The Beginner's Shamisen

Store/Sales
#1

Long time members of Bachido knows that we have been searching for an affordable shamisen for years. (Dubbed the ASP - Affordable Shamisen Project) Anything to give everyone the chance to start learning. And now, we have finally succeeded!

I bring to you, the Beginner’s Shamisen! (http://bachido.com/products/beginner-shamisen)

Still not the $100 shamisen I was hoping for, but golly, it’s close! If you’ve ever had a desire to give shamisen a try, now is the perfect time!

#2

Well crap where was this 3 weeks ago when I bought a broken one and dove into this reskin job… :stuck_out_tongue:

Looks cool. Great price too.

#3

Hey Robert, at least you got some experience and a story to tell. Besides, there’s always honor in getting a broken shamisen up and running again! :slight_smile:

#4

Finally I can buy my daughter her dream instrument! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Diana

#5

Welcome to Bachido, Diana! I’m so happy to hear that! At last, nothing can stop her (and many others) from learning this amazing three stringed instrument! :slight_smile:

#6

Looks quite exciting indeed! I think this will be a game changer for Bachido.

Some questions/requests:

  1. The page doesn’t detail materials, would assume karin (all of it? except for the ebony itomaki of course) and dog skin
  2. What would be the approximate international delivery time (EU/US, particularly interested in the case of Finland but I guess that can be inferred from EU figures :wink: )? I suppose there might be some extra delay right now as Bachido might get a bit swamped with orders.
  3. EDIT: Kamigoma is actually listed in the accessory set. [WAS: I would think kamigoma is not used with this instrument (one is listed for nagauta in the shop, not mentioned on the Beginner’s page, so I’d think it’s for higher-end models)]
#7

Hi Yatagarasu!

Excellent questions!

  1. Ah, I should clarify on the website. Yes, the whole thing is made from karin, except for the itomaki.
  2. Generally, it takes one week or less for delivery.
  3. Ah yes! That is a brand new set I just made so you can have all the features that usually comes with a shamisen. :slight_smile:
#8

I would like to know if I buy one, will it be in pieces and I will need to build it or its already build ? (Sorry for my english)

#9

They have a video about the assembly on the store page, looks quite simple. You will probably take it apart time to time in regular use, too.

#10

ahh ok thank you :slight_smile: And does it come with a bachi and strings ?

#11

Hi Andy! Welcome to Bachido!

Glad you’re interested in the Beginner’s Shamisen! To keep the price as low as possible, bachi and strings are not included, but can be ordered easily. :slight_smile:

Here’s the Beginner’s Shamisen page, if you’d like to read more - http://bachido.com/products/beginner-shamisen

Thanks for responding, Yatagarasu! :slight_smile:

#12

In which order should one insert these itomaki? (They don’t have notches to indicate their numbers.)

#13

Oh, I see. I guess the maker forgot to make the marks this time. :-S

Well, the bottommost itomaki in the picture (with the hole closest to the handle end) is for the ichi no ito, and goes on top. The other two should fit in the lower two holes. Either is fine, which ever feels the tightest.

#14

I’m about to begin my shamisen adventure (found a local instructor, jackpot!) who is letting me borrow a shamisen until I can get my own. This beginner’s shamisen is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I noticed there are two models: natural skin and synthetic skin. I have a general idea of the differences between the two from reading posts and articles on this site, but what makes the FiberSen model worth so much more? I got the impression that the natural skins were preferred over the synthetic. Apologies if I missed any text or videos explaining this. Thanks.

#15

Hi Joel!

Congratulations!! :smiley: Stoked that you’re about to start your three stringed road!

Ah, excellent question. :slight_smile: First off, here’s a little video I made about Fibersen, if you haven’t seen.

The higher price actually isn’t to represent higher value than natural skin. It’s literally that the material cost of Fibersen is costlier than natural skin, and so the Beginner Shamisen manufacturer is charging $150 extra for the Fibersen option.

#16

Is there a resource on how to install the kamigoma?

#17

Ah, I’m planning to make one. In the meantime, this picture should be enough to show you. http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/shamimaster_shishido/imgs/1/0/10462da7.JPG

Simply put a little superglue on the flat part of the kamigoma and stick it in place! :slight_smile:

#18

First impressions:

Finally got all the parts for mine yesterday and put it together. My procurement phase was more painful than one would expect, almost 1.5 months from placing the first order to assembly, as there were some bumps along the way - eg. I ordered one packet to a different address and was waiting for the customs notification for several days without realizing it had come to this 2nd address already. I found a nice wood bachi and a shari koma (full bone, typical for practice nagauta) in another online store and got them.

First time assembly was 3 hours, including watching a few youtube videos (Bachido material is really extensive and decent quality) and a dinner break. I had had time for research and watching many of those videos before hand, so I had a fair idea what I was about to do. I would rate assembly Easy.

