Hey guys, so I’m new here and just got a nagauta shamisen… I’m assuming I tune to CGC, but in doing so I broke my 1st string as I went to tune it back to 250ish Hz after my 2nd and 3rd were tuned. The strings may be old though…or my pitch was too high… I don’t know. Basically, I just need someone to tell me what to tune to because as a banjo player I have no clue if it varies with size or anything and I’m not too keen on breaking my only spare before I even get to play… Thanks for your help in advance! You are all really cool by the way. Really.
No worse sound than a breaking string… Someone hold me. :’[
Hey Zach! Welcome to Bachido!
Sorry to hear that. Typically, the shamisen is tuned to match the singer’s voice, but if one is playing alone, the standard tuning is the key of C (c-g-c) is safe.
Check out my free shamisen Crash Course here (http://bachido.com/school/crash-course-1/chapter-1). There are reference pitches on the lower left corner of the sidebar. You can tune your shamisen to that. 
Hope that helps!
No worse sound than a breaking string
Actually, a worse sound is breaking the skin. 
In case you have not run across this tidbit in other pages here in BachidoLand, you can use monofilament fishing line for strings if you don’t want to splash out for “real” strings. Works great for me as the high string - plenty of twang and volume - and never breaks. And cheap - did I mention cheap?
No kidding… That’s might be useful Tomo. Thanks for the advice!
I’m using 10 pound test nylon monofilament. Looks a little weird as it is very thin - you could use fatter line for the look, but 10 pound is what I had and it works fine. Certainly not for purists, but I ain’t pure.
I’ve used fishing line as well! Works great!
Welcome to the world of Shamisen Zach.
I also play nagauta style shamisen. The tuning can not only depend on the singer but also the song that is being played. Some nagauta style songs are tuned to honchoshi (CFC), some are tuned to ni-agari (CGC), and then some are tuned to san-sagari (CFBflat). You can start tuning based on the singer and then from there tune to honchoshi, ni-agari, or san-sagari.
Song Examples:
Matsu no Midori tuning: honchoshi (CFC)
Echigo Jishi tuning: ni-agari (CGC)
Urashima tuning: san-sagari (CFBflat)
Some songs even change tuning in the middle of the song one or two times.
Please, correct me if I’m wrong Kevin Kmetz or Kyle.