Uncertain about tuning

Playing/Techniques
#1

Hello,

I’m new to this forum and new to playing shamisen :slight_smile:
I have a question about tuning.

I bought a Nagauta shamisen and after a lot of reading I started to play the crash course video - Kuroishi Yosare Bushi - (measure 1) on this website.

I have tuned my shamisen with an electronic tuner (Musedo T-60C) on Chromatic mode to C-G-C, however it sounds completely different than the sound in the video. It sounds like my thin (3rd) string is too low.

I could try to tune it by ear but it somehow bothers me as I don’t want it to be off-tone…

Could it be that my sound is different because it’s a nagauta shamisen and in the video a tsugaru shamisen is used?

Thank you in advance :slight_smile:

#2

Oh! I think I fixed it… seems it was tuned to a lower C… sorry, completely new to this ^^;;

#3

Well, either way, welcome to Bachido!
A neat thing is, there’s really no set tuning in minyo (the folk songs). As long as your intervals are correct you can tune a shamisen to any key you’d like!
We hope you enjoy playing!

#4

Thank you!! :slight_smile: My muscles are so not used to these movements haha!

#5

I agree with Ian comments.
I’m glad you could figure out what the problem was! But you’re always welcome to ask us anything if you have other issues or if you’re just wondering about something.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott