Is it possible to low down the sound of the shamisen?

General
1

Hello there!

I’m Jose from Spain :slight_smile: Two month ago i bought a tsugaru-shamisen in Japan.

Been playing at home for 1h or 2h in a day and i’m really improving my technique :smiley:

The matter is that one of my neighbors tells me that he can heard the instrument too much in his home, so i need to do something about that cause i want to keep playing that long at home.

So, someone knows how can i low down the power sound the shamisen?

like putting some pads on the resonance box or something?

Please help me! i want to keep on playing!! :frowning:

2

There’s always the shinobi koma that’s on the store here on bachido.

But if you’re like me (a college student on a budget) I put either a sock or a soft glove under the strings right up against the koma(The side facing the sao). I do that for quiet hours and it nullifies it quite well.

3

Welcome to Bachido, Jose!

That’s awesome that you have a tsugaru shamisen and really enjoying it! You know, there is a Bachido member from Madrid, Paco. He juggling between violin and shamisen which makes him busy, but I think he’s still playing frequently. I’m not sure where you are in Spain, but it’s certainly possible to meet up with other Bachido members to practice with, if you’d like. :slight_smile:

Putting a sock under the strings is a good idea, I never thought about that. I generally use a long pencil to dampen the sound. :wink:

Jose, if you’re interested, the shinobi koma, which dampen sound, are available here - http://bachido.com/products/koma

4

Thanks to you and bachido For let me know better The shamisen and The techniques :slight_smile:

Im from Barcelona and Maybe The only one in The city with a shamisen xD i will search For paco to talk about it

For me, shamisen is a new horizon cause normally I Play guitar in my “metal” band :slight_smile: But Im really enjoying the shamisen to!

So if i change the koma For a long pencil it can work by The moment?

Thanks again !!

5

I usually just use my pinky on the koma, it turns down the volume depending on how much pressure you are putting on the koma.

I can play while my partner is sleeping against me without waking them :slight_smile:

6

I am not sure but think someone in an earlier thread also mentioned using an eraser / rubber placing it under the strings somewhere close to or instead of the koma . . . anyway looks like there are a lot of options for this out there to do that without having to worry too much about hurting your shamisen . . .

and welcome to the forum also from me - I was in barcelona 2 times in my life so far cool city and matadepera (a village close to barcelona) is official sister village to mariapfarr in austria where I grew up this came to be because they met at a samson gathering and both villages have those giants around :slight_smile:

(among the drinking action you can spot our Samson at 1:33 and half of Agnes the better half of the spanish giants couple at 2:12)

7

I was just wondering about this, too, now that I’m in an apartment with roommates! Thanks for the suggestions. :slight_smile:

8
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Ah, I remember this from last year! That’s your dad as the annoyed neighbor, right? Isn’t it great living with parents. You’ve always got a cast of characters on hand. :slight_smile:

Great sound-silencing information in this video!