Frequently Asked Questions

PLAY / LEARN

Is playing shamisen difficult?

Playing shamisen is not particularly difficult. Holding the instrument—and especially the plectrum bachi—feels unusual at first, but you can usually get sound out of the instrument right away. After just one lesson, most people can already play a simple little song!

Where can I get an instrument?
Thanks to the internet, you can order a shamisen from various sources these days. For Tsugaru shamisen, the most well-known shops are Kameya and Shamisen Katoh in Tokyo. Through the Bachido Shop in the US you can also get beautiful instruments, though these are shipped directly from Japan. Here in Germany, the Shami-Shop in Berlin offers carefully restored used instruments that ship straight from their local stock.
What accessories do I need to play?

If you buy a new shamisen, the base price usually only includes the instrument itself—it won’t be ready to play yet. You’ll definitely need:

  • Neo – knot for securing the strings
  • Strings – ichi no ito, ni no ito, and san no ito
  • Koma – removable bridge
  • Bachi – plectrum for striking the strings
  • Yubisuri – finger guard
  • Doukake – body cover, also decorative
  • Dougomu – non-slip pad for the underside of the body
  • Fujaku strip – position markers for the neck (optional)
Do I need to be able to read music?
You don’t need to read Western classical notation to play shamisen. In fact, many instruments can be learned without standard notation (I know plenty of amazing musicians who never learned to read sheet music!). Shamisen has its own systems of notation. For Tsugaru shamisen, the system is especially simple: bunkafu notation is a type of tablature that tells you exactly which position to press on the neck. It’s extremely easy to read.

 

 

FACTS ABOUT THE SHAMISEN

How long has the shamisen been around?
There’s no definitive answer, but the general consensus is that the shamisen’s predecessor came to Japan through the Ryūkyū Islands around the mid-16th century. After some modifications, the instrument developed into the shamisen we know today.
What do Nagauta, Jiuta, and Tsugaru Shamisen mean?

This is a question that understandably causes confusion. These terms refer to genres of music, but they are also linked to specific instrument types. Shamisen is used in different genres of Japanese music—for example, in Kabuki theater, in traditional sankyoku ensembles with koto and shakuhachi, or as accompaniment for singing.
Certain genres, namely Jiuta, Nagauta, and Tsugaru shamisen, have come to stand in for specific shamisen builds. These genre terms are often used interchangeably with hosozao, chuuzao, and futozao shamisen—different sizes of the instrument. They mainly differ in neck width/thickness and body size. But even these categories are just rough guidelines: there are many in-between and hybrid types, and shamisen construction is more diverse than these labels suggest.

How is “shamisen” written in Japanese, and what do the characters mean?

Shamisen is written like this: 三味線
The characters mean:
三 – three
味 – taste/flavor
線 – string
So how do you best translate it? The options sound a little clunky… “Strings with three flavors”? Or maybe “Three tasteful strings”? Either way, each string does have its own character: the thin string sounds bright and clear, the middle one is warm, and the thick one—at least to my ears—sounds wild and dark.

What are shamisen strings made of?

Shamisen strings were originally made exclusively of silk. Nowadays, nylon and tetron (another synthetic fiber) are much more common because they’re cheaper and last longer. The thick and middle strings (ichi no ito and ni no ito) are twisted like a cord, while the thin string (san no ito) is smooth. Many players still use silk strings for concerts because they have a particularly warm and beautiful sound.

 

 

I’ve got the answers. Send me your questions!

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