Though no announcement has yet been posted here, many of you may already know about a tapping seminar being organized for next April in Seattle.

On Tuesday I received an invitation by private email from seminar organizer Daniel Minoza to be part of their event, to teach and play there. His message was friendly in tone but I still haven't sent him a reply. That same day he posted on Tappistry that he had spoken with Yuta the day before (on Monday) and had found her to be supportive of his seminar plans, supportive to the extent that, as he put it, "...there just might be a historical agenda behind the Seattle seminar but not the kind some are negatively projecting."

There are two implications as I see them in this brief but potent quote. One is a premature assumption that Yuta and I would support or endorse that event. The other is an indirect accusation that Greg "projected negativity" in his recent post here contrasting Daniel's upcoming event with Rob Martino's FredTap seminar, a non-commercial event that should serve as a model for co-operation and goodwill in the tapping community. (I'm proud to have promoted FredTap for the past several months on our Website.)

Immediately after Greg's post, Daniel started revising his promotion, removing the offer of $300 discount coupons for a Warr Guitar and removing inclusion of Topaz's free "Touchstyle" method books. He also removed all of the blog posts about the event teachers, which included Jim Wright's negative commentary on The Stick, its evolution and its most popular tuning. (Conceivably, these could be steps in the right direction.)

Only after making these changes did Daniel approach us with his phone call. Yuta spoke with him less than a half minute, and she ended by asking him to send his request by email so there'd be no misinterpretation of verbal conversations. So here now is my written reply to Daniel, posted to stickist.com so there'll be no misunderstanding.

Daniel's event has been announced as the "Seattle Touch Style Seminar" on MySpace and Tappistry, as "Touch-Style/Tapping" on Facebook, and as "touchstyle" in their publicity and text by the instructors. He then changed the title to "Seattle Tap Seminar" in his private invitation to me, also in his second announcement on Tappistry, and in his new screen name on stickist.com. My guess is, he'll continue to promote the event using both titles, as a "Touchstyle Seminar" to please the Warr Guitar people, and as a "Tap Seminar" to solicit Stick players to attend. He seems well aware that "touchstyle" is a major issue with some Stick players.

Why is it an issue? "TouchStyle" in its various forms has sometimes been used as a trademark by Mark Warr for his tapping guitars, by Traktor Topaz for his on-line publications, and by Frank Jolliffe for his newsletter, while at other times they used it generically (as plain English to help it catch on). The term was created by Jolliffe with Topaz's promotion in the mid '90s to effectively rename the particular tapping method I directly taught to them. Promoters of the "touchstyle" term often claim that it covers all tapping styles, but they don't build instruments for those other playing methods or teach those methods, only the "Free Hands" method that I taught them. In the process of using the single name "touchstyle" for all string tapping methods, with no distinction made between methods, they feel able to shift the credit to Dave Bunker, and now he'll be lecturing and performing at their Seattle event, billed as "an early pioneer in touch-style playing", even though no one had ever called any tapping method "touchstyle" before the mid 1990's.

It's true that Dave tapped with both hands on his double-neck guitar well before me, and I've publicly credited him for that since the mid '80s. Dave's innovative guitar tapping technique (along with Webster's and DeArmond's before him) was different than mine on a key point, however. His hands were nearly at right angles to each other, more like a guitarist's hand orientation, thus each hand used a different tapping technique. With a stationary right-hand held parallel to the strings, any finger tapping motion will play the 4th intervals of the tuning itself, and the only way to play melodic and scalar lines is to move the entire right arm back and forth at the shoulder joint as Dave does. My independent discovery in 1969 was substantially different, with both hands parallel to each other coming from opposite sides of the board. As a result, both hands were equal partners using the same technique. This is the main method the Warr Guitar is designed for, but with credit diverted to Bunker and Webster by way of "touchstyle" marketing misdirection.

Compare any video of Bunker to videos of Stick and Warr Guitar players and the difference is clear.

