Realized a little thing today about striking

[Karl_Hedlund]

Hey guys,

So I have been a bit busy with other entertainment than shamisen

I picked up my shamisen today and played through the songs I practice and I realized one thing when I was trying to make my striking sound as good as possible. What I noticed was that I could strike the strings with much more of the bachi surface by changing the strike angle/height a bit.

Think of it as pressing something with the tip of your thumb compared to pressing closer to the middle of it.

In any case, when I experimented with this I noticed I got a louder, clearer sound and also louder snaps. It was when I watched a couple of guitar videos that I started thinking about how the goal to success is to sit and try to achieve the sound you want to hear in your mind. You can ask for tips, but you can always get better by experimenting.

[Kyle_Abbott]

Gah!! Entertainment other than Shamisen?? What could that possibly be?? AC3 isn’t even out yet!

Ah yes! Very true. I’ve been re-discovering that myself recently - moving my thumb to create different tones to the strikes. Actually though, within the week, I’ve moved from the tip of my thumb to the middle again. I noticed a dry, hard tone when pressing with the very tip, whereas pressing with the middle yielded a wet, sharp tone, but not as hard. Different flavors.

You probably have noticed that when you angle the bachi more (maybe 45 degrees to the surface of the dou), you can get a louder snap with less effort. When I was starting tsugaru style, I practically had my bachi almost parallel to the skin, and no matter how hard I struck, I just wasn’t getting a clean snap. (Especially for maebachi) Later, Grant came over and told me to tilt the bachi more, and results were almost immediate.

You can ask for tips, but you can always get better by experimenting.

There’s only so much you can learn by hearing advice, but real learning happens by just diving in and trying things out.

[Karl_Hedlund]

Yeah I think Grant will be able to give me a few pointers directly. Then its just a matter of having those in mind and try to achieve what you want.

Oh, well there is this game called XCOM which has taken too much time…

Also I’ve been playing a lot of guitar, so I haven’t been away from music!

My biggest regret is that I haven’t released the shamisen tab editor yet. It hurts me. So, I will definately work on that in the coming days.

[Grant_Shamisensation]

So much bachi technique to learn and refine… it’s ridiculous.
You can spend years studying and practicing. You’ll think you’ve got a good sound, and you’re starting to get it, and then you listen and watch someone like Masahiro again (in person usually), and you just want to drop your bachi.
I’m constantly rediscovering angles and movements in my playing.
It’s interesting when you start to consider how many different teachers there are, and how many different styles of bachi there are.

I find it’s like Budo:
SHU - OBEY - At first you learn the technique, and you become familiar with how it’s “supposed to be”.
HA - DIGRESS - Then you start trying to break the technique and discover how to bend them and detach yourself from the illusion of “right” and “wrong”.
RI - SEPARATE - And finally, forget the technique, all movement is natural, and you play with spirit alone without clinging to form and structure.

I really look forward to doing anything I can to help your playing Karl! I think it’s always been so awesome to see you putting so much care into your practice and really paying attention to what you’re doing.
You are on a good path with this instrument!

[Kevin_Kmetz]

Yes I’d really like to hear more of Karl Hedlund in the future!
KARL! More funky improv ! Please! You’re really good with that !
Shu Ha Ri was introduced in the Nitoboh film too! Thanks for brining that up Gurraaahntoh!
It’s interesting to me when I look back and observe my own bachi technique it seems to be closest to Takahashi Chikuzan more than any of the modern players. The way I hold the bachi and strike etc., Although I do strive to get the “snaps” and strikes of today’s world I’ve never seemed to be able to completely adopt the full on modern style. I’m not completely sure why that is but I would guess its because I did see Chikuzan live when I was 14 and watch a lot more of his videos than other players. Also it seems that the way he plays creates some kind of emotional response inside of me that I don’t get as much from newer players (with the exception of good old Nitta!)

Another thing I have found interesting is that the gentler attack with the bachi appears to work well with some of the heaviest metal tracks I’ve recorded in the past (God of Shamisen specifically). One would guess it would be the opposite but somehow when experimenting I’ve found that playing softer and relying on extreme amplification and bringing up the Shami in the mix blends better with a metal band.

Oh Heck! I guess since its so easy to do ill go ahead and give an example if what I’m talking about…

[Karl_Hedlund]

I hear what you’re saying bros, and it makes me relate to my guitar experience. I’m nowhere near being a pro guitarist, but you feel you know most of the stuff there is to know and then you read these articles and learn new basic simple stuff that alters your skill a lot. I wonder if there is anyone that selects a style he/she wants to pursue or if it is just natural to get inspired by that one artist and then play like him.

About the Budo, it is something I haven’t really been involved in but I can immediately understand the last step that one is aiming to achieve.

Kevin, I agree with you when it comes to the more gentler playing together with other instruments that work in similar spectrums. I think the hardest snaps would steal the show, in a bad way. When you say extreme amplification, do you use an electric shamisen when recording the album or are you simply mastering the acoustic shamisen so that it comes out clean and louder than the rest of the instruments?

My recent thrash metal interest revival made me want to try and make a song with the shamisen in D, so that I can play with the guitars and shamisen in the same key. I think it could be really cool, but I can’t come close to the stuff I can play on the guitar. My bachi hand is simply too slow to play fast parts like you do in Tower Storm Attack. That puts me into practice mode and not so much composing mode I’m afraid

But thanks for the encouragement guys! It’ll be great to meet, and if Grant’s up for it, we could try some funky improv in Linköping! (No guarantees that it will be mindblowing, but of course there is always a chance)

[Kyle_Abbott]

My recent thrash metal interest revival

Oooh!! Any screaming along with that, by chance?

But thanks for the encouragement guys! It’ll be great to meet, and if Grant’s up for it, we could try some funky improv in Linköping! (No guarantees that it will be mindblowing, but of course there is always a chance)

If this happens, I heartily request video be taken. Blow our minds, at least!

[Karl_Hedlund]

My recent thrash metal interest revival

Oooh!! Any screaming along with that, by chance?

You’ll have to convince me screaming and shamisen work together first

I’ll bring my video recorder again even though the video quality was crap… At least it’s better than nothing and has stereo sound recording!

[Kevin_Kmetz]

Hey Karl,
About recording =
A typical set up for me when mixing with metal is to record with a mugen21 electric Shami both going directly into the mixing board as well as having multiple mics set up around it at various different angles. A typical thing I have done in the past is to go back and overdub one or more unison parts to the part I just recorded.
Often for the overdubbed unison parts I will use a pure acoustic Shamisen.