I love the Chapman Stick and all of its forms and styles and expressions. But my very loud and outspoken mission from Day One (and onto today, Day 1260) has been to integrate the Stick into everything else that I do. I do original music and that's pretty much it. I'm not teaching or gigging or working as a musician. I make music of several genres (rock, blues, metal, prog versions of those, somewhat-pop, dance and electronic music, and lots and lots of New Age Progressive George Winston-style explorations and tone poems). And then I stick fractal videos to all of it, but that's a late addition to the music.

Can Stick become part of my ensemble of rocking instruments, which includes all the ones that make up a rock band? (Except saxophone/trumpet. I don't do any brass. Yet.) Yes! Most emphatically. Has it replaced all those other instruments in my life? Well, a little bit, to be sure. I've haven't played a 6-string guitar now in a couple of years. And I did give up piano for a 6-month experiment and used my NS/Stick as a MIDI input device (as well as a LinnStrument).

But, I'm pretty much self-taught and don't mind at all playing non-traditionally and even strangely (like playing a Stick horizontally on your lap), and I can Stick Typewriter like a mf'er (I have one big Stick hand that is actually two hands and three fingers from each hand put together on one side or the other of the Stick, and then both sides recorded together. But that one big-ass hand (that is actually two) does some serious hand movement. Just pretend when you listen to it that I'm playing completely traditionally and "proper," not that you could tell by listening anyway, and we'll all get on with our lives.

I'm also a classically-trained musician from Kansas State University, and don't mind at all just doing my own thing, while trying to support all of you much awesomer and more-talented people than me.

And collabs! Man, I feel like Scott Kerr and I have been pushing the collabs so hard to everyone--without a lot of interest--and we eventually just started collabing with each other and a third person as much as we can (Whatever happened to Bill the Hitman, anyway?). Scott Kerr and I have now a regular project band to do Stick collabs called SINKERR. I'd love for more people to want to rock it out with us actually, but I guess we can be scary. (Scary supportive! But okay, I've been told that Scott (Jayesskerr) and I can be intimidating but we're super nice and supportive to all. That aren't trolls, anyway.) We tried to get the 3rd annual All-Stickist New Year collab going, but it turned out to be just Scott and I again.

So, my goals are probably not yours. I'm just trying to rock it out, and the Stick is just one of many--albeit damn fine--tools in my toolbox to do so.

Can I do better? Yep! Have I gotten better! God, yes, I couldn't have gotten any worse than when I started (I had the "shoulder strap" around my neck, until Kevin C. pointed it out to me!) Am I as good as many or even most other fine Stick players and teachers? Hell, no! Do they "need" to do better! Of course! (With waffles). We all COULD do better. I'm not agreeing on the NEED though. My needs are my needs and not yours, so my opinions about what I might need are stronger when they're mine and not yours. You don't know what I need. Unless you guessed a new Wenge 12-string Grand. I need that! (Tell my wife it's a need and not want!)

Although if Bob Culbertson does any better, I'll have to seriously think about saxophone or something, just to make myself feel better about Bob's awesomeness. "What's one instrument he CAN'T play? Let me focus on that!" I kid--Bob's still my favorite Stickist and favorite inspirational Stick player.

Rock it out, Stickists! I'll be right here supporting you all with my typewriting and rocking skills for all to see and cringe at! Come collab with me and/or Scott and let's make music!

ROCK IT OUT!

I'm trying to do better. At first I spent a few years attempting to use stick without any additions. But eventually I realised that playing it in a band is what I want to do.

So, now for the last couple of years have gone composing and rehearsing to eventually play this stuff live:
https://soundcloud.com/kaspartorn/algernon
https://soundcloud.com/kaspartorn/kaarleek

Not the wunderkind of stick, but striving to be adequate for my musical vision.
Some of it doesn't even sound like a stick, but still is.

I've been reading this post for awhile and decided to chime in.

The reality is that everything has an evolution and evolution is a process of many different approaches and technological advances over time. No one individual or generation can move the mountain - remember, we are only the first generation of Stick players.

Take Rock/Blues guitar for example. The guitar can be traced back thousands of years but It took centuries for it to become electric. Electric wasn't even the original term, it was actually called amplified guitar. It was only amplified because the instrument needed more volume to be heard properly in a large band setting.

Once it was electric it It took decades before the solid body was created and that was only to manage feedback. It also took time for amplifiers to become clean because distortion was considered a bad thing. Add another two decades for slinky strings. Even though these are technology advances keep in mind that technology and music go hand in hand with this type of evolution.

That was the genius of Hendrix. He made the electric solid body guitar an instrument of its own because he based his entire style on things that were considered flaws - feedback, dive bombing whammy's and distortion. These ideas were not cool at the time. He was so far ahead and so innovative that America hated him when he first came out so he had to move to England to be accepted.

It took another decade after the death of Hendrix to get to Van Halen yet ironically a decade later there were thousands of guys that sounded just like Eddie and then many complained about the lack of diversity of that generation of players.

Ok, a bit long winded but the point I'm reaching for is that evolution takes time. Great Stick players are already here but again, we are only the first generation. The next generation of innovative Stickist are probably at a park playing in a sandbox right now.

When those players come out we will probably understand how Muddy Waters might have felt when he first heard Kenny Wayne Shepherd or Stevie Ray Vaughan.

KK

Truth. Great analysis. "Those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled ".