Koma selection - nagauta, shinobi, bachigawa

Here’s another flurry of questions:

Which koma would you put on the Beginner’s Shamisen (nagauta)? I’d take the plain bamboo one would make the sound softer so it’d be a tad closer to tsugaru/generic shamisen. On the other hand to me at least (basing it mainly on a few youtube videos) the sound of this shamisen appears a bit stuffy and heavy, compared to the much more expensive nagauta shamisen you see in recordings which appear very clean and clear. Would the bone tip koma “improve” this if you’re more looking for a true nagauta shamisen experience?

Also what’s the latest word WRT shinobi koma? I currently live in an apartment building, though when my financial situation improves, I’ll of course move to my own mansion with my taiko drum set, but until then… Would the Deluxe version of the shinobi koma be really useful, or are there better options on the market? Would it still be not very enjoyable, not because of just the changed sound quality, but being otherwise less than practical or otherwise not quite exhilarating? How well suited is the deluxe version for a nagauta (at least the height is adjustable…)?

Is a bachigawa recommended? I think I’ve seen even high level players use one in some videos.

Hi Yatagarasu!

Good questions. It’s hard to say what a “generic” shamisen would sound like, because it varies depending on the skin tension/thickness as well as the koma material. 80% of the tone difference depends on the particular skin. Thus, two seemingly identical nagauta shamisen can sound vastly different depending on the skin tension/quality. One shamisen can sound more heavy or light than another shamisen, all based on the skin.

Usually, the tone of tsugaru shamisen is known to be sharper than nagauta shamisen, but as always, it is somewhat preferential. If the particular shamisen sounds warmer than desired, you can sharpen the tone with a bone tipped koma. If it is plenty sharp already, you can make the tone warmer with a bamboo koma. :slight_smile:

In summary, every shamisen is going to sound a bit different, because the skin is natural and thus every skin is different. I always favor a sharper sound, so a bone tipped koma will always be my first choice.

I’ve tried all three, and noticed that the Deluxe is much nicer to play with, because it softens the percussion of the bachi strikes. The cheapest shinobi koma isn’t bad, but even though it significantly reduces the volume from the strings, the sound of the bachi striking the skin is unchanged. That’s kind of unsatisfying, in my opinion. The higher end shinobi koma fixes that. :slight_smile:

Koma selection is actually a bit confusing for a number of reasons. From the earlier koma comparison blogcast I get the impression that what we see on internet shops is not even the tip of the iceberg WRT what’s actually available on the Japanese market accessible to Bachido/Mr Nitta. There must be a ton of different combinations just with the selection and mix of materials (eg. if you want some kind of bone you’d have ox bone, bekkou, ivory for starters…). On top of that different styles of shamisen (or traditions of playing) use different koma that vary in not only materials but sizing as well.

Though I guess there’s no rule or pressing need to match the koma with your type of instrument, unless you want to keep to the traditional ways of playing. (As long as the notches on the koma align with the strings.) I figure playing will be quite different though if you have a high koma on tsugaru or a low one on nagauta. Rather the best rule would be going with the koma that matches your style of playing, or the kind of sound you want, of course.

Back to the Deluxe shinobi - does it actually have near-identical versions for tsugaru and nagauta? I understand it has a flat part also called the bachigawa, but this - I suppose - would need to be of different size on tsugaru vis-a-vis nagauta, because the skin is of different size (and maybe the area is used differently in typical playing too)?

Hmm I suppose the clear and sharp sound of high-level professionals on nagauta could then depend on not just the general quality of the instrument/materials, but specifically on the cat skin, and also the skin being very tight. I’ve already bumped into some anecdotes about how tight some professionals want their skin :slight_smile: and also professionals tend to get a re-skinning much more often than amateurs.

I suppose a part of the shamisen’s attraction is that it’s a very personal and modular instrument. Also I’m seeing a bit of a buddhist (in a Japanese way) ring to the thing that the sound of the instrument keeps changing and never lasts for ever.

