Shakuhachi Embouchure - This is Not a Recorder Ep. 4

[@categoryfairweather2843]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Finally, a tutorial that actually explains how to form a correct embouchure. I tried your method and started getting clean tone almost immediately. I now have hope for the future of my Shakuhachi journey. I was getting very frustrated. Again, thank you.

[@kaimartin1722]

This video helped me find my first sound! Thank you for the encouraging tone

[@BattleCattleSA]

!!!!My shakuhachi! It made a noise!!!

[@BattleCattleSA]

It made another noise! I didn't change my fingerings at all, but this one was a whole octave higher! I have no idea why. Experimentation is difficult.

[@mokuho]

your suggestions helped me, blow to the edge of the utaguchi, allow the air to escape from the abdomen, do not blow...thank you🙏

[@jeanmtiger]

One of the best tutorials I have seen on producing sound. After 1.5 years my playing and tone just improved because of your video. Thanks so much.

[@Wytch]

I just finished 3D printing and assembling my own shakuhachi and I must say I haven't have this much fun with a new instrument in a long time. Sounds surprisingly good considering it's a hunk of plastic and super glue. Seriously considering getting a proper one after watching these videos, please keep making them!

[@TheRealMisterJ]

Yeah I also just put together one I 3d printed.. While I can get sound out of it and some of it sounds good, the lower notes just sound really bad.. Could be my skill level but I ordered a yuu just to see if it's me or the print

[@ChrisLeeW00]

I wonder if its the same model I printed, because it works really well for me after some sanding and careful filing of the utaguchi.

[@MichaelHartleyBambooStudio]

Appreciate your taking the trouble to make this video. Really like the graphics in the background...

[@dr_bean]

I'm not sure, where I've first seen a shakuhachi, probably in one of Adam Neely's collabs with you on youtube, but I was amazed right away. I was already obsessed with bamboo (and bamboo instruments) and I figured, I'd build my own. Important to note that I have no academic history with woodwinds, whatsoever. But I at the time I had already made multiple recorders and 'clarinets' with decent tuning (and an offputtingly small range). So I went in for the shakuhachi, and without ever seeing one in real life, I started experimenting. And now I have a few lying around, but I've always had a difficulty in playing like proper melodies. And I was kind of let down, because I thought, that it must be my home-made instrument's fault (maybe the utaguchi angle). But now that I saw this video come up, I thought I'd give it another try, and now I have more confidence, that my shakuhachi is playable :) I found a much more efficient way in making a sound by building it all up as you instructed. Thank you so much for these videos!

[@sirenwavemtv8334]

Keep working at it dude, sounds great :)

[@zingerzmusic]

I love comments like this. So glad that some of what I had to say was helpful!

[@Taiwaneverything]

Trying to create my own flutes from bamboo. Have yet to get the angle of the mouthpiece right, I guess. But glad your are saying that hearing the whistle sound means you are on the right track. I hear the whistle sound. Working with bamboo is such a pleasure, even without getting the flutes to sound right, yet. Thanks for the detailed instructions!

[@mokuho]

The straw works well because it forms the mouth to blow! 🙏🏼🙂

[@organman77]

This video is wonderful! Thanks how for detailed and clear it is and fot your encouragement to be patient. I've only just started playing and this video was super helpful!

[@hartuber37]

Wonderful series… MORE please!

[@mokuho]

Thank you so much, i try for ten years to sound stable with shakuhachi...🙏☺️

[@queunlimited4779]

Most excellent Tutorial I've found ✨ 😌 🙏

[@mokuho]

Aim directly at the blowing edge of the uttaguchi

[@pyro1324]

That Buddhist smile tip helped me get more consistent tones, thanks man! I've designed and 3D printed my Shakuhachi so I'm probably making things way harder for myself (having to sharpen my Utaguchi between playing due to plastic being too soft), but I'm planning on buying an actual instrument in the future but with my current budget 3D printed is all I can go for.

[@zingerzmusic]

Happy it helped! 3D printed shakuhachi sounds cool! The shakuhachi Yuu is relatively inexpensive and might make for a good blueprint for your tinkering. Good luck!

[@pyro1324]

@@zingerzmusic I think I might buy that, might give me some ideas for improving my design.

[@stephenhill6003]

Excellent video. I started with rim blown Native American style flutes, so moving to the shakuhachi was pretty easy. But, making it sound musical is more of a challenge. Your videos are a big help.

[@hasegawataizo4069]

The recorder is a guitar. The shakuhachi is a violin.

[@PeterSolerom]

This was a great help, thank you

[@frederic_viennot]

thank you so much for this amazing serie of videos ;))

[@ChazzsLoFiMusic]

Thanks for the information! I’m hopefully going to buy one soon. You sound tremendous, by the way!

[@BattleCattleSA]

Ah! If I subtly redirect my airstream, I can change the frequency a little bit! I was a whole semitone sharp until i started measuring with my phone!

[@catalinmunteanu78]

❤🙏

[@BzBlade]

What Shakuhachi did you used on your jazz "Sanma Samba" youtube video?

[@joelra3702]

Hey Zack just got my first shakuhachi today and just started making some sounds thanks to your videos! Is it feasible to be able to comfortably use all 12 notes with practice? I gather that it's possible but theres lots of stuff to understand with embouchure/overtones/which holes to cover, making it somewhat like altissimo on sax? Thanks ❤

[@zingerzmusic]

Of course it is! Get the regular notes down pat first, then you can start experimenting with the "meri" notes :)

[@jeannelking]

Great video, thank you! Do you keep the teeth closed/together when you play or do your teeth separate (playing with an open jaw, so to speak)? I'm noticing that my jaw wants to open when I seek to make a sound.

[@zingerzmusic]

Open!

[@prism223]

I started on a quena flute and now that I'm trying to learn shakuhachi the biggest issue seems to be consistently getting a sound, especially the low Ro note which likes to pop into the higher octave. I'm finding that I have to hold the flute almost completely horizontal and keep the edge very close to my lips to get any sound out of it. Would this likely be due to improper embouchure or is it sometimes the case even with good embouchure?

[@zingerzmusic]

Hard to say without seeing what's going on, but most likely due to where you're placing the shakuhachi on your face and the direction you're blowing. Take a look at my video on holding the shakuhachi and go through each step, and make sure you aren't forcing the shakuhachi into your lips too hard. Then make sure you're blowing straight forward and not up or down. Hope that helps!

[@prism223]

@@zingerzmusic Thank you very much, I was able to get better sounds after improving the placement and then going back over what was in this video 👍