Everything You Know About Japanese Music Is Wrong

I like how he started playing the instrument and went straight to playing a slide blues tune.

It was a huge honor to be involved! Thank you so much for coming all the way to Santa Cruz to bring shamisen to the public eye! :-)

So there's a few things I need to clarify for the dear viewers! As our conversation was neither pre-planned or scripted (or if it was, I missed the email!), I was rather flying by the seat of my pants, and I realized a few things I said were incorrect. Although they're rather trivial points, taking care to keep shamisen information factual and credible is so important (especially because there is so little information publicly available). And so, corrections are below!

00:39
"More in the folk line - called tsugaru shamisen". This might've be more of a misunderstanding caused by abridging. Technically speaking, the folk style is called "Minyo" (and shamisen used for Minyo is called "minyo-jamisen"), which is fundamentally where the Tsugaru style (tsugaru-jamisen) originated from. (specifically from the roots minyo, not the modern formalized Minyo) So although I do explain it's evolution into a coined style, I just want to be super clear that tsugaru-jamisen is really on the balancing edge of folk and modern fusion. It's both still used for folk of the tsugaru region (tsugaru no minyo) as well as modern fusion (jazz, rock, pop, etc), so it's kind of in a gray area. (Most don't even consider it a traditional style given how recent it was coined)

01:50
Not that it matters, but just want to point out that the song we play here (Sakura Sakura) is generally not considered a tsugaru-jamisen song (although tsugaru style players sometimes add it to their repertoire for a bit of classic flavor) :-)

04:28
Neo means "Sound Cord", not "Sound Tail" (I had a different kanji in mind)

04:43
"This is a koma case." It's actually a lipstick case, but I put my koma (bridge) in it. Lipstick cases are quite often used as a convenient container for storing koto picks as well as shamisen koma. (And that particular lipstick case I had came with a used koto I purchased)

04:55
"Sawari, which means touching". It's true, the word sawari (sawaru) does mean touching, and most likely that's where the name of the effect is derived from (because the vibrating string is being touched by the wood ridge), I'm not 100% sure. So, just want to make it clear that I could be wrong about that!

08:11
Information on shamisen tunings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUyP9IhRLA

09:48
"It's the perfect instrument for that." Meaning, just like ukulele, you can quickly learn enough to enjoy the experience (unlike accordion or trumpet)

That's about it!

Not only did a guy of Japanese heritage who grew up on black music learn a Japanese instrument from a guy of European heritage who grew up on Appalachian music, the instrument he learned might not be popular much outside of museums, if it wasn't for the popularity of American west coast surf rock in Japan. I love that.

Fun fact, Taiko drum sticks are also called bachis, because bachi just means "thing to hit with"

As soon as you started playing it sounded like a swampy blues instantly. Incredible

I love this educational content about instruments from different cultures, you could do a series of different countries and all that. Itd be cool to see you experiment with them.

I knew this would happen when samurai guitarist had a shamisen in a video. I have played shamisen for a while, but stopped because i was afraid to be too loud for the neighbors.

I hope your Acoustic guitar in this video is ok after being in the rain. It is nice to see you guys Jam in the beginning of this video. I have never heard an Acoustic guitar played with a Shamisen played before. I find it interesting how some countries actually have buzzing strings in their music unlike how most North American music with stringed instruments is with no string or fret buzz.

Kyle is a legend

This guy is so damn cool. So knowledgeable and passionate.

Greetings from Japan! 🎌🗾⛩️

The Okinawan version, “san shin” （三線), is also super fun. the ”do” is wrapped is viper skin, and the ”bachi” is either a long bamboo reed held a little like a pencil or a honed cow‘s horn olaced on the index finger. 😮

The Shamisen is such a cool instrument! I love the sound it produces!
The one he was putting together with the twisted tuning pegs. Then the one he was playing with the 2 tone neck. Both looked awesome!

Great video. I've known about the shamisen for a few years, thanks to Wagakkiband, but I never knew that surf music had such an influence on how it's played in the modern era. Also, I really like what you said about the cross-cultural aspect of music. It made think about and really appreciate how that plays into the music that I make. I'm someone of European descent who grew up on music descended from Africa (rock, blues and R&B) and I play music heavily influenced by those genres on a Hawaiian instrument (ukulele) that was descended from a Portuguese instrument. It's wild to think about how many cultures it all filters through.

I Have wanted an electric shamisen and cello for years!!

love that crazy distance between the cultures you mentioned and then how today we can bring it all together in this day and age, abso-Lute-ly love the traditional side of things but those bluesy runs Kyle Abbott added in they were just oh so smooth.

thanks for bringing the past into the now guys

Fun Fact: every culture that has stringed instruments has a banjo

This was immensely fascinating and Sammy-g's reflections on the sharing of culture at the end was pretty profound. Would love to see more content of this sort,

That last little “flavor” riff he played was like fuckin’ slap bass funky shit. Now I want a Shamisen

Thank you, this was absolutely awesome to watch! Love the mix of cultures somewhat brings in the heritage that used to be, just out of sheer love for the craft!

Wow what a suprise, never expected to see Kyle Abbot on a guitar channel haha