One thing I should mention is that if you're going to be doing exclusively tapping, you should use a compressor pedal to bring up the softer notes and bring down the louder ones.
Adding a tiny amount of gain is an enormous help and functions a bit similarly. Personally, I recommend both as a 20yr Stick/tapping instrument player.
I've been a Stick player for a few years now and I've actually been working on building a line of affordable Chapman Stick-styled instruments, seeing as you can't seem to get one for under a couple grand! I'm getting pretty close to having a final model so maybe I can send one your way!
hi!!! so... did you finished tha stick??? an affordable version would be a dream, i'm from uruguay and with taxes a stick cost no less than 3500 us dollars.
If you want to hear more Chapman stick you should check out king crimson’s album Discipline. Their bass player plays one. The song Elephant talk is built around it.
Test if you can use a split P-Bass pickup to get a stereo output from the bass and lead sides. Then use separate amp sims on them to get a clearer sound with distortion.
I mean I think that this thing has potential to be amazing. If the scale is 27 (which I thought it was 28 from what you've said in the past) then there is the Harley Benton fanned 8 string at 27"-25.5" that's like 170 US and the schecter omen 8 deluxe at 28" for 300-400 US as a replacement for this thing if you end up seriously regretting the mod to chop off the wings. I really want to see what you do with this thing. Djent on man🤘
2:36 There's also a reason why 5ths Tuning for Double Bass exists, because those Chord shapes move the Major (or Minor) 3rd from in between the Root & 5th to past them, making it sound less muddy.
I think you did a great job with this. I did something similar before I got a stick. But you really have to feel the precise setup of a stick to really appreciate it. It is like night and day. I hope you get to play one.
I think using a lighter gauge for the higher strings would make them much easier to tap (Although that risk for pitch bending increases) and maybe a compressor to help even out the string volumes. I'd love to see Sarah Longfield try this out since tapping's her whole game. Also, if you're really inclined to chop this one up, I'd suggest making a headless guitar-style cutout to rest onto your leg for that extreme classical position, which keeps the mod reversible rather than eliminating the wings altogether Also also, can't wait to see wait you're going to do with them tiny strings on the quake bass
Finally the stick gets some love. I think about it every time I see a “djent stick” video. They look similar with both missing a traditional body style. They are really cool and I wonder why it has not caught on with that type of subgenera it has such potential but it being available (to my knowledge) only from the chapman stick company can lead it to be hard to get. Plus they go for around 1,700 and up last I looked. To me the Chapman people where ahead of their time without being able to cash in on it lol Lots of range werid tunings EMG pickups you can’t lose. The only limit is what is between your ears
Another thing you overlooked is that the Stick is a stereo instrument. Meaning that the "Bass side" and "Melody side" each have their own dedicated outputs.
I bought my first Stick in 2014, I'm still learning to play it. The big problem is that I have approached it from the guitar mentality, fret / pick / strum. This has made learning the instrument difficult. I believe that using a more piano approach makes more sense, play your bass note with your left hand and your melody with your right. As Jacoba commented, there are other instruments that use "Touch" to play notes ( Warr Guitars and Touch Guitars ) both of which don't need to be vertical to be played. For video of someone playing these guitars look up Trey Gunn or Markus Reuter. All of that being said I really like the tuning with the bass on the inside. Slapping power chords with 1 finger is great.
Hey man. I'm a full time touch guitarist (Touch Guitars, Warr Guitars, Chapman Stick) and a huge fan of your work. Would love to chat with you about these instruments. Hit me up sometime!
4:43 what's the thing you played there? it sounded like an actual arrangement instead of just noodling since you played it again a bit, it sounds nice.
I wish I had the time to learn to play something like that lol. This whole video is great though. I wish I knew as much music theory as you do. It even djents lol
Hi Kevin. Are you thinking of buying one or building a full scale one? Are they expensive? Btw have you checked out vids of tiny bass guy? Build one of those please. What about vids of piccollo (spelling?) bass playing?
I play NS Stick and bass, used to own a grand railboard too. Honestly, you're not going to get anywhere close to the sound and feel of a stick unless the instrument is set up super low, the scale length is correct (36"), and the strings need to be the right guages. Emmett's been selling his instruments consistently for 50 years for good reason. Krappy makes a decent tapper if youre looking for a something affordable to mess with. Mobius and Warr are good too but obviously very expensive. My advice is to save up and just buy a stick, if you don't like it you can turn it around for close to what u payed for it.
