Swordland (Sword Art Online OST)-Yuki Kajiura

Swordland is probably one of the most iconic soundtracks from the Sword Art Online series and it's still being used in important key moments in the currently airing SAO Alicization Anime series. It's one of my favorite compositions from Yuki Kajiura, mainly because of the brilliant harmonic progression in the majestic main theme.

I have already uploaded a piano arrangement of this main theme on my Youtube Channel 6 years ago, which has become very popular in the following years. Also, did you know that both me, Theishter and Kyle Landry were uploading Swordland within one week, unbeknownst to each other? It was one of the craziest coincidences I have ever witnessed and it was really fun to compare the different piano cover versions from the three of us.

This arrangement is almost exactly the same as the 2014 piano version, and the only difference is the upgraded sound quality (and the added Glissando at the end). The most difficult part to play is still the left hand in 00:21 because you need both stamina and rhythmic precision to endure these seemingly endless arpeggio waves.

The right hand octave jumping in 02:38 is a technique I really favored during my 2013-2015 arrangement style, because I wanted to maximize the volume of the piano sound. I also used this technique in my piano arrangement for "Attack on Titan" OST as well during the climax (see link below). Nowadays, I would rather use scales or rhythmic variations to fill in the gaps between the melodies instead of octave jumps.

See you next time!

The old "invisible" Swordland upload from 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5kyjnlDNZs

Attack on Titan OST [piano]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69lx6TvQTFg&feature=youtu.be&t=178

My facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/Animenz

https://twitter.com/Animenzzz

https://www.instagram.com/animenz_official/

Piano arrangement by Animenz

Original Song: Swordland (Original Soundtrack)

Anime: Sword Art Online / SAO / ソードアート・オンライン

Published by: Aniplex (2013)

Composed by: Kajiura Yuki / 梶浦由記