Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

Hey Captian Fez, Welcome to the Forum!
I own a 1973 Gibson Custom Les Paul and, until recently, the Convertible Dan Electro. I love them both.

Enjoy the process and looking forward to hearing of your discoveries.
All the best, Perry

Yungflutes: Ooh, Danelectro! I am envious. I've a couple of guitars, but I'm more interested in my amp - currently being "sympathetically" restored is a 1960s Burns Orbit III. *Anything* played through that should sound good.

Edosan: I've seen Riley play a couple of times (it's great seeing him on taiko too, given his Ondekoza background - he makes yataibayashi look particularly effortless) and am planning on having some lessons with him when I at least had a bit of exploration myself.

It's funny you mention it - I read a piece on his site about keeping momentum in studies when I was considering taking up the shakuhachi (link here) and found that it had a lot of resonance with a rough patch I was having with taiko study, too. Great guy (in the limited contact I've had with him) and I will certainly seek out his advice and tutelage when I have my head around even having a shakuhachi in the first place!

Thanks for the comments, all. Long path ahead!

Gosh, it's been a while! Thought I'd check in though - I've FINALLY been able to put shakuhachi higher up my list of priorities and have been able to figure out how to make sounds. I had a couple of lessons at the recent TaikOz intensive and it brought about a breakthrough for me.

Kevin Man took the sessions Riley was going to do (but understandably wasn't able to take) and something sort of clicked on in my head. Kevin was VERY helpful with the elements that had frustrated me!



- a lot of new converts!

So I'm back on track, on board and trying to rehearse more regularly. It's difficult, but it feels really rewarding.

Nicholas, my amp is being restored by a bloke in Wollongong, a couple of hours away. He's almost done on it, too - good job that I've been busy trying to make flute sounds...

Good stuff, keep it up

Thanks for the kind notes. I'm probably not much of a poster here as yet (I have a lot to learn before I can speak on some things!) but I am reading, and I do appreciate the comments.

I figure the practice I'm doing can't be too bad - I haven't had any complaints from my partner, yet... ha. Am still working on the very basics, trying to improve and make things seem a little more natural (is that I or E, and how do I stop this damn breathy sound? What the hell is this symbol? Ah, elbow cramp...) but am trying to approach it a bit philosophically: it just ain't gonna happen in a week, after all.