Low tension + low action and a straight neck profile is essential when using the Free Hands technique. One common mistake is assuming that Stick's employ a tapping technique ala Eddie Van Halen, where the right hand is perpendicular to the strings rather than parallel as the left had is. For Free Hands, both hands are parallel to the frets..optimizing the tonal range and ease of execution. Just buy a Stick!!!!!!! ;) Goof video..welcome to Emmett Chapman's world..
Go find someone play it for real and you'll see the difference with the low action. It's a different beast Even though it seems so close to the same kind of instrument you tried to emulate.
I would say, rebuilding a chapman stick out of a guitarbody is not going to work. Emmet Chapman did not invest 50 years of research just to end up, where he has startet. Tapping instruments do not have a curved neck. This alone is a major difference to picking instruments. Also the pickups have to be special for the low action of the strings and have to be able to build up the lower bass tones. Maybe you want to check some chapman stick playing (which would not be possible with a rebuild from a guitar, i think) ua-cam.com/video/HK-th4laXO4/v-deo.html Stay save!
One thing I should mention is that if you're going to be doing exclusively tapping, you should use a compressor pedal to bring up the softer notes and bring down the louder ones.
Adding a tiny amount of gain is an enormous help and functions a bit similarly. Personally, I recommend both as a 20yr Stick/tapping instrument player.
I've been a Stick player for a few years now and I've actually been working on building a line of affordable Chapman Stick-styled instruments, seeing as you can't seem to get one for under a couple grand! I'm getting pretty close to having a final model so maybe I can send one your way!
That would be amazing! Email me at saidtoomuchproductions@gmail.com or DM me on instagram to get ahold of me faster!
hi!!! so... did you finished tha stick???
an affordable version would be a dream, i'm from uruguay and with taxes a stick cost no less than 3500 us dollars.
This is such a cool video man! Thank you for trying this, I’ve been thinking about how this would work
If you want to hear more Chapman stick you should check out king crimson’s album Discipline. Their bass player plays one. The song Elephant talk is built around it.
Tony Levin talks about that in an interview with Reverb here on UA-cam. Here’s the link to it: ua-cam.com/video/78hlYpydv5g/v-deo.html
Nick Beggs is sick too, he played with Kajagoogoo and Steven Wilson. He's honestly my favorite bass player
You know what we are interested. I dig this stuff Kevin. Nobody touches on these aspect like you do.
Test if you can use a split P-Bass pickup to get a stereo output from the bass and lead sides. Then use separate amp sims on them to get a clearer sound with distortion.
Very cool video dude! Keep up the great content! One of my favorite channels
I mean I think that this thing has potential to be amazing. If the scale is 27 (which I thought it was 28 from what you've said in the past) then there is the Harley Benton fanned 8 string at 27"-25.5" that's like 170 US and the schecter omen 8 deluxe at 28" for 300-400 US as a replacement for this thing if you end up seriously regretting the mod to chop off the wings. I really want to see what you do with this thing.
Djent on man🤘
2:36 There's also a reason why 5ths Tuning for Double Bass exists, because those Chord shapes move the Major (or Minor) 3rd from in between the Root & 5th to past them, making it sound less muddy.
Keep these informative experiments coming!
Kelstone is tuned in fourths and has 9 strings.
I think you did a great job with this. I did something similar before I got a stick. But you really have to feel the precise setup of a stick to really appreciate it. It is like night and day. I hope you get to play one.
eyy the mad lad himself did a clean tone demo!
I think using a lighter gauge for the higher strings would make them much easier to tap (Although that risk for pitch bending increases) and maybe a compressor to help even out the string volumes. I'd love to see Sarah Longfield try this out since tapping's her whole game. Also, if you're really inclined to chop this one up, I'd suggest making a headless guitar-style cutout to rest onto your leg for that extreme classical position, which keeps the mod reversible rather than eliminating the wings altogether
Also also, can't wait to see wait you're going to do with them tiny strings on the quake bass
..lesson one for any guitar player should be one on posture and its importance (and it is important..)👍
Neat! I played one of the metal sticks a while ago, really interesting instrument. It had a concave fretboard.
Sick dude! Thanks for the amazing content!
Chapman Sticks are much more affordable these days & Choirs will have lots of fun tapping away on them while they sing.
Finally the stick gets some love. I think about it every time I see a “djent stick” video. They look similar with both missing a traditional body style.
They are really cool and I wonder why it has not caught on with that type of subgenera it has such potential but it being available (to my knowledge) only from the chapman stick company can lead it to be hard to get. Plus they go for around 1,700 and up last I looked.
