Performing vibrato (suri?)

Playing/Techniques
#1

I’ve been playing the beginning of Rokudan as part of my ichi no ito striking pratice and one thing I’ve noticed is that the piece comes to life so much more when a good player performs the vibrato on each tone. Suri is the slide, so is there another word for this little vibrato?

I notice myself not being able to move the ring finger up and down with enough speed and precision to generate the sound that I can hear in the recordings.

The first step is that I’ve become much better at preventing myself of trying to perform the vibrato vertically like with a guitar. I’m playing slide guitar as well, and there you create the vibrato in a similar way of how you do it with the shamisen, but it’s not the same thing.

The second step that I’ve taken is to apply much less pressure when sliding, as you don’t need much and it’s easier to move the hand then.

Third, I am not able to keep the shamisen totally stationary without holding it up a little with my left hand. Is this something that I need to correct immediately?

Fourth, I noticed that holding the left hand in different ways made it easier/harder to maintain control of the vibrato. If you have any tips or can show in a video from a POV, it would be great!

I’ve become so much better at my bachi technique just due to practicing more and more, so I’m confident that I will get better and better at this. At the same time I miss that teacher that can show me directly how I should hold my hand.

Thanks!

#2

Karl,

first step- I agree. vertical guitar vibrato= bad habbit for Shamisen.

second step- I disagree. I think vibrato as would be played in the opening notes of rokudan always feels more cool to me when I grab those notes and go to town with them. Its true you dont need nearly the finger strength that you may use on a guitar but that is no reason to always hold back. Sometimes you gotta show those notes who is the BOSS!

third - I agree. Dont suffer any longer through that. In fact, dont even practice anymore until you can comfortably hold it up without relying on extra support from the left hand. Its bad for your shoulders and neck too. Part of the secret is the placement of the dou. Thats where you want to focus. Hug that thing to your tummy and let your bachi arm hold it up. Make sure to keep it straight though (vertical). and if your bachi arm is uncomfortable just keep experimenting and watching master players. There`s a point of balance you will need to find. Without finding that point you are probably doing more damage to both your body and your musical progress.

fourth- one thing to try to incorporate into this is your thumb. Keep it stationary. anchor it firmly against the neck. Then let the vibrato just be like the tossing of the waves on the surface of a deeply rooted ocean (I mean like your thumb is the ocean …)

#3

Thanks Kevin,

I get your message, tsugaru shamisen is about showing who’s boss after all! I think I still need to start out practicing with less force to learn the movement and then improve on the tone. I’ll get back to you when I’ve sorted out my posture and tried holding my thumb stationary.

#4

So…When do we get to hear more funky improvisations?

#5

Haha maybe sooner than later :wink:

Been listening to some old classic funk and soul lately so I’m definately in the right mood. I need to fix my doukake first. I’ve tried to find good faux leather strips but to no avail. I will just make the holes in the doukake and tie it up with whatever I have so that I can hold it up without the doukake falling off, which is the main reason why I have to hold it up a bit at the moment.

But I hear you, it’s about time for another video.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott