I’ve noticed Kyle Abbot strings his Shamisen with low and middle strings on the two bottom tuning pegs with the high string on the top peg. Every diagram and or other shamisen I’ve ever seen strings them low back peg, middle middle peg and high string on the closest peg to the dou. So, is there a right or wrong way and why are there variations in how to string the instrument? Just wondering.
I didn’t know that about Kyle’s stringing setup, but from what I’ve been told, there are two main stringing styles when it comes to Tsugaru Shamisen. From top peg to bottom peg, these are 1-2-3 and 1-3-2.
1-2-3 would be your more conventional lowest to highest set up seen on most string instruments nowadays. How it developed, I’m not sure, but for me, at least, I like having things in order, so there’s a sort of OCD aesthetic beauty to it.
1-3-2, with the highest string on the middle peg, probably seems a little more unorthodox to most people. Again, the reasons for this set up are unclear, but I’ve heard two possible explanations:
- A) In the past, when all the strings would have been silk, to put the thinnest string on the lowest peg would have created too severe an angle between the tuning peg and the nut and could lead to more frequent string breakage, especially with Tsugaru’s playing style.
- B) Most early Tsugaru players were blind, and this set up allows you to tune up with one fewer major arm movement. (ie, instead of going “Tune 1, switch to other side, tune 2, switch to other side, tune 3, move down to neck,” this set up makes it “Tune 1, move down a bit, tune 2, switch to other side, tune 3, move down to neck.”) This may have been easier for blind players.
Who knows, it could be a combination of those, or maybe neither are right. Either way, 1-3-2 actually seems to be the more traditional style, and is apparently more common in Tsugaru, whereas most players outside the region use 1-2-3.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. Another thing I noticed is that the 1 string is the lowest string, which is opposite of guitar. At least that’s what I’ve gathered from my online research, is that correct?
That is true. I always think of the biggest string on guitar as 1 as well, though this is not “correct”. I guess it is just two different ways of looking at it. 
I used to do the 1-2-3 combination because, for the same reason, I tuned the san no ito more often and so having it closer to the hand made more sense. I then switched to 1-3-2 because that’s what Kevin did. 
Besides aesthetic difference, I think the 1-3-2 order is more preferable. Perhaps it’s only my shamisen, but I’ve noticed that the lower itomaki seems to slip out more than the others due to the angle. Since the san no ito is the string we play most often and tune most often, there’s more chance of it popping out by stringing it on the lower itomaki.
But that said, many players do string them 1-2-3, so this could just be a problem with my own shamisen. 
I guess I have nothing to add.
The ni no ito is usually the most often modified string going from honshioshu to niagari and vice versa, although in 1 2 3 it is the string for which we have the least force with fingers (we press the kuro/ase with the pinky and not the thumb). In 1 3 2, we have more strength to wedge the chord if we can press with the thumb… could it be an explanation ? Sorry for my poor english. I hope it is clear enough…
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