Thread: Ask me about the Chapman Stick

Awww. You make a cute couple.

Seriously - that thing is beautiful. What I REALLY need is to borrow one for a couple weeks until I realize that, like so many other things, I really am not going to set aside anything else I truly love in order to master it. That usually takes a week or two.

Ok - back to the questions:

Is there a standard tuning for them, or is it like a steel guitar where there are lots of different approaches?

It seems like they would need to be "hotter" than a normal guitar because of the need to sound adequately with a tap. Does this create problems with extraneous noise?

How do you mute the part of the string that isn't supposed to be sounding, or does it matter?

Originally Posted by pj

Seriously - that thing is beautiful. What I REALLY need is to borrow one for a couple weeks until I realize that, like so many other things, I really am not going to set aside anything else I truly love in order to master it. That usually takes a week or two.

If you're ever in the DC area, let me know. I'd be happy to let you give it a try. It's a very unusual experience, but once it "clicks" it becomes quite addictive.

Is there a standard tuning for them, or is it like a steel guitar where there are lots of different approaches?

There are MANY different tunings people use, though just a few of them are "usual." The feature most of the tunings have in common is bass side tuned in 5ths and treble side tuned in 4ths. Different relationships between the sides make for different possibilities in hand positions. I use what's called the "Matched Reciprical" tuning. Take a look at the chart of stick tunings.

It seems like they would need to be "hotter" than a normal guitar because of the need to sound adequately with a tap. Does this create problems with extraneous noise?

The amplification is not hotter at all. The tapping works because of the extremely low action and relative low tension of the strings. The fretboard is very precise, and the space between a string and a fret rail is tiny compared to a typical guitar.

How do you mute the part of the string that isn't supposed to be sounding, or does it matter?

If you look at the photo, you'll see a piece of felt behind the first fret underneath the strings. The strings are damped by default! Because of this, you don't have sounding open strings, and the lowest note is played at the first fret.

Oooh, I'm one of those interested members.

I never noticed the felt though... I was wondering the same thing. Snazzy!

I don't really have any questions. We've talked some and I've researched for hours and looked on some different tapping forums. I want one very much.

I think I'll get one before I get the pedal steel.


Edit:

Just read your response to my questions in the middle-age thread... now I have a question.

About the accumulative effect. Do you think that I should go with steel guitar and probably increase my piano playing before getting a Chapman? To make Chapman easier to learn. I think that patience would be better than compulsiveness after thinking about it.

Originally Posted by Stephent91

About the accumulative effect. Do you think that I should go with steel guitar and probably increase my piano playing before getting a Chapman? To make Chapman easier to learn. I think that patience would be better than compulsiveness after thinking about it.

Skip the steel guitar. The skills there don't translate well to much else. Piano could help as well as guitar (electric).

I play guitar already, and I can play piano to an extent. I was planning on getting better at it anyways. While I'm waiting for my income to total up to around $3000 I can get better at it.

Originally Posted by Stephent91

I play guitar already, and I can play piano to an extent. I was planning on getting better at it anyways. While I'm waiting for my income to total up to around $3000 I can get better at it.

Basic stick new is $2100. It takes up to a year to get, so you can order one with a small down payment. If you can make the money in a year, you'll be ahead of the game. If not, I'm pretty sure you get your full down payment back.

Dang! That's awesome!

I think I'd get the 12 string though. Do you think I should get the basic pickup or the best one?

Originally Posted by Stephent91

Dang! That's awesome!

I think I'd get the 12 string though. Do you think I should get the basic pickup or the best one?

All three choices sound great. The original pickup has fewer tonal options. I got the active, and think it's very good.

Hmmm... I've looked over everything, and I think I have in mind all the little tiny things that I want.

Have you seen the bamboo stains that just came out? You could have a pink or blue Stick! I wouldn't want to spend over $3000 on something for it to look like it should belong to a 6 year old girl.

I think I'd like to do the classic 7+5 tuning to provide more melody, but it might be harder to learn since there's not really any tutorials or whatever for it. I want to get one of the books. I could just learn on my own... or do the 6+6 until I get the hang of it, then maybe change if I want to then.

Do you have a MIDI pickup?

I don't have the MIDI pickup. Don't think I'd use it.

One of the great things about the stick is that it's very easy to switch from one tuning to another you've already learned, as long as you keep the 5ths and 4ths the same. For example, anything you play in classic tuning you can play in matched reciprical simply by moving your right hand two frets. Even going from 6+6 to 7+5 shouldn't be too difficult.

That's awesome! I really hope to be getting this sometime soon!

Everytime I see the words "Chap Stick" I automatically misread it as Chapman Stick, anyone else do that too?

I would get one if I was rich but idt i have the commitment to work on learning it and if I'm spending that much money there are other musical things that I'd rather buy.

If anyone wants to see a virtuoso stick player, search "Tony Levin" on YouTube. He's got it down to a fine art. Enjoy.

Originally Posted by Oneiro

If anyone wants to see a virtuoso stick player, search "Tony Levin" on YouTube. He's got it down to a fine art. Enjoy.

Yeah he's amazing on the Liquid Tension Experiment projects.

John Myung from Dream Theater also pulls out the Chapman Stick for a couple songs.

Check out Greg Howard... he's pretty damn good!

And another one. Close your eyes and you'd swear there were two or three people playing.

Aw man... now you got me digging up old King Crimson vids on YouTube. Had the priv of seeing them in a later iteration - not with Levin, but with Trey Gunn, another amazing stick player. I've seen Levin many times with Gabriel. Adrian Belew is always a hoot, in any setting.

Gary Jibilian is another awesome stick player from these parts.

Originally Posted by pj

Adrian Belew is always a hoot, in any setting.

Now you've just mentioned one of my three all-time favourite guitarists. "Big Electric Cat" (the album) is just.. well.. words fail me..

Originally Posted by pj

Aw man... now you got me digging up old King Crimson vids on YouTube. Had the priv of seeing them in a later iteration - not with Levin, but with Trey Gunn, another amazing stick player. I've seen Levin many times with Gabriel. Adrian Belew is always a hoot, in any setting.

I had the great fortune of catching Crimson when they first started touring again sometime in the mid 90s. The lineup included Fripp, Levin, Bruford, Belew, Gunn, and Pat Mastelotto. What an amazing group of muscians!! It was the best show of any kind I've ever seen.

Levin played standard bass, bowed electric bass, and chapman stick. Trey Gunn played Warr guitar. Belew used an electric screwdriver on his guitar for one song. Fripp just sat on a stool in a shadow calmly ripping his guitar to shreds.

Interesting coincidence, I was just at walmart and wanted to get a new cd so I saw some by Pink Floyd that I hadn't heard any of the songs off of so I got "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" and it turns out that Tony Levin played most of the bass tracks.