so it’s a secondary keybind. I have my 67890 set to ECVBZ as well as to the original keybinds, so I can position my hands on the number keys for playing music, then use the letter keys for combat

Yay! Thank you so much Gaile! I’m happy to help spread the harp-y love