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Survey | Tell Us The Story Of How You Started Tsugaru Shamisen! (Patreon)

Published:
2023-08-25 12:00:09
Edited:
2024-10-06 13:13:19
Imported:
2026-06

Content

There must be various stories behind how each of you met Tsugaru Shamisen.When and how did you come to know Tsugaru Shamisen?Why did you decide to start learning Tsugaru Shamisen?

We would love to know you better, so please share your stories of "How you started Tsugaru Shamisen" in the comments!

By sharing your memories, we believe it will contribute to the development of even better Learn Shamisen lessons and boost the motivation of fellow Shamisen enthusiasts.

To get things rolling, here are our stories..

HIKARI's story

When I was around 8 years old, my grandmother, who used to play Shamisen, asked me if I wanted to try. That's how it all began for me. I remember vividly when she handed me Shamisen for the first time and taught me to play "Sakura Sakura." It was my first time playing a musical instrument, and I enjoyed it so much that I became completely captivated.

KANAMI's story

I discovered the Tsugaru Shamisen when I was 14 years old, at a middle school art appreciation event. I had seen Tsugaru Shamisen performances on TV before, but it was the first time I experienced a live performance. I was deeply moved by the sound of live Tsugaru Shamisen, and right after the concert, I went to the teacher's green room and asked if I could become his disciple. It's been 20 years since then, and Tsugaru Shamisen has added many colors to my life!

We are looking forward to hearing your stories in the comments section below!!

Now how did YOU get started?

Thank you

Ki&Ki

Files

Comments

BurntToast

The first time I heard the shamisen was from a N64 game called “Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon” back in my childhood days I would play this game just to listen to the sound track that had the shamisen. Back then I never knew what the instrument was named but I loved hearing it. In 2018 I found out what that the instrument I loved hearing; was the tsugaru shamisen. Since then I made it my goal to obtain one and learn to play it.

Cigike

I think the first time i heard the sound of the Shamisen, is when i was watching One Piece, in one episode a woman played on it, i really liked it but at the time i dont really cared about it, the real ambition for me when i seen a video on Youtube from Tokyo Lens including the two of you, where you compared the more affordable and the expensive Shamisen's, after that i started watching and listening to you music, and now here i am, i just got my Shamisen a week ago and i hope i can learn much from the two of you! :)

Sara S.

I’ve been playing taiko (Japanese drums) for about 13 years. A few years ago I took a workshop which introduced me to the shamisen. The song I learned at that workshop had fue (flute), shamisen and taiko parts to it.

MeVz

I had thought about learning a Japanese instrument for some time, especially when Wagakki Band's Senbonzakura became popular. A close Japanese friend of mine decided to buy a shamisen and take lessons from a master. They even showed me one of Ki&Ki's early videos, which got me hooked. So after careful consideration, I bought my own and have practiced ever since. I recently started watching chanbara films which I had never the chance to see before, and I hear those strings in the music, whether koto, biwa, or shamisen, it inspires me to continue learning.

Kevin Schmidt

I live in the United States. Prior to 2018, I had no idea what a shamisen was, or what it sounded like. One day I read the news about a young woman’s tragic and senseless death in San Francisco. What captured my initial attention was her involvement in the local Mongolian hip hop scene. Out of curiosity I went to YouTube to check out Mongolian hip hop and discovered a very vibrant and fertile music scene in Asia. Musicians were fusing western influences with traditional folk music and instruments and creating vibrant music. While exploring this new music, I became captivated by the shamisen, and over the next few months I wanted to learn how to play the shamisen. There are no music stores in the US that sell shamisens. My first attempt was to buy a used one online. After several weeks a package arrived with a small white tee shirt in a bag with shamisen written on the label (the tee shirt is kept in the case as a reminder of a lesson learned). The bank recovered the money so no loss was sustained. The lesson learned was to do more research and be less impulsive. With more being learned from research I went from considering an entry level student model to finally deciding to have one built with kouki. Aware of what I wanted, I decided to sell my record collection to make the purchase, and it took a year to do this. All I really did was simply transferred my love and passion for music from one medium to a new medium. So, it was also very important to me when placing the order for the shamisen, that the three artist/writers who have been a huge influence on my writing and music had to be personalized symbolically on the shamisen. The small acknowledgments required nothing special, but when pointed out the meanings becomes obvious. The next challenge was finding a shop in Japan that could assist me. Not being able to speak Japanese, the pandemic shutdown, so the number of shops became very limited to who could assist me in English, and I finally found a shop. It took six months from the order being placed to finally being delivered. Once I had the shamisen, I was able to join your platform and begin learning. I practice several hours every day. I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, but have been able to figure it out, and corrected the errors. After a year of playing, practicing, and learning from mistakes, I can finally feel and hear an improvement with my playing. Being raise on western music, I realized the shamisen occupied a unique place in music that other instruments did not fill. It is expressive, percussive, seductive, and very emotive in sound and energy. The other draw to the shamisen is the ritualized elegance and versatility of the instrument in other genres. That is a polar opposite to plug in, crank up the volume, and play with an uncivilized frenzy I’m used to. What I’ve learned over the last year is that learning to play the shamisen is not just about learning how to play a musical instrument like a piano or guitar. It also requires a lot of motivation and discipline, learning patience, and be more open to new learning possibilities. Speaking for myself as a westerner, learning shamisen is more than learning about playing a musical instrument, but also learning more about history, art, and culture, which was not something I expected. All combined, this has made learning shamisen a very rich, rewarding, and productive learning experience. I have committed myself to learning how to master the shamisen to achieve performance quality playing. Also, I have never heard shamisen music played live, but plan to travel to Japan to experience live shamisen for the first time in a year or two. The chorus to one of my favorite songs of all time is: Go ride the music.

