Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A shamisen or samisen (三味線 lit: 3 taste strings) is a 3-stringed musical instrument played with a pick. It originated in the southernmost Japanese prefecture of Okinawa and is often the main instrument in contemporary music from that area. It is similar in length to a guitar, but its neck is much slimmer and it is played with a larger pick. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.