I’m glad it will be helpful! It’s a fun instrument!

me too! a friend of my mum's gave it to her, and it sat in my room for months :) recently I picked it up and have been trying to play a few things....

@@fabianpatrizio2865 Best of luck and fun playing to you! I hope my videos can be of help on your musical endeavors!

I encourage you to! It’s a fun instrument, and a good song!

Where did you buy it? I really can't find anywhere

@@gabrielleao1675 I bought mine used from a man who lives in my area and collects uncommon instruments. But, you can buy one from this website: www.thomannmusic.com/ Thomann sells lots of different types of instruments, including balalaikas. I bought a lute from there recently, and my balalaika and bouzouki strings come from them. Cheers!

@@gabrielleao1675 There's no way I can help you man,I got it from my grandfather,and he got it from someone that was in Russia.But there must ne a some sort of a website where you can find these.

@@solomonisms9000 i have the same one too!

Németh Balázs It’s a very cool instrument! Very different from the other instruments I play.

@@solomonisms9000 oh Okay .You convinced me😃

Kirill Kudymov Glad you liked it! I plan to do more!

Right on!

белый сахар No problem! I also have a tutorial on Korobeiniki if you are interested in more!

@@solomonisms9000 I'll make sure to check it out

I'm glad that you're finding them helpful, and that you are finding joy in music! There is another tutorial on my channel for Balalaika, and I plan to make more, but my instrument is broken right now, so I can't make more videos with it until it's fixed. Soon hopefully, and more tutorials yet to come!

@@solomonisms9000 what's happen with it ? No violence with your sword i hope ^^ Yes i see the other but i'm learning katyusha for the moment, it's my first step ! I hope for you it will be soon playable ;)

@@solomonisms9000 and a question, how do you learn balalaïka ? I'm french and it's very difficult to find totorials about playing techniques etc.. With a professor, with books or just through internet ?

@@ncinas9753 Haha! Nothing to do with the sword, no. The bridge snapped off because its a very old, very cheap instrument. Hopefully I can get it fixed soon! I'm afraid I have no means of learning to share with you. I play by ear. I listen to the song, then I can figure out how to play it myself. That's why you won't find any sheet music from my videos. I can't read it.

@@solomonisms9000 okay! I imagine then that your relationship with music and instruments started some time ago ;) I don't know if you know, but if you want you can buy a balalaika's bridge on the net for 5-10 £ (thomann website) ;) When a recieved my balalaika, the bridge was a little broken and i will probably buy another on this website

More are planned. Korobeiniki is next, then probably Kalinka.

I'm sure that there are chords somewhere, but I'm sorry to say I can't be of much help in finding them. I play everything by ear, can't read notation, don't know the names of the chords that I play. I found this site www.chords-and-tabs.net/song/name/traditional-russian-katyusha-5 which has chord names, but again, I don't know if they are correct. I would say don't worry too much about following along as I play, take it slow, section by section until you're comfortable playing it, then move on to the next bit. It's a strange instrument and takes some getting used to! Best of luck!

I'm glad you enjoyed, and that's a good question! So good that I'm afraid I can't answer it. I know next to nothing about musical theory, I play everything by ear, but I cannot name any of the notes that I play. I must admit I'm rather unsure what it even means to play in a certain key. Sorry!

@@solomonisms9000 No problem! Thank you so much for your reply! Playing by ears are also great, too :)

If you are tuned EEA, then if you fretted 2-5-4 or 5-2-4 that would be an F#m chord that would be the imin chord of F#m or the ii minor chord of E major. But you can use that chord shape as the minor chord up and down the neck with whatever the lower note on one of the E strings as the root note. For an F# major chord you would fret 2-6-4or 6-2-4. You can move that up and down likewise. For an F#5 “chord” (no 3rd), you can fret 2-2-4, this is useful for a modal sound.

Make sure the strings are the correct gauge. If they aren't they are liable to snap when brought to tension. I recommend buying strings from Thomann Music to ensure you get the correct gauge. I would also check the grooves in the nut. Sometimes they can have tiny jagged edges that cut the string, as was the case on my lute. To fix this issue, take a metal wound string and run it through the groove like a file, then rub the groove with a pencil's graphite. This should smooth it and prevent any edges from cutting the strings. I also recommend going slowly. Give the strings time to stretch. Bring them up a note then wait a few minutes. If you go too fast, they may snap, as a person would if forced too quickly to do a split! Happy Playing!

@@solomonisms9000 Thank you, I'll check them out.

I know, but I don’t know how to play it without one. It doesn’t make the right sound when I try. And unfortunately I cannot find any videos telling me how to do it that are in English.

​@@solomonisms9000 here, hopefully bibs ekkel can help you with that kzfaq.info/get/bejne/h7ekjK93mrjOnqc.html

@@solomonisms9000 he has multiple tutorial videos on the balalaika

Excellent! I hope it brings you much happiness! Do a check of the bridge first, a lot of balalaikas have the bridge placed in the wrong spot. Usually not hard to readjust it though!

