awesome. looking forward to hearing the version with the real skin!
uau, you playing is great! i am glad someone took the chalage of rokudan!! we all should do!!! shouldx we??? lets do it!!@
Josh,
Sounds great man!
Josh you show that you donāt need the best gear to sound great 
Nice work!
Whoa. Great.
Hereās some cheat for those still wanting to participate after Joshās contribution.
Tell me if link does not work.
that was awesome Josh! I agree with Karl, the skill shines through even with the plastic skin, although I have to admit I donāt think it sounds that bad
Wow, haha
I havenāt heard many plastic skinned shamisen but I never knew they could sound so good.
Awesome, Josh!! That brought a smile to my face.
Papa always says, āItās not the instrument that makes the musician sound good, but the musician that makes the instrument sound good.ā I.e, a really skilled player could make a tin pot with a string sound just as pleasing as a finely tuned lute (to be semi-poetic). I think thereās definitely some truth to that. As Josh shows, you donāt necessarily need a kouki shamisen to make good tone.
Actually, it reminds me when I was playing volleyball in high school (well, the homeschool community version of high school). When my mates and I got promoted to āA Teamā, everyone suddenly got an incredible ego boost (not in the good way). One highlight was when my mate went to the āC Teamā (beginning team) and took the high end volleyball from them, saying āWeāre the better team, so we need the better ball.ā I found that hilarious. I thought, if weāre truly the superior team, we should be able to dominate even with a deflated balloon! 
Needless to say, I stopped playing.
Really, really looking forward to your experience with the FiberSen, Josh
Iām gonna try kawahari on my bloodwood shamisen today, so hopefully I can start working on my ichidan soon. I havenāt played in a while, and the lack of skin hasnāt helped.
hey cool thanks for sharing the clip
Nice videos people! I need to work on my pitch, man. I guess I also gotta get around to putting something up soon, huh? Well, it just so happens that Iāll be in kimono for an event on Saturday, so maybe Iāll record something then. Surely wearing a kimono will make my playing ability, like, a million times better, right?
ćØć¼ļ¼
I finally got around to putting my video together. Iām not completely satisfied with it, but hey, itās been kinda slow on here with the posting, so I figured I might as well put it up anyway. I might make another one before the year is through, but for now, take a look!
Man, I should probably invest in some better lightingā¦
Jamie,
Youāre Rockinā man! And yes, wearing a kimono certainly helps make the performance that much more epic! ē¬!
Keep up the great Roku Danning!
As usual, epic power in your playing!
Jamie, that is a wonderful Roku Danning and you look great in Kimono!!
Nice playinā Jamie
cool playing and apparel!
Josh - you arenāt giving yourself enough credit. Your playing sounds really amazing for a lower grade instrument, and for so little practice, you kick ass.
Kevin - I am really impressed with your rhythm and timing with Rokudan, and you are doing such a great job of keeping on smooth with your bachi and left hand technique!
Jamie - I truly enjoy watching your bachi hand and looking at how you play your Shamisen! It is sounding awesome!
Also, I am jealous of your outfit.
Thanks for the kind words, guys! I swear though, while I fully understand the concept of maebachi and ushirobachi and feel like I am executing them properly, watching myself on video really shows how much I need to work on making them distinct. Also, I wonāt be satisfied until I can seriously wail on my shamisen like Noriko Tadano.
I mean, look at the height of her windup! Gah.
As for the threads, those are mine. Iām not sharing. Well, maybe Iāll share another picture (Kyoko, youāve seen this one):
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/270999_693930605474_7466432_n.jpg
Props for wardrobe! I hope Norm grants a few points for that.
(Btw, is anyone gonna be judging these?)
Hey Kevin! Do you want to record Ichidan together when you come to SC??