To me the Chapman people where ahead of their time without being able to cash in on it lol
Lots of range werid tunings EMG pickups you can’t lose. The only limit is what is between your ears
Another thing you overlooked is that the Stick is a stereo instrument. Meaning that the "Bass side" and "Melody side" each have their own dedicated outputs.
6:08 I thought you were going to play "Spandau Ballet - True" for a moment there ;)
They should have Fanned Fret Chapman Sticks someday because it'll balance out the tension of all the Strings.
I bought my first Stick in 2014, I'm still learning to play it. The big problem is that I have approached it from the guitar mentality, fret / pick / strum. This has made learning the instrument difficult. I believe that using a more piano approach makes more sense, play your bass note with your left hand and your melody with your right. As Jacoba commented, there are other instruments that use "Touch" to play notes ( Warr Guitars and Touch Guitars ) both of which don't need to be vertical to be played. For video of someone playing these guitars look up Trey Gunn or Markus Reuter. All of that being said I really like the tuning with the bass on the inside. Slapping power chords with 1 finger is great.
Imagine if they gave this to buckethead lol
The Chapman Stick is the next instrument you should have someday
Can't wait for harpejji tuning
Hey man. I'm a full time touch guitarist (Touch Guitars, Warr Guitars, Chapman Stick) and a huge fan of your work. Would love to chat with you about these instruments. Hit me up sometime!
4:43 what's the thing you played there? it sounded like an actual arrangement instead of just noodling since you played it again a bit, it sounds nice.
I think its random, or I subconsciously copied it from something, I just liked how it sounded
I wish I had the time to learn to play something like that lol. This whole video is great though. I wish I knew as much music theory as you do. It even djents lol
Someone needs to hit up Tosin Abasi and ask him to try out a chapman stick. I think that would be cool
Oh yeah I guess I didnt think about it like that. Good point man.
You can add a capo to either side.
Hi Kevin.
Are you thinking of buying one or building a full scale one? Are they expensive?
Btw have you checked out vids of tiny bass guy? Build one of those please.
What about vids of piccollo (spelling?) bass playing?
HAH I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO DO A VID ON THIS !!!
Neat
2:48 Piano again
I'd did this to my 8string guitar before I bought a Chapman stick as a way of familiarizing myself with the instrument before I was able to get one.
Check out the NS Stick...
I play NS Stick and bass, used to own a grand railboard too. Honestly, you're not going to get anywhere close to the sound and feel of a stick unless the instrument is set up super low, the scale length is correct (36"), and the strings need to be the right guages. Emmett's been selling his instruments consistently for 50 years for good reason. Krappy makes a decent tapper if youre looking for a something affordable to mess with. Mobius and Warr are good too but obviously very expensive. My advice is to save up and just buy a stick, if you don't like it you can turn it around for close to what u payed for it.
hell yeah man
3:59 demo
Low tension + low action and a straight neck profile is essential when using the Free Hands technique. One common mistake is assuming that Stick's employ a tapping technique ala Eddie Van Halen, where the right hand is perpendicular to the strings rather than parallel as the left had is. For Free Hands, both hands are parallel to the frets..optimizing the tonal range and ease of execution. Just buy a Stick!!!!!!! ;) Goof video..welcome to Emmett Chapman's world..
Try this with the 10 string now!
Make it a real stick ! :D
..remove strap,..screw in an end pin(like a cellist would use..),..this should be an easy fabrication for someone like...👍🎸🎵🖤🤘
#ThreeWholeWholeNotes
Please don't cut off the wings xD put it on a chair rather
dude improve your publicity.
there are channels that only read out tweets and memes with one million subs.
you're doing a great job but seriously
That costs money that I dont have, I'm counting on you guys
bro i love your random mods but running your shit through the tablesaw freehand is SO dangerous. Get yourself a bandsaw!! Thats what its for!!
Go find someone play it for real and you'll see the difference with the low action. It's a different beast Even though it seems so close to the same kind of instrument you tried to emulate.
time for you to buy the real chapman stick... one octive down
I would say, rebuilding a chapman stick out of a guitarbody is not going to work. Emmet Chapman did not invest 50 years of research just to end up, where he has startet. Tapping instruments do not have a curved neck. This alone is a major difference to picking instruments. Also the pickups have to be special for the low action of the strings and have to be able to build up the lower bass tones.
Maybe you want to check some chapman stick playing (which would not be possible with a rebuild from a guitar, i think)
ua-cam.com/video/HK-th4laXO4/v-deo.html
Stay save!
Gay