Hey. I have a shamisen but no bachi! Can anyone recommend what is best to start with and where could I purchase one cheap? Thank you.
Hi Finn,
Please send me a PM, and I’ll set you up with a bachi. 
Cheers,
Kyle
Hi Kyle! What do you need me to send? I am so excited! I have
wanted to play for years now and I ordered your book because it sounds fascinating. I am OBSESSED! I must play this! Anyway,
sorry its just that I am so eager and grateful to learn. Thank
you for making me feel welcome and I hope to make friends.
Finn.
Yes!!! You, my friend, are what I call a Shamisen Enthusiast!! Great to have you onboard!! 
I’ll write you a PM (Private Message).
Let’s get you playing as soon as possible!
Kyle
Hey cool I live in California too! I have so many questions.You
are so talented! May I say cute too! Forgive me just being friendly. Oh yes… my name is Finn Im a girl. People usually think that I am a guy because of my name. I am sorry about not knowing much computer lingo I feel like an idiot! I like your
vids on youtube very much and will be happy when my book comes.
I feel like my instrument is part of my body and when I touch it, it feels like a lover. The sound like warm honey and it soothes me. It will be a challenge to learn but I have to master it! o.k.
I got carried away. Anyway it is nice to meet ya. Finn.
Hey cool I live in California too!
Gosh, there’s getting to be more shamisen-interested people here (in CA) than I first thought!
Aww shucks. 
Glad you are impressed. 
May I ask, have you been playing music most of your life? The way you talk about your instrument, it sounds like someone who music is part of their being. (Like it is for Luke and I)
The Bachido members here are very nice and knowledgeable, so please don’t be shy in asking questions!
Cheers,
Kyle
No, I have played different instruments here and there. Guitar when I was five. A little flute and am learning to play the shakuhachi(spelling?),and the didgeradoo. I own flutes, guitars,a banjo-mandolin, a bowlback mandolin from the late
eighteen hundereds, my soulmate shamisen, and I really want to play the erhu too! I have alot to learn. Finn.
“soulmate shamisen” . . . nice . . . ah I wish I had a soulmate (shamisen) already too . . .
hehe Nice to have you here Finn you seem very nice! i got a didgeridoo also it’s lots of fun, my friends call it the fart pipe lol
i also started playing shamisen just recently and there’s lots of people who has just started playing and new players showing up all the time so rly ask anything about shamisen and you WILL get an answer even if it’s a really weird question
Nice to be here amoung friends. Thank you Ortjo for making me feel welcome. Finland my goodness! I cannot even imagine what it’s like there. Playing the shamisen is my goal right now. I
am very green at it and get unsure of myself when I look at my beautiful shamisen. The wood itself that it is made of makes me dreamy. o.k. being a girl makes me dreamy anyway but this is different for sure. It’s rapture, tension, and deep respect for the instrument and origin from which it came.I want to learn everything there is to know about it. Where did you find your shamisen Ortjo? Take care. Finn.
Hey there Finn! Good to have someone who is so in love with shamisen!
California is fast becoming the mecca of Tsugaru Shamisen outside of Japan!
Awww yeah!
Grant, I totally agree with you. Everyone seems to be opening up in such a positive way these days! I am glad to meet you! May I just say that I am so impressed by your playing I can only hope to become a decent representative of this widespread connection of peace that is the Shamisen. I respect the Asian culture and have a very good friend from Japan who shares what it’s like there. I plan to visit someday and she wants to visit me…I am totally proud to be a native Californian but we are so freakin’ spoiled and we think it’s hard here. Uuuummmmmmm NO. We are so lucky here! Grant write me back and tell me more about yourself and your Shamisen please. Take good care friend, Finn.
Hey everybody! It’s Finn and I need your prayers! I am having surgery this week hopefully and I need your good thoughts please.Thank you friends, Finn.
Best wishes from Sweden!
Yes this is a very nice and friendly forum so and even if it wasn’t best wishes from here too . . .
Finn you can actually read my story from my page but i got mine from KotosAndMore.com is for sale | HugeDomains
but the price is pretty high
but at the time i really NEEDED my shamisen (and trust me it’s not easy to get a shamisen from finland :D) so i bought it anyways.
and yeah you have my prayers and probably everyone’s from this forum
That’s a cool story Ortjo, seems that you and the shamisen were destined to meet!
I thought it was tough for shamisen players in the UK but it must be difficult out there in Finland.
Hey Finn, take care and best wishes!
Haha Matt glad you liked it i guess? and yeah it was a long process to get the shamisen
Thank you guys! Question… How many Shamisen players here play untraditional songs? There are just some songs that would be cool when played on the Shamisen. Any opinions?
well gonna fly now is one of my regardless of genre all time favorites and I am working on it right now on my sem . . .
http://www.youtube.com/semtunes#p/f/76/8N3IAUB_CPI (that would be the bigband version)
at least an uh version of Eye of the Tiger is out there already as for Rocky tunes
also I like Jump . . .
and of course there’s always this one for inspiration I guess . . .