I think we do. I think we all do. And, I’m not trying to make anyone angry and I certainly don’t want to point fingers.......... but we haven’t come close to seeing all this instrument can do.

On another thread there is a discussion about how many fingers to use........ I think we should worry more about the music. Go on YouTube and look at piano tutorials or jazz guitar lessons.

There is a depth to the playing and the players that I have not heard on the stick.

Discussions about technique can be very valuable, I couldn’t play repeated notes legato until Greg showed me hand movement, but I often use 4 fingers as well.

We need to do better. We’re not there yet. I’ve been waiting for ONE monster young player to come around and play so amazingly that every major Rock, Jazz , country and hip hop musician
Wants to play with them. I see no reason this can’t happen. I’ve been practicing over 3 hours everyday on this instrument for 17 years, I’m not there...not even close.

Sometimes I think we accept the status quo, become complacent.

I think we can do better

Thoughts?

There are far more pianos and guitars in the world, than Sticks.
If Sticks were mass produced, you'd have millions of musicians to learn from.

One string is all you need to have a good time.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB59t2GDjqQ[/youtube]

Brett, I appreciate the spirit of this post, although I may disagree with some of the premise. I know I can do tremendously better, but I'm working hard at it, and doing my own thang, and trying to help or at least not hurt others. I'm improving by leaps and bounds. But I'm not nor will I ever be (nor want to be) the Stick Savior, the Eddie Van Halen of Sticking, the Ambassador of Stick, the Stick Don, the Godfather/mother of Stick, the....

I think Bob Culbertson is the easiest example to provide of someone who is achieving at the height of the envelope and is pushing it further. And I think a young Eddie Van Halen is the best example I can think of what you're describing: the hot, talented musician that everyone wants playing on the records. At least, back in the late 80s.

To be honest, I can't name ANY musician of ANY instrument who fits that description, at the present time. Perhaps an example of someone that fits the bill for guitar or jazz flute or the example of your choice?

And discussions of basic technique might seem unimportant to you, but they are crucial and vital to wannabe newbies to Stick. And it's the oldest cliche in the Stick Book that Stickists love to talk about 3 versus 4 fingers. So yeah, you can be above that discussion (I don't mean that snidely), but I quite enjoyed it. So I don't know what to do with that, Brett, except to beg your patience while we talk about basic technique.

And I'm very curious as to your example of the analog for another instrument. Who would you pick as an example?

Cheers, Brett! Thanks for the topic!

"I’ve been waiting for ONE monster young player to come around and play so amazingly that every major Rock, Jazz , country and hip hop musician wants to play with them."

I think that Josh Goldberg is certainly on his way to being 'that guy'.

...agree 100% with you, but what the stick still misses are:
-> tradition, commemoration and history...
-> years and years of being represented in cultural life of the people...
-> compositions written for stick solo, chamber music with stick, whatever...
-> a lot of time for developping the position that other instruments have today, centurys after their invention...

...but one remark is of grand importance: "I think we should worry more about the music."
...and about music in general...

...Thank you, Brett for this input, I've been waiting so long for on this forum...

...and now what about us?... we are all starters of new discipline on strings, it's in our liability what the future generation of stick musicians can achieve...

Great Topic
Just two brief points for now.

With pretty much any instrument you can get a cheap one and have a go. You can't do that with a Stick. Have a look at the average age of Stick players in what is a very small number in the active cohort. Even Adults of means once in a while remark about being constrained by its cost, taxes etc. Imagine some kid with one and no preconceived ideas about how it " should " be played, who knows what that might create. It's kind of done itself a dis-service in that sense, whole other story I know.

I also like the other comment , its about the music. It's a young instrument for sure , and still evolving but if someone's playing a Taylor Swift ( sorry if that offends anyone) song on it and not some deeply complex piece , that can also be enough, if the people listening are enjoying it, being entertained.

On A side note I'm doing a gig at a nice Band venue as a 40 min opener Dec 30 , there will be two Sticks that night , so we're doing our best down here to spread the word and the Stick.

I hear you Brett! Since i've joined this forum i've waited just like you; to hear some kind of wonderkid or someone to really blow my mind, but not. Not that im' sayin' that it's not possible!

More than that, I Totally agree with concentrating on Music. That's all that matters. You wrote just as i would.
I have played this wonderful instrument now about 4,5 years and my focus have been (naturally) in finger movement and motor skills. Now it's "all" about the music.

Just recently, through facebook and youtube, I've found this guy, Pablo; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJRUTKy_HY ; and I Really like what he's doing. That's the way I try to go, 2 cents.

-Kalle

I think one of the hurdles that stickists seem to arrive at and then get over, is the exhausting idea of how much work there is to be done to get as good as I might want to on this instrument. Thankfully I got over that one a couple of years back. Even still, there's difference between coasting and really get organised in my practice. I have to say this last month has been the most productive so far and I've been playing for 10 years. Reason being was that I wanted to get ready for stick night in Sydney.

I think that it's a good thing when we take on the challenge from our teachers when they say, "work at it with more intensity" This doesn't happen too often in stick world, because we are all left to our own devices as adults, to find our own path. And it's important for folk to be happy with we're they're at, whether they're aspirations are high or lower. It's about learning something new...

On the flip side, I've started to think of having an attitude of being a trustee towards my stick practice. Passion is sometimes high, sometimes low. It's unstable.
Taking the emotional energy out wipping myself into action, can sometimes be very good medicine. I'm now looking to achieve more in the long run.



Shazam!

I can wholeheartedly relate to the overall sentiment of music first - every industry or community has the issue of many doing constant talking of the talk and arguing minutiae and not enough walking the walk and getting down to business. Sadly that's just human nature and the reality of the life and people. People end up obsessing over the means rather than the end result they started out to achieve. If you don't like that you probably shouldn't join any forum (Gearslutz is notorious for this).


I think you're imposing your own tastes or preferences on what others are doing, so I don't really agree with you there. I've seen plenty that moves me instrumentally, and plenty that doesn't. I've seen highly technical players that do very little for me, and far simpler players really grabbing me - no different than any other instrument.

Also I notice the genres you list as what we need to be pushing the boundaries in are all more technical genres as opposed to just pop/singer-songwriter or accompaniment genres... you talk about monster players rather than great musicians... seems inconsistent you'd be arguing against discussions of technique in favour of music that is predicated on such technicality, and often are genres that are just vehicles for technicality rather than truly great, moving, or even accessible music.

Just my 2p.

High skilled technical musician or...just having fun to play and learn the most we can? I started too late in my musical life to think about the first point...lol.