I remember telling a theory teacher of mine, back in '83, that I disliked opera. He smiled and said "You have to listen to a lot of opera!"

OK. I was reading in a different post, about Warrs & ADG's, that one player (a bass player I believe) was discouraged about the Stick. I totally get it - you have one way of looking at the world - through the bass. Fingers on strings, plucking and fretting, a single tuning system, an established set of expectations that you grow into, and ways of relating to other musicians in groups and different styles.

The bass becomes a lens through which you view the world.

OK! Well, you have to play a lot of Stick! With different musicians, in different styles, both hands tapping, with two different tuning systems! It's a lot to take on, but the rewards are waiting.

The Stick must become the lens through which you view the world.

Then, there will be no difficulty inherent in the instrument, just difficulties associated with solving new musical problems. Like polyrhythms, or jazz harmony, or independence.

R

Couldn't agree more with everything here, Rodan!

My first and second Sink's Laws are "Perception is Reality," and how we perceive the world, and the perceptual framework through which we look at the world, colors our experiences and determines the reality for us. "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." I had to get past the fact that the Stick is not a keyboard, and even though I can play it that way--and I can rock it on my lap pretty good now--I can really play it better upright. It's not a guitar, nor a bass, nor a keyboard--it's its own thing and I'm still not sure I've got the best reality-goggles on, but I'm still looking at it as a bass guitar, and a shredding melody guitar, and have not quite integrated the two ideas together yet. Once I start looking at the Stick as a cohesive whole instrument--the way I do keyboards--then I'll be rocking. Well, I'm still rocking it with that dual vision, but I hope to get to One Sticking soon (which is right and left hands not just working together, but working both the bass and the melody at the same time.)

One quibble: I had to listen to a lot of opera in music school and I still don't care much for it. I've listened to a lot of country music, and I actually love Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, but I'm not a "young country" (whatever that is) fan, either. Stuff does grow on you, though. And the axiom of Other's People's Music That I Don't Like is that It All Sounds the Same Until You Get to Know It. Everything new to me all sounds the same until I get into it.

But opera still sounds all the same to me (I'm just not into it.) And Wagner is a great composer and the Ring Cycle is a masterpiece, but I'll be damned if my last year of music school didn't kill Wagner for me by studying every single bit of it to death. And boredom. I just don't like that huge vibrato in the voice and can't get past it. Just can't get past it.

Amen, Rodan. Rocking my Stick goggles, full speed ahead!

Really meaningful thread to me.... I started playing bass back in 1968, after seeing Jack Casady up close and personal.... changed my life.... Being self taught the bass WAS how I viewed the musical world.... I LOVE the bottom end of things... I gig quite a bit on the bass, playing a lot of World Fusion/ Progressive music as well as the blues.... I decided several years ago that I would "park" the bass, and focus on STICK.... Best decision that I have ever made. Studying quite regularly with Greg and Trey Gunn, I poured everything into the instrument... Stopped gigging, left the bass home.... just wood shed and practice....

The fruits of this now are coming in droves.... A much better sense of harmony, melody.... polyrhythms and GROOVE. I play with a lot of African and Moroccan percussionists....The Stick lends itself really well to the rhythm section... tapping out drum patterns, 4th's stabs, etc. Believe me, I am no soloist, I am more of support of the groove than anything else. That being said, as my hands gain independence and inter-dependence, fascinating things are starting to happen with leading harmonies and melodies in the right hand. One thing that I gained from Trey, was to develop those KC interlocking tapping lines.... and to weave a tapestry of texture... underneath the soloists... again, I am not much of a soloist!!

For me, "parking" my main instrument, the bass was a huge deal, but one that I felt needed to push me further musically. Now, I really don't even care to go back to the bass. It is a tool, a pallet of color that I can use.... The Stick is my main axe now and my confidence is growing...

I stopped playing the guitar completely when I decided to learn Stick. I knew I did not have time to play more than one instrument. I hope I'm making progress.

-Eric

Hi Rodan.

This is pretty much how I view the world through Stick.

Well said!