Chapman Stick

[Skysaw]

Here's an instrument not often discussed around here. Are any of you familiar with the Chapman Stick? Take a look at http://www.stick.com to see what I'm talking about.

Just bringing it up because the Stick I ordered almost a full year ago has finally shipped!! That's right, you heard me correctly. There is almost a year's waiting time on new Sticks. There is only one company in the world that makes them, and every single one is custom made by hand.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am after all this time to finally be getting one of these beautiful instruments. I have the UPS tracking page open in another tab on my browser, and will be refreshing it every 10 minutes over the next few days to track it's journey across the country to me. :D

[efreitag]

Here's an instrument not often discussed around here. Are any of you familiar with the Chapman Stick? Take a look at http://www.stick.com to see what I'm talking about.

Just bringing it up because the Stick I ordered almost a full year ago has finally shipped!! That's right, you heard me correctly. There is almost a year's waiting time on new Sticks. There is only one company in the world that makes them, and every single one is custom made by hand.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am after all this time to finally be getting one of these beautiful instruments. I have the UPS tracking page open in another tab on my browser, and will be refreshing it every 10 minutes over the next few days to track it's journey across the country to me. :D

Wow! The Chapman Stick truly is a great instrument! I´m a bit jealous, too! :)
I´m not familiar with it, but I like the sound and its vast possibilities. There was a time when I thought about learning it, but...you know... :o

[Markleford]

It's a fun instrument. I played for quite a few years, including in my last real band. Was quite suited to me, being a guitar and bass player with a jazz piano education.

Eventually sold it as I got a great offer and hadn't used it for a while. I suppose the manufacturing backlist is why they hold their value so well! :D

Enjoy!

- m

[efreitag]

It's a fun instrument. I played for quite a few years, including in my last real band. Was quite suited to me, being a guitar and bass player with a jazz piano education.

Eventually sold it as I got a great offer and hadn't used it for a while. I suppose the manufacturing backlist is why they hold their value so well! :D

Enjoy!

- m

How do you estimate the chances of a piano player (educated in jazz and classical), but with NO experience in guitar or bass guitar playing, of learning to play the chapman stick? (Ok, I´m talking about me... :o )

[Karl Garrett]

Jamie,

You lucky dog you. :D Boy am I jealous. I fell in love with the possibilities of this really cool instrument many years ago, and have always thought that someday I'd buy one and try my hand with it. That day never came, and now I have so much to do that I sure don’t need another instrument to practice.

Congratulations, and as soon as you get the beast a little under control, post something with it, perhaps with a little GPO in the wings to make it legit on this forum. :D

Best wishes for a truly fun and inspiring time with it.

Karl

p.s. Maybe after Gary hears this thing he'll want to sample it. It's quite cool. :)

[Markleford]

How do you estimate the chances of a piano player (educated in jazz and classical), but with NO experience in guitar or bass guitar playing, of learning to play the chapman stick? (Ok, I´m talking about me... :o )I'd actually say that a piano player has better chances, as he's trained to have hand independence to begin with. Learning the intervals of a fretboard is cake by comparison, and a piano player even has the advantage of learning it "fresh" and not being committed to old guitar cliches that may not translate well.


...and now I have so much to do that I sure don’t need another instrument to practice.That's exactly what it was for me: I play a billion instruments, and tend to concentrate on the newer acquisitions. After I started into valved brass, practice time for Stick dried up! Sadly, my drum kit is now similarly collecting dust...

- m

[Markleford]

Forgot to mention...


Maybe after Gary hears this thing he'll want to sample it. It's quite cool. :)I wish that sampling technology would've been as good as today at the time I sold my Stick, as I would've loved to sample it as well!

Really, I wish that there were more "instrument libraries" around, where you could borrow instruments for a while. Closest thing is to take classes at a university!

- m

[Skysaw]

I agree with the remark that pianists may have a better time with it. Some say it's something like 60% piano, 30% guitar, and 10% percussion in the way it feels to play.

If you want to see one of the more visible Stick Player's in action, check out this clip of Greg Howard playing live. If you close your eyes, you will swear there are at least two people playing:

http://www.eyeoncville.com/005/005vid02.htm

[cptexas]

I WANT ONE!!!! :D

[Haydn]

Gary Garritan and few of us went to an Electronic Musician party at NAMM on one of the evenings. The entertainment was stick music including Emmett Chapman himself. These guys were all just totally awesome. They were playing jazz mostly. I love the sound of the stick and was thinking of purchasing one about 15 years ago.

[Houston Haynes]

I love the Chapman stick, both in the jazz incarnation and the pop stuff you hear from time to time (early Peter Gabriel jumps to mind - the song "I Can't Remember"). It's a very unique sound and playing style, due to its light action and active pickups. There's a Chapman Stick sample and "idiomatic" patterns in Broomstick Bass, but it doesn't hold a candle to a skilled player - kinda like any instrument you can name - there's no substitute for the real thing. ;)

I've always wanted a Chapman Stick, and wish I had taken time to learn it years ago when I first got the itch. Now I have to satisfy myself with keyboard playing. :( Anyway, it'll be great to hear occasional reports on how the practicing is going - and of course to hear it in action. Rock on!

[FredProgGH]

There's also the Warr Guitar...

http://www.warrguitars.com/

You can get them strung high to low or low in-high out like a Stick. They're prettier too, but I think they tend to cost even more. And the Stick has a cool funky-- well, stick-like look, I guess... :D

[DPDAN]

Jamie, congratulations on finally getting your Schtick :p

Well at least it's on it's way. I recorded a demo of one quite a few years ago, it was a very cool sound.

Enjoy it!

dpDan

[thesoundsmith]

I also agree with Markleford about learning Stick as a keyboardist - years ago when I was studying sarod, we had a concert at Alan Watts' housboat in Sausalito. The woman who set it all up also brought in a local highly talented lutenistas an opening act. His style on the lute was very pianistic, I remember thinking it would be a simpler cross-training to learn than guitar, at least the way he approached it. Later when I saw Emmett Chapman play, I realized that the Stick is closer in performance concept to keyboard than to guitar (at least in my addled brain.)

I used to have an Akai S900 sample library of Stick that didn't sound too bad (but that was 12-bit technology...)