🎼 Free Cheat Sheet! How to Create Shinobue Sheet Music for Your Fav Songs. Easier Than You Think! 😃

Creating Sheet Music for Shinobue

I'm really excited to show you how I am creating shinobue sheet music for all the songs I cover. You can, too! This is called TRANSCRIBING, and it's easier than you might think. I have many students who are doing it without any musical background. They weren't able to read music before, but now they're hooked on transcribing!!

How to choose a song:

First, you must understand that shinobue is an instrument that plays a melody. The piece you choose must have a CLEAR and Continuous melody you can play. For that reason, it's good to pick a song that is SUNG by a human because then you can simply play the melody that is being sung. Avoid choosing an orchestral piece without a clear melody like this one. (Battlefield ~ The Scramble of Life – Xenoblade Chronicles 3)

​You will have better luck with vocal songs like this one (Xenoblade-Beyond the Sky -ending theme- with lyrics)

​Even if it's not a vocal song, if it has a very clear melody, it might work as it did with Zelda's "Ocarina of Time."

To start with, pick a simple song that you know.

Learning the basics is key before diving into playing your favorite songs from your beloved anime or any other source. So, start off by picking a short and simple melody that you already know and feel comfortable with.

Here is your cheat sheet!

Pretend you have a 8 hon choshi shinobue. 8 hon choshi is tuned to C major. What is C major? C major looks like this. It has no flats (b) or sharps (#) next to the squiggly sign.

Now, this is the cheat sheet for your 8 hon choshi. Download it here.

Let's pick "Frere Jacques" to learn the basics together!

I think pretty much everyone in the world knows "Frere Jacques". If not, watch the video above.

First, google "Frere Jacques sheet music C major". Click "Images" below the search box. I found this one from Musescore (I'm not a member).

At first glance, I realized that this version has a low G in the phrase 4, which my 8 hon choshi shinobue CANNOT play.

So I decided to look into F major, which can be played easily with 8 hon choshi, as my cheat sheet indicates. Upon googling "Frere Jacques sheet music F major," I found this one.

All the notes in this version are included in my cheat sheet under F major, so we are ready to roll!

The first note is located in the bottom space of the 5 lines. According to my cheat sheet, that is ryo on 4 (四). The next note is located in the second line from the bottom, and that is ryo on 5 (五). Keep on plugging in, using my cheat sheet and you will get:

A: 四　五　六　四　四　五　六　四　

B: 六　七メ 1 　六　七メ 1

C: 1 2 1 七メ 六　四 1 2 1 七メ 六　四

D: 四　一　四　四　一　四

Did you get them all?

In F major, all the B notes (notes that are located in the middle line) must be flatted, and in shinobue, that means you must use seven meri. 七メ (seven meri) can be played as Zero as well. If you are not familiar with Seven meri or zero, watch this video, starting at 1:57. It will show you how to do zero and seven meri.

😃If you want to learn more about how to create shinobue sheet music from your favorite songs, feel free to ​email me back by hitting reply​. I'm hosting a fun group lesson on Zoom, where you can meet other shinobue players and learn together!😃