I'm a longtime bass player and that's been my only instrument since day one, so I have no real background in true hand independence or thinking in terms of chords and such. My brain is wired to think about my hands working together to create melody and dynamics. I think about intervals and single notes, not chords.

So picking up the Stick is a whole new thing for me, and I find myself going back to square one in many respects.

I think it's a bit like teaching a child to read.

First you learn your ABCs. Then you learn about how some letters go together while others do not, and how certain groups make paricular sounds (e.g. -tion, sh, ch, th), and how words go in order.

Then you start reading in a painstaking way, word-by-word ("Sound it out"). But the flow, the comprehension, the facility isn't there yet.

Ultimately you're off and running, reading for pleasure and appreciating both the meaning and nuance of the words on the page.

For an instrument, it's learning where the notes are, then how they sound when grouped in chords. Then it's on to relationships... scales, chord progressions, inversions.

This is where I am right now. If I stop and think about things ("Sound it out...") I can get there but I'm far from being able to actually make music. The muscle memory and intuition aren't there yet.

All that groundwork unlocks the actual making of music... the organic, instinctive flow that we aim for.

I often play with both hands on the Melody side or both hands on the Bass side. Think of playing with both hands as an extension of your reach to the note that you are looking for. I don't read music. I listen and play. At first, finding the notes takes time but eventually my muscle memory takes over and those notes appear below my fingers without thinking.

I studied Tai Chi for many of my younger years. At first, you are making all of these movements in slow motion and you don't understand why? But one day, you are fighting in a competition and those pre-programmed movements are happening at lightning speed and you have no idea how this is happening. You don't have time to think about what you are doing, as it has already happened.

Learning music is the same thing. Slow everything down. Find the notes and play them in slow motion. After a short time, muscle memory takes over and the music starts to flow. I often learn new tunes by mistake. I miss-strike a note and suddenly I realize how great it sounded in my composition. So, I experiment the new note sequence and it develops into an entirely new composition. I have no stress or pressure because I only play to relax and unwind. Music is a lot of fun.

'Curiosity Captain, insatiable curiosity."

Hey Werk , in praise of slow, I'm always with you there. #_#

I can dig it - it's why I picked out a stupid (user)name..though I didn't have some cards printed up for a couple of bucks

I play (or play at it) for personal enrichment and to keep my neuroplasticity...plastic
I think many of us go through (and still do, I'm a posterchild for that) "Chapman stick isn't a [insert instrument...guitar, bass, etc]" unlearning struggle...well maybe misaplication is a better word

and learning to approach it on its own terms is, at least for me, a deal - a constant deal.

I remember with classic[al] guitar I had an instructor in a teaching ladder that would make us do stuff like flip the instrument to play off-handd (left handed usually) just to remind us how weird and difficult it feels.
I've heard of maths teachers doing the same by working in a weird base like base 7 just to feel that lack of facility again
(of course if you practice too much you get used to that too)

did you watch the hands across the board video from back in the day? there are some interest insights about approach and state of mind

https://youtu.be/XdCn3z3Ol9c?

@adouglas, how are you practicing and what are you using for learning materials?

With 2 very little kids I can't do much other than noodling on the Stick every so often right now, but am keeping notes on any instructional things I come across.

I have been spending time here and there learning bass parts from some of my first band's songs on the Stick - they're very easy but a good way to do something structured, and fun. I can pretend I'm Tony Levin doing the 2-handed bass thing

1) I've picked up all the printed and DVD-based instructional material I can find (Greg's Stick Book, Adelson's Mel Bay book, Free Hands, Greg's DVD, Culbertson's DVD) because online digital media is ephemeral. The moment it stops being hosted it's as if it never existed.

2) Check out Youtube. The full contents of Greg's DVD are on there, and Culbertson's too. Plus there are tons of performance videos to watch.

This is enough to keep me busy for years.

I will say that if you don't have a grounding in theory, you should bone up on it. This was the biggest takeaway from the NY Stick event... that it's hugely useful and that I need to learn more about it. Lots of free resources out there.

Practice is whenever I get a chance. Sometimes it's just unstructured noodling, but I try to be disciplined about it. I have a headphone practice rig on my desk so I can just pick the Stick up when there's time and energy.

Regarding what I'm focusing on right nw, it's chord shapes for the most part along with dexterity and independence exercises. Major, minor, 7 chords with first and second inversions, just getting used to how they sound and feel under my fingers to build muscle memory. From what I picked up during the seminar I want to start work on progressions within a key as well. Also, getting better at finding my way around the fingerboard.

I have purchased the same instructional material.
As for digital media, I save it to my hard disk.
https://www.y2mate.com/en947

I use this video editor to help focus
on the portions of the video that interest me.
https://portableapps.com/apps/music_vid ... x-portable

Agreed! I'm the same way with my music library...I know there are some albums I downloaded over a decade ago that I can't seem to find. But I still have CDs from over 35 years ago...another topic entirely.

It's so good to read and hear your Stick progress and enthusiasm. Many thanks for sharing. Share some video clips when you're ready.