Hi Kyle,
I went to Japan on a trip this March-April 2014 and I went crazy and decided to buy a shamisen and try to learn by myself. The guys who sold it to me in Tokyo misunderstood me and he forgot to sell me the Bachi but I couldn’t go to Kyoto again so I asked him about a place in Tokyo.
This is how I ended up in Mikado Shop in Asakusa. When I told the woman that I couldn’t not find a teacher near my area, she made a phone call and that was how I could meet Jamie Low and Norm Nakamura as my first real contact with the shamisen world. They suggested me to subscribe on Bachido and I’ve followed their advice.
I’ve registered about 3 weeks ago and I purchased Ringo Bushi Lesson. I think I will be able to play it within the next week so I’m looking for my next lesson. As I studied classical guitar in University for some years, I think I can skip some of the lessons sometimes in order to learn the pieces that I like the most instead of learning everything but I’m facing a wall right now to choose my next lesson. This is why I would like to bring this suggestion to you regarding the video lessons.
I was also wondering how you classify the difficulty in your index of songs. I’m trying to concentrate on techniques while I’m learning shamisen and I was thinking that knowing which techniques are needed for each lessons would be a great help in picking the right one. I want to learn properly but if I skip some lessons, I’d like to know which technique are included in it to make sure I’m not missing something needed.
Thank you for making my life easier with this website and for improving it constantly!