Greg Howard - Chapman Stick

[lowdown]

Probably my favourite Stick player is 'Bob Culbertson', but 'Greg Howard' has a real nice, relaxed feel about his Stick playing.
Below is his fabulous arrangement of 'Time After Time', with some beautiful, lyrical playing and lovely dynamics.

[media]http://youtu.be/W5h-yH01dN0[/media]

Edited July 20, 2017 by lowdown

[steve]

Lovely tone too, I've been lusting after one of these since trying one at a bass bash, but can't justify the expense sadly

[dmccombe7]

Really nice. Probably the best tone i've heard from one too.

Thanks for sharing.
Dave

[SpondonBassed]

I am undecided as to whether I really like the Chapman Stick or not.

I was initially impressed. I'd watched clips of Levin, of course, performing with Gabriel. That is a striking image that suits Gabriel's stage shows very well. Yesterday I sought out some more clips of various performers using one after I watched Howard's arrangement and delivery of Time After Time (OP).

I found a few. All of them were played well. There were covers of Beatles numbers like Tomorrow Never Knows, Eleanor Rigby, A Day in the Life and Blackbird. There was an interesting arrangement of Bach's Toccato and Fugue in D minor. Pachelbel's Canon in D was played on two sticks as a duet. There was a even a cover of Walking on the Moon that seemed to go Jazz at times!

The instrument covers the three roles of bass, rhythm guitar and lead guitar if played so. It can be likened to a keyboard in that both hands are selecting notes independently but it is more than a keyboard. It is all of those things and none of them all at the same time.

I think the common thing between all of the clips above was the percussive nature of the sound the instrument makes. In other ways it reminds me of zither music. Maybe it is just how the music was arranged in the clips that I saw but every one of those clips was [i]busy[/i]. I'd have to say that it is not an instrument that I would put front of stage. It would be one of those things that has great effect when used but sparingly.

My humble bumblings.

[dmccombe7]

Agree that the way Tony Levin used it with Gabriel suits the instrument more than a solo instrument.
It has a distinct sound that just seemed right for his material.

That said i enjoy the occasional solo clip like the one posted above.
Wouldn't buy an album worth of it tho.

Dave

[spectoremg]

The clip illustrates exactly what the Stick is good at. I've never much liked the bass sound from them but as has rightly been pointed out it works perfectly for Levin/Gabriel.

[Owen]

I played one 15 years ago. My head still hurts.

[JapanAxe]

I enjoyed that. As far as as tackling the Stick myself, I filed that under Too Difficult a long time ago. I still need to crack Travis picking!

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1500761177' post='3340092']
I enjoyed that. As far as as tackling the Stick myself, I filed that under Too Difficult a long time ago. I still need to crack Travis picking!
[/quote]

Good lad. Just don't get your pickers in a twist by doing the Clawhammer pick on a guitar.

[wombatboter]

Tried it twice but lost patience.....think it's better to be a keyboardplayer than a bassplayer when starting to play it.
The amount of time you need to invest doesn't go into your bassplaying also..

Edited July 24, 2017 by wombatboter

[lowdown]

[quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1500914277' post='3341047']
Tried it twice but lost patience.....think it's better to be a keyboardplayer than a bassplayer when starting to play it.
The amount of time you need to invest doesn't go into your bassplaying also..
[/quote]

Agreed, the better Stick players I have heard, have come from a background of Keys or Guitar.
Bass players tend to just tap away on it (Bass notes and a couple of double stops), just like the Bass Guitar tapping technique.
The Instrument has so much more to offer that that.