Shamisen First Lesson; Part I

My instructor is a master at both sangen and koto, having been born in Japan and mastering the instrument there. The teacher often returns to Japan to present concerts and be a part of traditional Japanese music ensembles.

Proper position for the sangen and the holding of the bachi take a little getting used to. The sangen is held much like a guitar but not so close to the body. The dou (drum) is placed on the right thigh a little more than half way up towards where your leg joins the hip. It must be balanced by your right wrist alone. If you cannot hold the dou with only your right wrist as it rests upon the dou on your thigh, then it is not balanced and must be adjusted on the thigh.

Part of the challenge with balancing the dou is that it has a tendency to slip off your thigh because of the smooth wood body. That is where the dou gomu shi-ru or the more traditional hiza gomu come into play. The former is an adhesive rubber sheet that is placed on the bottom side of the sangen to keep it from slipping off your thigh. The latter is a rubber sheet or strip, non-adhesive, that is placed across your thigh where the sangen rests so it does not slip.

The instructor suggests that I purchase some rubberized shelving material available at Walmart (or almost anywhere) to serve the same purpose as either of the two gomus. Cut a strip approximately six inches wide and enough length that you can wrap the material around the bottom of your thighs so you can sit on it and hold it in place with your butt. That way it performs the same function as a gomu AND will not fall off your thigh while adjusting the sangen.

The sao (neck) is held with the left hand at approximately 45 degree angle. The itobaki (neck terminus that holds and tightens the strings) should be at about eye level. The sao should not be held too inward or too outward from the body. With the sao at about 45 degrees, let the dou come inward to the body slightly from perpendicular as you rest your right wrist on top of the instrument. If you hold the instrument such that you can just see the lower edge of the dou, it's about right. Sao not too high, not too low; sao not too inward, not too outward; dou resting on thigh and can be held to the thigh by the right wrist only.

The bachi is a plectrum made out of various materials. It is used to strike or play the ito of the sangen. Bachi vary in size in both length of the bachi itself and in the width of the plucking or striking edge. Different styles of playing sangen dictate the various sizes of the bachi. The jiuta bachi is usually made of either very expensive tortoiseshell (uh, about $400!) or heavy plastic (much less!). The jiuta bachi is designed to be heavier than any of the other bachis. It is longer and its striking edge is the widest of any other bachi.

I don't have a jiuta bachi but have a minyo bachi which is close but not exactly right. It is made of wood, much lighter than a standard jiuta bachi, and its striking edge is not as wide as a jiuta bachi. I will be getting a plastic one soon. My instructor says the minyo will do for the time being.

The bachi is held in the right hand—several illustrations of proper grip are available on the web. The bachi should be held with the three right fingers only, the pinkie finger tucked underneath the bachi, with the right thumb extended slightly on the top edge of the bachi where the curvature of the plectrum begins to turn downward.

My thumb keeps on creeping to the top of the bachi (a no-no) instead of being on the edge, and it keeps moving forward to the front of the bachi instead of where it should be. It will take lots of practice to get this right.

The ito (strings) of the sangen are made of silk (with the exception that neophytes often use a nylon string for the thinnest string since it often breaks). Ito are struck with the bachi just south of where the dou begins. The dou is made of wood and has a natural skin (or synthetic material) stretched across its box shape. Just where the top edge of dou wood ends beneath the skin is where the ito need to be struck. The koma (bridge) should be placed about three fingers up from the bottom of the dou.

The sangen can be tuned to just about any tuning you wish so long as some rules are observed (those rules are outside the purview of this blog). The short version is that the sangen is usually tuned such that the top string (the thickest, called ichi no ito) is D; the second string (ni no ito) is G; and the third string (thinnest, san no ito) back to D. Other common tunings are D-A-D and D-G-C. My instructor prefers D-G-D and tunes the instrument by ear. I can't do that yet (hope I can eventually). I use a digital tuner that is placed on the itobaki to set base tuning.

With the instrument tuned, the dou in proper position on the thigh and the sao angled correctly, bachi in right hand resting on top of the sangen, I am ready for my first notes. But keeping all the instrument positioning correctly is all I can handle about now! But the instructor forges onward.