I named my two-handed tapping method on the front cover of my Stick lesson book in 1976 - "Free Hands, a new discipline of fingers on strings". This book, still in print, features photos of some of my early students including Randy Strom, Paul Edwards and Frank Jolliffe. They didn't learn how to tap from Jimmie Webster or Dave Bunker and they don't play using their approach. They learned how to tap directly from me, on the Stick. None of us even heard of Bunker or Webster until many years later.

Bunker never called his method "touchstyle" until recently. It was named "The Touch System" by its inventor Harry DeArmond of pickup manufacturing fame, who taught it to Webster, who then inspired
Bunker. Bunker's trademark for his guitars has long been "Touch Guitar" and by a strange twist, that term is now used generically by Warr Guitar players for their instruments.

As for Daniel's personal invitation to me, I must admit noticing a tone of idealism there (no doubt also some strategic thinking all around), but I can't very well agree to be a part in an event that perpetuates such a false "touchstyle" history, minimizing and even denying my key contributions to the method they all play (all except Dave Bunker of course) and on which they've based their artistic and manufacturing careers. Thanks a lot, guys.)

If it's true peace and harmony that Daniel wishes to promote within the string tapping community, he should consider adding to his Seattle seminar publicity some due credit and a true history of this powerful and fruitful method we all love to play. He should acknowledge the cultural line of succession within this special musical field, also with some reinforcing words from Paul, Randy, Jim and (if the heavens can be moved) Mark. They are all former Stickists who were there at the earlier formative times and know the real story. Such acknowledgement is key to the culture of any artistic and innovative community. Why deny it?

If the fingers are lined up on both sides of the board perpendicular to the strings, that's the specific method I discovered and first taught, and as far as anyone knows, had never been done before on strings. It should be obvious at this point to Daniel and all concerned, this is not about Stick business, manufacturing, sales or marketing, rather, it's about my life long personal reputation for creation and contributions in the field. As long as those who teach and pass on what they learned from me continue to advance a discordant "touchstyle" history, I have no choice but to decline such an offer as Daniel's.

I would indeed like to solve this problem and put it behind us. Any suggestions, anybody?

All the best, Emmett.

It is natural for the mind to believe and for the will to love; so that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.

Even if I'd knew already some parts of the history, it's nice to have the whole story here and this very informative clarifying statement. Thanks Emmett.
(I hope this post won't be attacked by a arabic hacker)

Emmett,
It has been said that the most sincere form of "flattery"is when people start stealing and copying one's Ideas......
You opened Pandora's Box of Tapping...
they percieve that you are successful
in the Music community-I have seen posts elsewhere alluding to your"wealth"etc....true or not it doesn't matter-you are the guy who did the hard thinking that brought the Free Hands to Everyone-seems to me these folks should be respectful of your work.
I have experienced the same thing(not on this scale),having had quite a few musical contributions stolen from my demos and applied to artists projects without so much as a thank you.....so on this level,I understand how you feel.
Mike

You could make those important points by giving a class at the seminar.
Please do go.

Mad Monk.

"You could make those important points by giving a class at the seminar. Please do go. Mad Monk."

Hi Randy, I appreciate your effort to be constructive, but I wouldn't want to be teaching Stick history with its many conflicts at a seminar, granted that I'd be coming there as a piece of that history, a walking reference file of anecdotes upon request (so to speak).

As with my three college appearances earlier this year, I'd instead be teaching the method itself with its many sub-techniques, also music theory and song arrangement as applied to The Stick and the "Free Hands" method on other FTIs, guitars and electric basses.

As for "those important points" to the "touchstyle" story that you say I should make in Seattle, I've been explaining the uniqueness of my discovery for years in articles and Internet posts, as far back as 1987 when I published "The Evolution of a Musical Art".
http://www.stick.com/articles/evolution
Over 5000 reprints of this Electronic Musician feature were sent out, also with every instrument we sold, for many years. It has also been posted on our Web site for over a decade.

