Gion Kouta

Get the notation for the popular Song “Gion Kouta” – including play along files in three speed versions to help you learn and practice the song!

“Kouta” literally translates to “Little Song” and is one of the larger genres of traditional shamisen music. It got to be closely associated with the music of Geisha. This ties nicely to the second part of the song’s name, “Gion”. Gion is a famous Geisha district in Kyoto. And that’s what the song revolves around. The notation comes without lyrics and instead focuses on the shamisen carrying the melody.

The song is in niagari tuning (C-G-C) and only requires hajiki when it comes to techniques. It’s a nice song for beginners because it doesn’t use many positions on the neck (the highest is position 10). It shares the same positions with songs like Sakura and Ringo Bushi.

The mp3 play along files come in three different speed versions : 60 bpm, 80 bpm and 105 bpm. I added a “click” (steady clicking pulse) to the songs to make it easier to follow along.

You can download the files from your customer account page after the purchase – a link will be provided in the order confirmation e-mail.

Wanna have a short listen to see if you like the tune? Here’s a snippet of the beginning of Gion Kouta:

A General Note on Tuning:

In every tuning, the strings are tuned in a certain relation to each other. For folk songs, there’s no fixed rigid tuning to a definite pitch (in contrast, the A-string on the violin is always tuned to 440 or 442hz) but what’s most important is how the strings are tuned in relation to each other.

A good rule of thumb is to tune your instrument over the base of C. This means, the big string will be tuned to C and the other strings according to the tuning of the song:

Honchōshi: C-F-C

Niagari: C-G-C

Sansagari: C-F-Bb

Access to the pdf and mp3:

Please note that this item is downloadable once only – just as receiving a physical copy of the scores would be. Consider it a “direct delivery” 🙂

After the purchase, you can download the file from your account page under “downloads” or via the link in your order confirmation email.

Make sure you save your file in an easy to locate directory. Please don’t hesitate to contact us via email if you need further assistance.