Sakura Sakura

Sakura Sakura (or just 'Sakura' for short) is one of the most well known Japanese folk songs in the world. Being an awesome song as well as a famous song, it should be an integral part of your repertoire.

Tips for Memorizing

We all want to memorize the whole piece in one session, but it is impossible to retain that much information so soon. Thus, setting a goal to learn the whole piece in one day can be frustrating as we are unable to recall the correct melody later. Rather, take it slow! You will feel victorious if you focus on memorizing a few measures with 100% confidence rather than struggle with an entire piece all at once.

Remember!

Be patient with yourself, relax as much as possible and have fun! :-)

Remember!

Be patient with yourself, relax as much as possible and have fun! :-)

Remember!

Be patient with yourself, relax as much as possible and have fun! :-)

Minor notes: Make them sad!

When pressing position '1' and '5', make sure you are pressing the correct spot so it sounds minor. When my student played this song, he (or she) would unknowingly press the string above the 1st position (closer to the 2nd position), which made the sound major and happy.

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

 Sukui (Upstroke)

Sukui (Refinement)

The main technique used in this section is sukui (upstroke). Ideally, the sukui technique should sound very sharp, snappy and almost percussive. Whenever techniques are played in succession, the intensity weakens in order to play them faster.

Accuracy (Refinement)

Though the tsugaru style is often associated with high speed shredding, the tsugaru aesthetic is really about playing notes accurately with intent. This is difficult to do in the beginning of this section, because there is a wide spread of notes within a few measures. Playing this beginning quickly will often result in unnecessary sliding or worse, sounding the note flat/sharp. There are two ways to rectify this.

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

 Sukui (Upstroke)

 Suberi (Striking two strings without lifting bachi)

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

 Sukui (Upstroke)

 Suberi (Striking two strings without lifting bachi)

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

 Sukui (Upstroke)

 Suberi (Striking two strings without lifting bachi)

Techniques used in this piece

View these techniques in the left sidebar.

 Sukui (Upstroke)

 Suberi (Striking two strings without lifting bachi)

Suberi (Refinement)

The main technique used in this section is suberi. Just like with the sukui technique, the two notes played with the suberi technique should sound clean and clear. Again, when suberi is executed in succession, the tendency is to rush through the two notes, making the sound blended. If you are going to blend anything, it should be either margarita or a fine espresso blend.

'Ey, Kyle needs to have some fun too!