The limitless options for koma is confusing, but remember that none of it really matters. The same thing happens in the coffee world, tech world or perhaps anything that can be customized - I.e, when the user pursues more variety, greater-than-necessary importance can get taken into it. For example, a techie can get passionate about a processor being 1ms faster/slower than another and hyping that difference. Likewise, some people in the shamisen world get very passionate about the tone change of a koma 1mm wider/thinner than another. It’s true, there is technically a difference in tone, but it’s so minuscule that it’s far more beneficial to put that focus into actually playing the instrument. :wink:

Playing with different materials is fun, and it’s great to try them out. But always remember that if one focuses their energy towards playing, far more tonal improvements will be noticed regardless of equipment. As an example, here’s a video of Nitta san using a plastic bachi. A hard plastic bachi is not pleasant to use, yet Nitta san has so much playing experience, he can make it sound like a dream bachi.

True. Unless you are studying under a teacher and want to learn a specific style, you can usually use any koma for any shamisen. :slight_smile: When I give shamisen group workshops, I use nagauta shamisen outfitted with tsugaru koma. They sound just fine. A taller koma would sound different, but not better or worse. Without a teacher, personal preference is the biggest deciding factor, I believe.

The Deluxe koma is sized for the dou of a tsugaru shamisen, but personally, I’d trim it down to fit the nagauta shamisen, and use a file to make narrower string notches, if need be. :stuck_out_tongue:

Ah yes, professional nagauta shamisen players like to reskin their shamisen a LOT. Personally, I think it’s a bit too neurotic. A friend of mine (who reskins shamisen) gets a bit irritated with them because after one concert, they’ll take their shamisen to be reskinned before the next concert the following day. What’s more, they always want their shamisen skin to be even tighter than before. “Cat skin can only be tightened so much. The skin was already so tight, why change it?” he asks. For the skinners, it feels like a waste of skin. They know it’s a good skin and it’s tight, but the player is so absorbed in their own aesthetic, what they think is better.

These nagauta players probably change their skins once a week (if not more), whereas Nitta san (who is one of the highest-level shamisen players in Sapporo) changes his skin about once a year. Similarly, his koma is bamboo with a little sliver of bone on top. Two professional players with polar opposite aesthetics. From these examples, I feel high aesthetic standards seem to be a judge of a player’s ego more than their skill.

That’s why I prefer to downplay the importance of aesthetics, because it seems based in the mind more than in reality. Thus, we’re just keeping our koma selection simple and refining it to two options, one for a brighter tone and another for a warmer tone. Nitta san’s favorite koma is bamboo with a sliver of bone on top. If that’s good enough for him, than it’s should be good enough for anyone else. :slight_smile:

Note, this is all personal opinion. :slight_smile:

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Went with a full bone koma, which I take is the most common for nagauta, it gives a good sharp sound yet is quite affordable. Ivory is probably sharper still but my understanding is the price goes up as well (of course would need to get a fake ivory one). A bamboo koma with bone tip could be interesting, just to try out a warmer sound, the Bachido one could be nice though I’d probably prefer the lower nagauta height.

The bone koma doesn’t seem to have a huge material thickness, I wager by a freak of misfortune it could just break somehow so a spare one may be a good idea.

How about making one’s experimental koma? Do the european varieties of wood have some good characteristics (besides material being cheap)? How about pine or birch for example?

The bone koma doesn’t seem to have a huge material thickness, I wager by a freak of misfortune it could just break somehow so a spare one may be a good idea.

Yeah, weather bone, plastic or zouge, those thin koma are really delicate things, and are prone to breaking.

Pine or birch could work, though I’m not sure if the material is hard enough (I.e, won’t warp/bend when shaved thin). That said, it doesn’t hurt to try! :slight_smile:

I think maple would be good as well. That wood is used for steel string banjo bridges, so certainly would be hard enough, methinks.

Just some notes here: There are four things about the 'stringing" of stringed instruments that affect the character and quality of the sound irrespective of string type/material and material of the resonant chamber (dou for shamisen). Nut height, bridge height (koma), bridge material and “footprint”, and position on the skin.

While most stringed instrument players focus on nut height and bridge height to reduce buzzing and optimize the fingering, the relationship between nut height and bridge height is more important than that. Relative to string thickness, the height of the strings above the fretboard affects the frequency response and tone (and volume) of the instrument. Even without buzzing, strings too close to the fretboard will “choke” the frequencies coming off the strings (harmonic damping). This is usually adjusted by bridge height (along with string height for playing efficiency). It happens with some instruments sometimes that the best resonance height for the strings, sometimes is not the best height for playing :(…

The job of the bridge is to set the scale of the instrument and transmit it’s sound to the resonant chamber. Generally the choice is for hard materials like bone, ivory and very hard woods. Softer wood tends to kill the high frequencies and dampen the lows rather than transmitting them into the resonant chamber. It can make the instrument sound muddy. Coupled with an excessively low string height, the instrument will sound thin and flat. Hard materials contribute, of course, to the idea that an instrument is “brighter”, because more of the high frequency harmonics are passed along.

