So.
I’m a new player and i’ve ended up with nagauta shamisen because it was like half of the price of tsugaru :).
And i’ve got nothing to complain about it, except i have no idea of where the position markers should be in nagauta because it’s smaller than Tsugaru shamisen.
so. I was hoping someone who maybe played nagauta shamisen before getting a Tsugaru or just likes nagauta more and plays one could help me with this?
i would really appreciate it!
False alarm. 
i figured them out
Glad you figured it out yourself.
Just in case anyone else has the same question, tho’, they might like to know that the positions for nagauta and for Tsugaru are the same. 
I have the same problem Ortjo. The position markers on my nagauta shamisen are starting to slide/fall off and I’m not sure they were ever in the correct places to begin with. Could you share your info on this?
Thanks!
if you own the book Shamisen of japan then Linda already answered your question if not then i can tell you the locations
I’ll be buying it in October! I ran myself out of money buying the shamisen and then again buying the bachi. ;V
So no worries- I’ll get them from the book. I’m trying to tame my enthusiasm while I wait, as it will probably answer 95% of my questions.
well there’s nothing wrong about enhtusiasm but yea you’ll probably get your answers from the book 
That’s weird. I have a Nagauta shamisen (I figured that out thanks to this website: neck swoops down, no extra skin on the sides of the dou), and I tried to position my markers by listening as well as I could, but… it’s not the same as with the Tugaru shamisen: my marker for ‘3’ is definitely supposed to be somewhere between 12 and 12,5 cm and my marker for ‘4’ must be somewhere around 18,5 cm. I want to have them all in exactly the right place, but it’s not that easy just by ear. Can someone help me on this? Some extra information, just in case: my shamisen is about 95,5 cm long, and the neck only, starting from the dou up to the tip, is about 75 cm.
Thanks so much!
E.
Oh? i marked my shamisen with the places written in the book.
But some spots i changed a little to get the right kinda sound.
You can also use guitar tuner to help place them.
Though i did notice that the positions 17-19 are basically impossible to get straight where the book says because of the slope in Nagauta
edit: And welcome to Bachido Ed!
Thanks, Ortjo, I’ll think I’ll try to finish it by ear and maybe with a tuner. Is the neck of your shamisen also only 75 cm? Because maybe, for some weird reason they made the neck of my instrument shorter…?
Cheers,
Ed
Hi Ed,
Using a tuner is a very good way to check that the places are right.
If you measure the exact distance from the kamigoma (the ‘nut’ at the top of the neck) to the koma (the bridge) - the marker for 10 is exactly halfway between these. Before you take that measurement, you should place the bridge about 3 fingers’ width from the edge of the dou.
Also, 4 and 6 generally fall almost exactly on the two lines of the upper joint on a 3-piece neck, but again, check these with a tuner to be sure.
Hi Gerry, so the bridge always has to be about 3 fingers’ width from the edge of the dou? That explains a lot. Mine isn’t in the right place obviously… haha. First I’m gonna wait for my new strings and then I’m going to measure the 10 and see if I can find my old guitar tuner for the rest…
Thanks a lot!
Ed