The second part of my shamisen photo shoot (see part 1). Being a guitar player, I had little head start in learning. The emphasis though, being on little. The shamisen is not easy to learn, a host of rules and rituals making it very difficult to master. I am slowly improving though and my teacher has perspicaciously signed me up to play a concert on July 1st- with an audience of about a thousand as well as the odd tv crew. Wish me luck!