Interested - but where do I go from here?

General
#1

Hi all,

To start off: my compliments on this website, the first lessons and the forum. I feel quite welcome registering and asking my questions, so thanks for that.

To the point! I’m an 28 year old Dutch guy who loves music. I’ve been playing guitar in bands for quite a few years now, mainly emotional/melodic hardcore punk. Even though I’m an average guitar player and probably never will be the new Jimmy, I feel I should take a look into a new instrument and cover a totally different part of “me”

With our fast and sometimes overwhelming society I feel I should do something to relax, something with culture, with love and with music (sorry if sounding funny!). I’ve thought about meditating or yoga but figured I get more out of playing an instrument than only listening to it :wink: A few years ago I got into some traditional Japanese music through Memoirs of a Geisha and started listening and looking for bands/cd’s. My favourite is the instrumental version of Sakura Sakura by Rin’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DOg2Rpg0-4).

Out of all the instruments I find the Shamisen the most intriguing one. I love the sound, the buzzing (yeah, I know there is a name for that). So, I think I want to learn to play this instrument and this website is a good start.

However: how did you guys get a Shamisen? I looked on google and can’t find any Dutch shop, lessons or whatsoever. I would be interested in making one myself, if only my tool skills weren’t so bad (left hands!). I was hoping a few of you could share stories how you got a Shamisen and what to look for. I know they come in different prices and wouldn’t mind spending a few euro’s if I know what to look for. Ebay is full of them, but I;m not sure that’s money well spend.

All in all, I’m just looking for directions.

Thanks!

#2

Jorlaf! Welcome and best luck to ya! I’m sure you’ll find lots of different and excellent advice here! Hopefully things won’t be too confusing for you but I’ll say this at least once, just take your time getting familiar with everything. Like with anything new, being curious is always beneficial but more so, keeping an open mind and patience is invaluable in the long run. Otherwise take advantage of the resources here and ask all kinds of questions! =D

With the general schpeel out of the way here’s my simple story (which by no means should be taken as a great example haha).

I became interested in shamisen while training with my universities Taiko drumming group. I remember first hearing shamisen in some backing tracks of movies/anime I was into at the time and I decided to research it from there. This was about 7~8 years ago, by the way, and at that time there were practically no English resources like Bachido available. So I started hunting as best I could on youtube and other websites for any/all info I could find.

Auction sites, like Ebay, were the first places I sought to purchase a real shamisen but the choices were slim and the items were not really in playable conditions. So I took more time to think of other options. At this point I started to apply my Japanese skills (which were quite low then) to search the Japanese part of the web in the hopes of naively sifting through pages of kanji to find a online shop that might have more quality instruments for comparative purposes.

Eventually I did find a place and I was quite fortunate (however after just checking now, that same site no longer has any shamisen). On a whim I sent an e-mail to said shop, in English, and luckily was able to further correspond with them.
You can find the exact kit I bought elsewhere by searching [ 入門津軽三味線セット ] (read: nyuu mon tsugaru shamisen setto --> introductory tsugaru shamisen set) and you’ll find places like Amazon.jp selling it for about US$500~$600. That is where I began, and it proved totally worthwhile. The price is also cheap relative to “normal” Tsugaru shamisen. At this point it might be worth noting there are different sizes or styles of shamisen instruments and those referred to as “tsugaru shamisen” are the largest and usually most expensive out there. So the kit I have is quite cheap compare to usual tsugaru shamsien. I have since made modifications/upgrades to mine in the effort to better match the sound quality of higher grade shamisen.

My training first started with small booklet (in Japanese, but it has lots of helpful pictures!) as well as attempting to mimic hours of youtube performances. Then eventually (around 2006~2007) I found some of Kyles videos where he was breaking down the song, Rokudan, into slow performances. I started drilling that and so on. I eventually found myself a teacher and was fortunate enough to take about two years of lessons before finally moving to Japan today. I haven’t tried to get a new teacher though and just play on weekends now.

Hope this helps a little bit and sorry to be wordy!

#3

Hi Joralf! Welcome to Bachido!