Pedro Lopes

I love ethnical music! I started with the Irish fiddle back in 2012 and enjoy listening to many other styles of music. Japanese culture is very close to my heart, being Brazilian, and at some point I started listening to traditional Japanese music. It was not long before I found Ki&Ki-sensei on YouTube. At that point I was living in Vancouver and, to my surprise, a few months after my discovery of Tsugaru-jamisen, I found out that Ki&Ki were teaching a workshop at UBC. That was around 2019. I went, met Ki&Ki-sensei who were the first to let me try my hands at a shamisen, and I never stopped!

Danielle Nicholson

I've known about the shamisen for years, but was content for a long time with my ability to play the clarinet and French horn (though the horn not that well). Then my family discovered Ki&Ki through your collaborations with Norm from Tokyo Lens, and I became more enthralled by the shamisen. When you came to Vancouver earlier this year (2023), I had the chance to join one of your beginner shamisen lessons. It was so much fun that I purchased a shabo from you on the spot. I've been intentionally practicing at least 3-4 times a week (which is a lot as a busy parent/adult!) and I just love the sound. I really appreciate what you've done to make learning accessible for those of us not in Japan. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it doesn't follow the same scales as "Western" music, but I think I'll get there eventually.

政宏 亀井

平成二十六年、ユーチューブで津軽三味線を発見しました。輝＆耀でした。とても感動になりました。その時、ケンタキー州へ住んでいました。三味線のこと、何もできませんでした。2年間後、米国陸軍を退役しました。就職活動の結果、カリフォルニア州のサンタクルーズ市に引っ越しました。そこにいる間、アボット　カイルに出会いました。面白い偶然でしょうか。それが始まりました。彼、またはバチ動、からレッスンを受け始めました。友達もなりました。平成二十九年でした。まず、中古中棹三味線を買いました。一月間後、津軽三味線を買いました。彼と一緒にいくつか演奏をしました。とても楽しかったです。令和元年、ニュウメクシコ州のアルバカーキ市に引っ越しました。　最近、ソロ演奏になりました。ちょっと難しいです。 宜しくお願いします。

Karen

I heard the sound of shamisen in person from a busker in Kyoto in 2017. I bought a shamisen online in 2018 but because I was so busy with taiko practice I didn't have time to really sit down with my shamisen and start playing until 2020 when the world slowed down. I am in love with the instrument!

David I

No non embarrassing way to say this so here we go: I watched a Gigguk video about the seasonal anime of that time period, which lead me to checking out a show called "These Snow white notes" because it was praised a lot by the YouTube video about how much an unknown instrument commanded so much presence. So after watching the show and falling in love with how tsugaru sounded (a mix between rock and folk which really clicked with my inner metal head) I thought how hard is it to learn. One wrong Shamisen purchase, lead to me finding my current teacher (and then buying a proper tsugaru shamisen upon our first meeting) through Googling for string replacements and a little over 1 and a half years later I'm still playing at least 2 hours every day looking forward to upgrading to a kouki shamisen soon and entering an online Jongara competition.

エタ

I’m so fond of Japanese culture, so I began learning Koto 20 years ago. As a foreigner, the barrier of language was a huge obstacle. But I kept learning, really slowly and one day my koto teacher ask me would I like to learn shamisen as well. From the world of classical jiuta, I gradually learned that there are other types of shamisen, which includes Tsugaru shamisen. It is so different from the traditional jiuta and I find it interesting, so here I am, joining Ki & Ki, playing the Tsugaru as well. Thank you Ki & Ki for setting up this amazing shamisen learning online platform, it really helps me understand how to play with correct techniques. The terminology are explained clearly every time, it save me a lot of trouble when trying to figure out what that Japanese word means.

Maya Rushing Walker

I grew up in Hawaii and took years of nihon buyō dance lessons. I asked my mother for shamisen lessons too but I think she thought I already had too many lessons! Also, it was nagauta, which is a lot less energetic than tsugaru style. I am so happy that many years later I can finally study shamisen with such a convenient system. As a Japanese American living far away from Hawaii now, shamisen keeps me close to the things I love. Thank you so much! ❤️