I cut a few cm off san no ito (middle string) as it appeared long. Ichi no ito (big string) was too large to fit into the hole in the itomaki so I whipped out my dremel and drilled it a bit bigger (1.5mm or 2mm will do the trick). (You may need help for this part if you don’t have this kind of tools.) I was puzzled for a moment about how to install the kamigoma, until I took it to the shamisen and matched the measurements with Kyle’s image - obviously the large flat part “sinks” into the big opening in the tenjin.

The wood of the sao is of lighter color than in the video, I think it looks OK as this is an entry-level instrument, the dou is darker, like in the video. If you want your shamisen to look fabulous, prepare to dish out a few hundred bucks more for a higher quality instrument. The purple neo, doukake, and the straps for doukake look nice and even a bit classy compared to the sao!

(Continued in the next)

#19

On to sound and playing -

It sounds nice. Although assessing instrument quality is not on my CV :slight_smile: Looking forward to compare it with any other shamisen. It sounds sharper, drier and not so warm as on Kyle’s video. Sawari is not yet configured and perhaps it doesn’t sound quite as resonant when I’m playing it. I like it quite much and I suppose it’s a pretty decent approximation of the nagauta sound.

It feels easier and more fun than I expected! The first day I was just playing around, for a good part my technique was in no way traditional… tried the first measure in the crash course a little bit. I suspect I’m easily drawn to just improvisation and mucking around, skipping rigorous practice. No problems with the wood bachi, plucking is easy when I’m looking at the instrument. Only the grip is a bit problematic, with “tiger claw” style my pinky seems tense and tends to slip, actually trying to play is almost impossible, and right now it feels the “elephant trunk” style is much more relaxed. The top of the doukake is very slippery! Like many people I could perhaps place something on it?

Second day was shamisen tuning hell! Was home a bit late and after 1 hour of tuning I got just 30 mins of playing. Getting more familiar with plucking and now using the left hand too, was curious to have a try at the first lines of Sakura. No formal special techniques except a bit of upstroke.

Biggest problem is the itomaki for ichi no ito slipping constantly, tried some toothpaste, and also electric tape between ichi no ito and the tenjin to little help. Could perhaps buy violin resin… Other itomaki seem quite fine, except it seems the other strings go out of tune (tone gets lower after just a bit of playing), it may improve after the instrument has been tuned a few times, I tried pre-stretching the strings a bit today but I’m no pro :slight_smile:

I’m using DaTuner Lite on Android, makes tuning straightforward. I may be tuning it a bit higher than what was on Kyle’s video, today I went to D3-G3-D4, yesterday I think it was one octave lower… I suppose starting from D3 is somewhere in the usual nagauta ballpark, at least I saw this tuning in one instructional vid on youtube…

Conclusion: Nice solid entry level instrument.

#20

Hey Yatagarasu!

Thanks for your review! :slight_smile:

I just want to address a few points

String thickness - Yeah, after I got a Beginner’s Shamisen, I too noticed that the hole is really thin, and had to widen the itomaki hole with a drill as well. Because the Accessory Set supplier wasn’t aware of this, I think he shipped strings a few gauges too thick. We recently informed him of this, so he’ll ship thinner strings in the set. Still, I think widening the hole is still a good idea, as it’s always good to try different string gauges.

Learning - That’s great, Yatagarasu! Please, if you’re having fun mucking around and improvising, ignore the Crash Course for now and just do that! :slight_smile: The goal of the Crash Course is to help anyone get started. But if you find yourself already drawn to improvisation, go for it! After all, in the beginning, the main goal is to gain comfort/connection with the shamisen, and to have as much fun as you can. If you’re finding improv to be more fun, then that’s the right direction to go in! :slight_smile: Later on, you can develop technique if you wish.

One big thing I appreciated about studying with Kevin 9 years ago is that he encouraged me to just learn new songs and keep going. He saw that my bachi technique wasn’t great, but unlike many traditional teachers who won’t let the student pick up the shamisen until they get proper bachi technique first (which is ridiculous, imho) he said, “Your technique will improve over time, so let’s continue learning new songs.” And that was perfect for me! Good technique naturally takes time to develop, so might as well have fun and learn more songs in the meantime! :slight_smile:

String Slipping - Question, is the ichi no ito flush against the left side of the tenjin, like this?

I find when the string is pressed right up against the left side of the tenjin, it almost forces the itomaki out of the hole. At least, it prevents the itomaki fitting into the hole as tightly as it could.

When I keep a millimeters of space in between the left side and the string, this problem seems to be alleviated. :slight_smile:

I suppose it’s a pretty decent approximation of the nagauta sound.

It’s quite close. The koma and bachi will change the tone a bit, but as always, 80% of the instrument’s tone will vary depending on the skin. If one is specifically wanting a truly authentic Nagauta tone, they would need to use cat skin (which has a higher of breaking, including the marriage. :wink: )

Glad you are having fun with it! Can’t wait to see you jam with Kevin in the near future! :slight_smile:

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