My most recent comments on "touch style" can be found at the bottom of this page on our site: http://www.stick.com/method/Free_Hands/
There you'll also find a video of Dave Bunker's ground-breaking performance on the old Eddie Arnold Show, which clearly shows his different right hand orientation and the design of his "Duo-Lectar" to accommodate that orientation of hands.

Jim Reilly and Greg have also written on this subject:
http://www.stick.com/articles/reilly_parallelhands/
http://www.emmettchapman.net/music/freehandsmethod.html

I see the problem not as a lack of information or as some monumental misunderstanding, rather, as a lack of candor on the part of those who seem most attracted to Stick history for interests of their own, rewriting and disseminating a false and distorted "touchstyle" history.

Thanks to Bruno and Michael for the good words of support. We'll see, possibly from Daniel, if the weather will change. Best, Emmett.

I don't know Daniel Minoza personally but I exchanged a few emails with him sometime ago and I believe him to be honest and straight.
Although it seemed to me like a good opportunity to bring some peace and collaboration among some some of the parties in this sad story, I respect your reasons to decline the offer.
I hope that the day will come. There are many top notch non-stick players that I would love to see in seminars side by side with the usual top-notch stickists


Cheers, Daniel.

I could have put it better...I meant that just by showing up and presenting your latest material, it would be obvious to the attendees where this technique began.

Mad Monk.

You asked for suggestions, from anyone.

My suggestion is: Your legacy is secure. No need to rehash injuries suffered in 1995.

The term "touchstyle" or "touch-style" is not going to go away. Your two main competitors have always used the term. You sued them. They know the term bothers you. Don't expect them to stop using the term any time soon. Sorry to be so blunt.

Others use the term, meaning no slight to anyone. Lots of people have come along since The Lawsuit, who don't know or don't care what Frank Jolliffe did, or who sued who, or who held their hands at what angle when, or whatever. To many people, touch-style means two-handed tapping. Your staff will be frustrated if their assignment is to stamp out all use of the term. It's out there.

None of the above specifically refers to Daniel's seminar. If you don't want to go, obviously that's your call.

"You asked for suggestions, from anyone."

Hi Tetrachord, I guess I should thank you for putting on your problem solving hat - the hard realist at work.

"My suggestion is: Your legacy is secure. No need to rehash injuries suffered in 1995."

I just can't feel it as a "legacy" and won't be able to feel it when it in fact becomes a legacy. I'm very much alive and active in a field I have created and I've spent most of my life at it. My adversaries are also still alive and active, minimizing and denying my living reputation. So why shouldn't I confront them and refute their stories?

"The term "touchstyle" or "touch-style" is not going to go away. Your two main competitors have always used the term. You sued them. They know the term bothers you. Don't expect them to stop using the term any time soon. Sorry to be so blunt."

If I were merely "bothered" by a word or phrase, that would be some sort of a psychological problem, one caused by a weak attitude. Maybe that was your implication. OTOH, if "touchstyle" is continually used to discredit my creations and contributions, this seems to go beyond any personal psychology and is brought about by a group.

"Others use the term, meaning no slight to anyone. Lots of people have come along since The Lawsuit, who don't know or don't care what Frank Jolliffe did, or who sued who, or who held their hands at what angle when, or whatever."

There are some people, however, who do care a lot about the history, the tapping angles, the patents, the trademarks - they seem obsessed with it all, and use their "touchstyle" history to distort and obfuscate those facts.

"To many people, touch-style means two-handed tapping. Your staff will be frustrated if their assignment is to stamp out all use of the term. It's out there."

I don't "stamp out" phrases and terms or control how people speak, but naturally I get to speak too. Rather than suppressing "touchstyle", I'm trying to identify the term to Stick players on this forum. If someone decides to attend Daniel's Touchstyle Seminar, I won't mind, except to point out that over 90% of the users of so-called "TouchStyle" are playing the specific "Free Hands" method that I first created and taught.

"None of the above specifically refers to Daniel's seminar. If you don't want to go, obviously that's your call."

This is true. All the best, Emmett.