Thanks for your message and some of your musical history! Adrian (another Bachido member here) and I are trying to get a melodic metal band with shamisen started. We’re starting from scratch, so it’s been difficult getting “our groove”.

I agree with what you feel. I feel life speeding up so much. Already, days are flying by like minutes and years are flying like months! I’m a little too restless for the regular kind of meditation, but I find playing an instrument, when focused, can be just as meditative and keeps you in the moment.

I still don’t really know why shamisen attracts me the way it does, but it encompasses many aspects to what we look for in activities/life. The fluid bachi movements engage and satisfy physical coordination, the yearning for a clean tone engages and satisfies the need for focus. And the resonance / buzzing… it’s almost hypnotic.
It’s hard to explain feelings, but that’s my stab at it. :wink:

There are some sets on ebay which are decent quality. If you are first wanting to try out shamisen, getting a used nagauta shamisen would be a great way to start. Later on, you can always upgrade. :slight_smile:

If you see a shamisen set that looks intriguing, post a link here. I/we can take a look and let you know if it is in good shape and worth getting.

Cheers! :slight_smile:
Kyle

#4

Echoed: Once comfortable with any given instrument, it has the potential to become a wholly different form of meditation when playing/jamming without thinking; using scales and riffs to satisfy one’s desires.

As for how/why I got into Shamisen:
In 2007 I attended (on a whim) a live performance by our own Kevin Kmetz in his punk-metal-ska-dub-mind-blowing-wtf-shamisen band ‘God of Shamisen’. I was left shocked and forever changed. Once I collected my thoughts, contacted him immediately about starting. But the price…. I was but a poor youth who had only just graduated from High School.

Fast forward 5-6 years, while living in Japan, I was gifted a beginner nagauta shamisen after impressing one of my Japanese language sensei. That shamisen even accompanied me to the competitions in Japan, despite not being tsugaru style. I shredded on that to the best of my abilities until upgrading was absolutely necessary. Of course, the inevitable jump was not cheap…but like anything worth while, the money invested was well invested towards the quality.

So has become the general rule for me when picking up new things; procure a crappy, low-end version of the thing you want to learn, rock hard, and when you are decent and/or the tool is what holds back further development, upgrade.

I’d suggest a similar path to anyone. Enter low risk, train hard, and when you’re ready, go big!! Bachido has a great resource of members who would be more than happy to assist in procuring you a quality shamisen, so please dig in.

Best wishes to you, mate~

#5

Hi guys!

Thanks for the kind answers. I’ll take Kyle’s tip on looking for a Shamisen and will post when I find one that I’d like to buy.

I’d prefer to have a Tsugaru, because it kind of feels like the real deal, but I reckon the investment is much bigger and it might be a waste of money. I think Adrians way is the way to go here (I didn’t buy a Fender as my first guitar huh :wink: )

How do the different Shamisen compare to eachother when it comes to tuning and playability? Is it like playing a Gibson LP (thick neck, heavy body) or a LTD (small neck, different tone, low weight) or are they really different instruments?

As for Bachido: i think there is enough information here on getting me going once I get the shamisen.

All the best,

joralf

#6

Rad~! I’m very excited for you.

As far as tuning/playing goes, the different styles generally use the same tuning. It is possible to play tsugaru pieces on a nagauta/jiuta, but you might need to be careful about the skin. Also, the biggest difference is really how wide the sao (neck) is, and the size of the dou (body).

Nagauta shamisen have a lighter tone, because the dou is smaller. As such, you can’t get nearly as booming-ly loud compared to a tsugaru. But seeing as how you will more than likely be playing solo for practice, the volume is not going to be a huge deal when you first start.

Tsugaru have a futo-zao (fat neck), where as nagauta have a hoso-zao (skinny neck). This became a challenge for me personally when playing tsugaru pieces on my nagauta; I found it very hard to fret the strings in the correct place without bumping into others.

To be clear, there are many details I have glazed over in comparing these styles, but this is just a quick run-down of points that I noticed personally in switching from nagauta to tsugaru.

I hope this helps you out~!

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