Shamisen.....

[Airjockie]

Shamisen...jamisen...basically a 3 string Japanese guitar.


I played around with a few in Japan...and always wanted one for myself. The wife's grandmother has one and she was trained and was very good at it.... and the vids you will see on Youtube are the guys thats been playing since they were like three years old. I'm trying to beg the wife to buy me one from Japan, since I don't want to get the crappy ebay ones thats punctured or are broken strings. So we've been playing youtube videos all night watching and chilling with shamisen music....and just listening to it...for some reason sooths my tension, but yet heightens my brain activity. It's kinda hard to explain, but it's just exciting to hear, but riveting to watch.

basically...if you've heard the Wii comercials, then you've heard the shamisen. Specifically, the Yoshida Brothers.. So we'll start there. I'm trying to also get the wife to buy me their CD, but I think I can prolly find it on Amazon.com. I'm thinking it will be a perfect mix for commuting to work...

So post the shamisen/jamisen vids you like...

Jamisen is habu skin...okinawan habu...snake.

Shamisen=cat skin....but most of you will Wiki this anyways.


My recent favorite... Yoshida Brother's Rising, but I also like the YB's Nikata, and then the jam with the Cyro Baptista, doing Storm. It gets sweet about 3 minutes into the vid.

YouTube - Rising_Yoshida Brothers

YouTube - Yoshida Brothers - Nikata (Renaissance)

YouTube - Yoshida Brothers with Cyro Baptista

 

[AHHVTEC]

thanks for that ive been wanting to know what those things are called for ever

 

[90_EF_Hatch]

is that the same instrument that is in kung fu hustle that the two blind guys play and the swords come out and cut up people?!

 

[VTEChris]

No thats a different instrument. Kung fu hustle was a korean or chinese movie i believe so im sure it was a instrument that is commonly played in there culture.

 

[Kanned]

3 strings!? Lazy fuckers... I want one.

 

[lswhitecivic]

I've wanted to get a shamisen for a long time. I play the acoustic guitar so I think I could pick it up fairly easily.

This is the first song that came to my mind when I heard the word shamisen.

CHABA - Parade
YouTube - Chaba - Parade

Also although its not Shamisen, these guys play acoustics and I really like them as well.

Depapepe - Start
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCLWA5aRTcA

 

[lswhitecivic]

Hmm...I just learned that CHABA does not use a shamisen, but actually a precursor to it called the sanshin.

Sanshin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[jeffie7]

No thats a different instrument. Kung fu hustle was a korean or chinese movie i believe so im sure it was a instrument that is commonly played in there culture.

Chinese.... I never would have guessed someone could assume Kung Fu Hustle would be Korean lol.

Either way, most everything in Japan came from China. So..... My guess is the 3 string guitar some how got its start in China. Maybe just influenced but some how China had a part in it. =)