@@solomonisms9000 ok cool thank you for the tip thats actually very useful and for the response!

Hello, I'm glad you enjoyed! The standard tuning for a balalaika is E4 E4 A4, and that's what I use in all my videos. Happy playing!

@@solomonisms9000 Thank you so much!!

Mr Bones I plan on it! Next one is probably Korobeiniki. For now I have midterms to focus on though, so it will likely be a few weeks.

Solomonisms korobeiniki is honestly a banger,can’t wait for you to make that vid!

@@mrbones736 As the television might say: Stay Tuned!

Solomonisms I literally just commented asking for that song, instant subscribe haha

There are nearly no tutorials in English, except may be a few from Alex Siniavsky like this kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gaxiZrlyvr_Znmg.html . You can find a lot of lessons at Sergey Vorontsov channel kzfaq.info . They are all in Russian, but mainly everything is clear without knowing Russian.

Hmm... well mine is quite possibly the lowest quality balalaika I could have gotten. It's a used antique souvenir from the 1980s, and it plays just fine for my purposes, but if she wants to start off with a strong first step, you'll want something nicer. If you want a quality instrument, I recommend Thomann's selection. They ship pretty much anywhere, their instruments are excellent quality, and they have a great warranty if anything goes wrong. They're based in Germany, but have UK and US based sites as well. I've bought instruments and strings from them in the past, and they are very reliable. thomannmusic.com

@@solomonisms9000 Okay, thanks for the help! I’ll check them out. 🙂

Yeah, mine was a special edition for the Moscow 1980 Olympics. I got it used. Fourth hand or something like that.

Kavik v.d.Hexenholtz I know, but for the life of me I cannot play it that way and still get anything resembling a balalaika sound. And as I have not found any tutorials of that sort in English, I will have to continue with the pick.

@@solomonisms9000 Try thumb and pointer finger(though sometimes, index finger) thumb on the down stroke, finger on the up stroke.

Kavik v.d.Hexenholtz I’ll give it a shot. May take some practice.

I just use a normal tuner that I got from my local music store. The tuner just tells me what note is currently being played when I pluck a string, then I adjust accordingly. Here's a link to the one I use. You should be able to find it at lots of places, or one like it. www.long-mcquade.com/73293/Guitars/Tuners/Snark/Super-Tight-Instrument-Tuner.htm

@@solomonisms9000 sweet, thanks a ton

I believe it's a prima balalaika. This exact one is a souvenir balalaika from the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

Honestly I had to look up the difference. I think it's a prima, given that I tune it E E A.

Shrek Start with a song in mind. With every instrument that I play, I always start with a song that I want to play on that instrument. Piano was the opening to Fur Elise. Lute was Greensleeves. Bouzouki was Eiforr. Balalaika was Kalinka. If you have a song in mind, you have a goal to work towards, and every bit of progress you make will keep you encouraged. And I recommend that when learning any song, focus on just the melody first, get the supporting notes later. This makes it easier to play when you only have to focus on one thing when initially learning. And don’t worry too much about your timing initially. It’s more important that you can hit the notes, so slow down if you need to. I hope you enjoy your Balalaika journey!

@@solomonisms9000 Thanks for the tips, my dad play the balalaïka and I'll ask him if he can learn to me. Have a great day

@@solomonisms9000 I bought a Balalaïka recently and I m ready to learn, from all the videos I've see, your video is the best one to learn a song easily

@@solomonisms9000 my first day learning and I can only do the first little part, is it normal or am I really dumb?

Shrek Very normal. It’s a new skill, it will take time! Keep working at it and it will take shape!

Nope, this one is Katyusha. They have some similar notes, and are often confused though. Kalinka is recognizable for its repeating sequence of the same notes with increasing speed.

Теперь и всегда

Because at the time I was new to the instrument and hadn't figured out how to make it sound nice without one yet. Nowadays I play without a pick.

Greetings from Canada

I don’t know how to play slap on anything. It’s not really my favourite style of playing so I don’t see myself learning anytime soon.

2:05

I will probably be doing a Kalinka tutorial in the future!

No, Kalinka is one of the songs used for Tetris. I plan on making a Kalinka video soon, so stay tuned!

Solomonisms oof sorry my fault, I was hearing sounds

I've since taught myself to play without, but at the time I was pretty new to the instrument

Gabriel Nascimento This is in fact Katyusha. I will likely make a Kalinka video soon though!

Similar songs to be sure, they share some chords, but this is most definitely Katyusha, not Kalinka. Kalinka is recognizable by it's repeating riff at the start of the song which increases in speed each time it's played.

@@solomonisms9000 Bro, that's definitely not a Katyusha.

@@CANIBALSHOP kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bbCPkr2V29m-kXk.htmlsi=sPGQeqTC21wviZd1 Katyusha. Maybe easier to recognize it with Lyrics