Stick!!!

[ShredManWalking]

I have this insane dream of learning to play a Chapmann Stick. Well, I have never seen any other way of getting one aside from the website. The local guitar stores don't sell them! Tapping, although a relatively easy technique, is one of my favorites. I would like to take it entirely to a new level if I had a damn Stick. Does anyone know... are they hard to play? You look at Tony Levin, who makes it look sooooo easy on the Liquid Tension stuff. Oh, one of my guitar buddies told me that you would need both a bass amp and a guitar amp to get proper tone with a stick because of the bass and trebble strings. Is he right?

 

[Dado-x]

What on earth are you talking about?

 

[SXProgMetal2002]

dado , never heard of chapman stick ?

 

[Dado-x]

I take it it's some kind of an instrument?

 

[ElPredicador]

check it at www.stick.com
there are some videos there so you can check it out

 

[ShredManWalking]

A Chapman Stick is an electric stringed instrument that includes bass and guitar strings. It is basically just a huge fretboard, meant to be played like a piano with both hands (using the tapping technique for guitar, or big chord shapes.) It has 12 strings, or certain ones have 15. There are also special bass versions of it too. Try www.stick.com for some information. I love the sound of it! Try downloading "Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure" by Liquid Tension Experiment to hear a Stick. Also, a Stick was used on Dream Theater's "New Millenium." I probably sound like a damn infomercial...

 

[Dado-x]

Too huge for my taste.

 

[John Dee]

Trey Gunn has done some cool stuff on the Stick and on his touch guitars. He used the Stick with King Crimson, but the best stuff I've heard has been with the Trey Gunn Band.

He uses two Line6 PODs, one for treble and one for bass, in his rig. You can see his setup here.

 

[the_satanic_rabbit]

I have got to get me one of these!!!

 

[ShredManWalking]

Has anyone here ever played one, or know how to play one? I just would like to know if it is difficult to play. I gotta tell you, although they are the coolest damn instruments, they are UGLY looking!

 

[scanner313]

I saw a guy playing one at the NAMM show in Atlantic City, NJ about 10 years ago. I also worked to design some of the strings for it, although I never got to test them on it (I wouldn't have the first clue about playing one of those). The low strings are definitely bass tones and I do believe they require a special amplifier. I think the pickups are sparated with 2 outputs, but I don't know this for sure. All I know is that some of those bass tones would be pretty hard to produce on a guitar amp.

 

[Bassmasta]

Originally posted by scanner313
I saw a guy playing one at the NAMM show in Atlantic City, NJ about 10 years ago. I also worked to design some of the strings for it, although I never got to test them on it (I wouldn't have the first clue about playing one of those). The low strings are definitely bass tones and I do believe they require a special amplifier. I think the pickups are sparated with 2 outputs, but I don't know this for sure. All I know is that some of those bass tones would be pretty hard to produce on a guitar amp.

Yes, there are two separate outputs. Like on the video found on the website, that guy is solo with the higher strings (distorted) and playing the bass riff (clean) underneath the solo. Amazing.