I’ve been thinking about Nathan’s thread about practice for awhile, and I thought I might share some of what I do to warm up before I play. I hope it’s helpful, whether it’s the “Hey, maybe I’ll try that too” way or the “Wow, he’s doing that totally wrong and I’m never going to do that” way. Yenny for your thoughts?
P.S. Sorry about the length…
Hi Jamie Low.
I’m Victor from Argentina.
I started with just 2 months ago Tsugaru.
I play classical guitar, I adapt some things that lead to tsugaru guitar,
What you post on the video you served me an amount, I will put into practice
thank you very much
Victor
De nada, amigo. Estoy feliz que le gustó mi vídeo. Quiero oír este “tsugaru guitar.” Suena muy interesante.
I’ve only just started watching this, but it already is just making me so happy to see!! 
What’s happening in this thread is part of the dream I had about Bachido: People whole-heartedly sharing their shamisen practice/ideas and helping others with what they know (not just the multi-lingual element 
).
Anywho, gold star to you, Jamie. Well done. 
Nice work Jamie! It sounds like you have practiced a lot since your last video. I feel that my skill level has increased a lot and now I see you increasing even more and that just makes me wanna practice even more. It’s all good!
I do a couple of the things you do in the video but you reminded me that I need to be consistent and do them even more and not just randomly.
You should record some whole song performances and share. Not only will the community enjoy watching it, but it’ll be easier to see what you can improve for yourself.
I couldn’t watch past about minute 4 because of my internet connection I have in Japan right now, but I really enjoy this video.
It’s funny how you say you “aren’t a teacher” when you obviously are already more than deserving of that title.
Yes I agree. Everything was explained well and there was no confusion. Good traits for a teacher.
Wow Jamie! This was my first week of practice (my shamy arrived on monday) and your video just inspired me a lot and your advice is a great help…
Hey Kyle… When are those "I LOVE BACHIDO"T-shirts available?
That’d be a sight at the Hokkaido festival. The whole forum with the same tshirt playing in ensemble
Haha! Right on, Karl! That would be quite epic (albeit slightly nerdy). We better make it a good shirt.
Laszlo, Bachido swag is high up on the to-do list. First though, the CnC shamisen are highest priority, as we need to decent, cheap alternative available as soon as possible.
On that note, Grant tells me that the shop with the CnC machines also have machines to make shirts, stickers, and other memorabilia!
I’ d love to wear a t-shirt like this! Proud nerd here ;-))
Hey Kyle, just came home from the office and downloading from the link you gave me… I hope to be prepared to help you a bit by monday…
I made took some pictures of my unpacking ceremony (like nerds do)… Going to post it in a new thread…
Hey Jamie,
I really enjoyed that.
The part about sports warm ups was quite profound and I think that can be applied to more things in life.
I’m gonna go try some of your exercises!
Hey Laszlo,
Sweet! I’m sure you’d be able to help me so much even if you weren’t prepared. I really appreciate your help.
Glad you guys liked the video. If you’ve got any nifty exercises of your own, please share! I wanna know what other people are doing.
And hey, thanks for the kind words, but it’s gonna be a long time before I feel comfortable calling myself a teacher. It was a nice reminder, though, of how nice it is to share things with people who have an active interest in what you’re talking about. So much nicer than trying to teach English to kids who would rather be pretending to be reggae badasses in the school playground. (All right, all right, I had a lot of great students on JET too. I enjoyed my time in Japan, really.)
@Karl: You think I’m playing better? Awesome! I’ve been making much more of an effort to practice consistently, like everyday. It’s really been making a huge difference. I mean, you know, you still have your good days and bad days, but I feel like I’m having more good days recently.
By the way, I’m gonna be performing at this festival here in Philly soon, so maybe I can get some video from that! If not, though, maybe I’ll just keep me kimono on and take a dorky dress up video at home. We’ll see what happens, I guess.
I totally agree Jamie. I’ve started regular playing as well and I’m noticing the boost in learning. To be comfortable with striking each string with full power and precision is so important that your exercises are really good.
Jamie, was pointed to this video by Kevin, after I asked a question about drilling. Great! Yes, I made it all the way through.
You covered everything, thank you for taking the trouble to make such a great video.
Oh dude, re-watching this has been a nice refresher.
Great video, very helpful. Thank you, Jamie!
Jamie~
Great vid man!
Thanks for taking the time to put that together!!
We should get together sometime and play!!!
As I havent been on the forum in a while, I thought I would jump in and share my warm-up routine.
Its quite simple actually:
Just play so much that you are always warmed up!
lol
Bachizuke and about 3 run-throughs of rokudan at varying speeds ususally does the trick
Points I try to keep in mind:
-Locking my thumb around the sao (not curling it back)
-Lifting the bachi to the point of being able to see the backside (whenever playing on the ichi no ito)
-Always being sure to definitively press and lay the bachi when doing mae bachi
-And when playing on the ni and san no ito, making sure I am using more forearm than I am wrist.
But in the end it brings me back to my real warm-up regiment:
Play as much as you can!!! (and watch your technique always!)
Cheers~
WTF why did I never see this thread!? I may be two years late but thanks Jamie… just got a Tsugaru so I’ll try some of these things out.