Say hello to my lil' fren'.....!

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Yep, after jonesing for one since I first saw Tony Levin play one when I was a teenager...my new Chapman Stick finally arrived about 2 weeks ago! Some folks have been asking about it, so I thought I'd post a couple of pics:

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I've been in Monster Obsession Mode since I got it (my wife has been laughingly referring to herself as a "Stick Widow" now ;) )...up close it looks even more beautiful that I ever imagined, it plays wonderfully (the action on these are so incredibly low that you barely even have to touch the string to sound the note), and it sounds amazing: I got it with the deepest tuning they have available, so the lowest bass string bottoms out on a low Bb, with the deeeeeep resounding tooonk. :)

of course, having never touched one before getting it, I also now have to continue to learn to actually play the thing properly :lol: ...but even that seems to be coming along quicker than I thought it would. Scot Solida put me through a fun bit of a "trial by fire" on the tune we recorded last weekend (which he explains here), as he really wanted to try to get my "teething" sounds on it, considering the weekend we recorded that was the first time I actually even plugged it in! :lol: But there's something that just feels so natural about playing the Stick, that I managed to come up with a halfway decent Stick bass part for the tune. Now, I'm trying to get the hang of the guitar half of it too...

Anyway...if you ever get the chance to get your hands on one of these somehow, give it a try; you might fall in love with one too! :D (my old bassist keeps stopping by unannounced since I got it, and I think he's now trying to figure out how to talk his wife into allowing him :roll: to buy one for himself ;) ).

So now I guess the nest thing I gotta do is run it through a ton of VST plugins like usual and render it unrecognizable... :D

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I hope at the very least you get uncontrollable diahrea tonight.

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that looks great har. I never even knew about these things until a couple of years ago at namm. good luck learning to play it; it will certainly be a worthwhile endeavor.

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sickle666 wrote:I hope at the very least you get uncontrollable diahrea tonight.
....and when I do, I'll most likely be sitting there on the "throne" with it on, still trying to play it.... :lol:

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Hmm, looks a bit 'widdler' to me. Not sure if I approve. :hihi:

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donkey tugger wrote:Hmm, looks a bit 'widdler' to me. Not sure if I approve. :hihi:
Worry not: it's great for playing in 2-note Keith Levine/PiL drone guitar stylee too! :D

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bluedad wrote:that looks great har. I never even knew about these things until a couple of years ago at namm. good luck learning to play it; it will certainly be a worthwhile endeavor.
Thanks! :) I'm really hoping that my wife sticks it out until get this thing figured out...last weekend I was chasing her around our home, plinking inaudible notes on it unplugged while yammering stuff like "Look! I figured out Gabriel's 'I Go Swimming' on it!! Listen!!" :lol:
If she'll stay with me after putting up with stuff like that.... ;)

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Looks cool Har, but can you play it :wink: Waiting to hear some great samples from you, and you got to grow a mustache now. 8)

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I hate your guts! :evil:

:D :D :D :) :) :) :D :D :D

I had the money for a Stick and got a bass and guitar instead.. bad move, BAD move. Sold both of 'em off to start a new Stick Fund.

I'm envious, but you inspire me to get on it and get one! :-o

It's a beautiful instrument. :D
Bandcamp: https://suitcaseoflizards.bandcamp.com/
Linux Mint, Waveform 13 Pro, U-He synths, Audio Damage effects,.

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hello!!!!!!
:-o thanx for letting us have a peek at it, I was asking myself about your arriving beast.

good to know you've taken it seriously, also...(not for the wife)
I wish you the most a-la-page, sickest polyrhythmic grooves.
please, don't forget me when ya want some vdrumming to get laid with. :wink:

damn, did Scot (virtually) already got his hands over it? :lol:

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I don't think I have the left/right hand co-ordination to play one of these (a converted pianist might have more luck than a converted guitarist!); however, I've though they were way cool tools ever since Gowan's main guy (laugh, laugh like you will) used one back in the 80s.

Greg
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I want one too!
But then, I want a pedal steel as well...
And hmm... several other things I guess.

Let us listen to what you come up with!
There are 3 kinds of people:
Those who can do maths and those who can't.

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Lunch Money wrote:I don't think I have the left/right hand co-ordination to play one of these (a converted pianist might have more luck than a converted guitarist!); however, I've though they were way cool tools ever since Gowan's main guy (laugh, laugh like you will) used one back in the 80s.

Greg
Yep; since I come from a classical piano background I'm hoping the left/right hand independence will works it s way out. :)

But I've been surprised at just how much mental deprogramming I have to do with myself when I try it on the Stick...I think it's because as soon as my hands and arms move into a guitar/bass playing alignment, my brain seems to start thinking "aha...a string instrument! So you must want your right hand to help out the left in creating the notes like with a guitar, right?" and fights it by trying to have both hands playing in tandem instead of independently. :?

For the some of the Levin-ish two-handed Stick bass stuff this can actually work out nicely, as you can start doing stuff resembling drum rudiments with rhythmic back-and-forth/left-right motions (you can quickly do some incredibly fast, wild triplet runs this way that would probably break my fingers on my regular basses))...but when I try to split things up and play separate stuff on the guitar/melody strings...it's a bit of a fight so far. But I'm working at it. :) I'm actually in RTFM Mode with this right now :D ...the "Free Hands" training book written by Emmett Chapman himself goes over some really interesting fingering rudiments that at first seem to make no sense when you approch it from a guitarist/bassist frame of mind, but you suddenly find yourself with these revelation moments where it all mackes sense and the hands go into auto-pilot...really cool. :)

And hey, you know me: I like Gowan's stuff! :)
Bruce Cockburn's 80's stuff has some cool Stick work on it as well. I'm thinking of teaching myself "Lovers In a Dangerous Time" playing both the bass and guitar parts on the Stick as a kind of exercise.
Last edited by Har on Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Congrats old chap. It looks very very nice

A friend did mention to me that it tends to be easier for piano/keyboard players to master the stick, so I think once you get past the mental deprogramming, you can do some deadly stuff with it

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Is this primarily a lap instrument or no?

I play tap-electric-bass but I always played lap style (or turned the bass horizontally on the straps)... was much easier that way and I didnt know any better when I started....

Ive always thought and instruments specifically designed for this style of playing would be played that way.

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