Mutes work by heavily damping all frequencies before they can be passed to the dou. Here’s a muting trick from banjo players: clip a clothes pin to either side of the bridge :slight_smile: Koma are smaller and more fragile, but the same technique might work without having to buy a more expense special koma. For the ladies, a small plastic hair barrette (child’s or doll sized) modified by cutting out three clearance slots over the strings and clipped to the koma (same principal of commercial guitar and violin mutes) might achieve the same result for cheap.

Western acoustic instruments almost always use “rock” maple, ebony or rosewood for the body of the bridge, though the top may be bone, ebony, rosewood or other choices (usually ebony or bone, if any at all). Maple and ebony are chosen because they have very low pitch content, which deadens the sound (rosewood is “muddier”). For acoustic guitars, I’ve used brass and carbon fibre rod in place of the traditional bone bridge cap! Maple is used because it is reasonably acoustically transparent. The cap is what tailors the frequency harmonics passing to the resonant chamber.
If you are making your own and are not necessarily being a traditionalist regarding shape and style, make the main body of a very hard wood, and run a thin sliver of a wood of choice for its cap, to get the desired clarity or tone your like.

The current koma for my Nagauta shamisen (plastic skin) is a full ox-bone(seller told me it was ox horn???) at 1cm. It produce a brighter sharp timbre that my Jiuta teacher tell me it would “drown” all other Jiuta players during performance. I enjoy it personally as I am into Nagauta but have not found a teacher nearby.

The redwood (red oak?) koma I originally use with my shamisen stretched with calf skin myself sound very warm. Even on my plastic skin sound very much banjo like. I believes this is for Kouta (short song)

The ox bone koma snap after the first class after I fold in in my bachi bag. Luckily I played with it couple days before class. Lesson learned keep it in its original box!!! It sound the same after I Gorilla Glue’d it.

I believes softwood itself will absorb some of the vibration and greatly alter the sound. This might be why bone produce brighter timbre by transfer most vibration to the skin.
In turn of height of komas… The only thing I learn is from Wikipedia.

I brought different types of woods to make some experiential komas. But I am still learning with my jigsaw. Hopefully, I will know enough to make my own koma.

***My Jiuta teacher told me there is a way to mute the sound by pressing the flat leg of the koma with my pinky as she told me it is crucial to hold the bachi properly at the right position/angel in order to pluck the string at the same time.

***My Jiuta teacher told me there is a way to mute the sound by pressing the flat leg of the koma with my pinky as she told me it is crucial to hold the bachi properly at the right position/angel in order to pluck the string at the same time.

This is also documented by Kyle, I recall that tsugaru players press on the leg or the top of the koma to have a muted sound volume for the quiet parts of the piece, it’s at least in his book. I think you can also press on the skin to mute the sound, but think this is not a part of orthodox technique?

I am not a pro-player but I think pressing the skin is but riskier than on the koma. The koma itself spread the pressure on the skin. I am worry the skin will break or stain if they are natural

And add to what Kyle said earlier different shamisen has different skin. I notice the broken skins I got from my shamisen(s) are very different. One of them is soft, thick, and fluffy while the other one is think and rough after being wet. I believes they aren’t made from standardize breed of dogs.

I believes the only way to test out different quality of koma is to use them on synthetic skin since they are more identical.

It is sad to hear pro players reskin weekly for concert. I hope the skinner reuse them for student shamisen…

Just fyi, for more sound samples of different koma (bridges), you can check out this YT user’s videos (about 22 videos). I am enjoying her other videos as well. //
YouTube user “三味線 三萃園 Shamisen Sansuien”

Hey Virginia,

That’s actually a shop out by Nagoya. She’s the teacher associated with the shop.

http://www.shamisen.ne.jp/shamisen_life/shop/tenpo.html

They’re very knowledgeable about different types of shamisen, their materials, and dimensions.

Thanks Chris! Just checked out the shop website. oh nice!!
Also for those interested, looks like some videos with synthetic head (floppy edges).