Not sure how to phrase this question properly, but I haven't seen/heard any good examples of legato/slurring on a Stick.

The nature of the stick requires a tap and the percussive attack doesn't lend itself well to a 'smooth' sound I'm hearing in my head, but I'm wondering if a combination of slides, hammer ons/offs, effects etc may give the feeling of a more fluid approach that I haven't heard in most Stick pieces/playing.

Sorry for the assumptions -- I've only had the opportunity to play a stick for a few minutes so I haven't had the chance to really explore various articulations on a stick's fretboard.

Thanks!

swartzfeger wrote:

...but I'm wondering if a combination of slides, hammer ons/offs, effects etc may give the feeling of a more fluid approach that I haven't heard in most Stick pieces/playing.

Basically, work on all of the above. I regularly talk to (surprised) listeners about how legato the Stick can sound. Also think about using contrasting percussive sounds to make the most of your legato passages.

I don't make any claims of mastery, but this probably illustrates my personal approach better than any of my other videos:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qr4iZnlFo[/youtube]

As it says, "work in progress".

Have fun,
Andy

Hi Jay,

For starters, it's important to have complete control over whether you are using hammer-ons and pull-offs, or using what I call "clean taps".

Clean taps are where the articulation of the note is clearly heard. These can also be "legato" if the player moves his hand along the string to drive the line as opposed to using an up-and-down typing motion at the finger joint. The timing of the release of the notes is controlled by the movement of the hand. Legato clean taps are very hard to develop if you use a "typing" motion, because you have to time the release of notes as you descend on a string before you can tap the next note.

But with hand motion, you don't have to worry about this, and the attacks can follow the release of the next note very closely, even for very rapid passages.

It's much harder, if you are using a typing motion to develop the speed necessary for rapid legato clean taps, so when it gets fast, you have no choice but to revert to hammer-ons and pull-offs.

This is why so much tapping (on all instruments) you hear sounds so staccato: because the player uses a typing motion instead of hand movement along the string.

You should practice doing both slurred techniques and "clean taps," and be able to transition from one to the other at will. That level of control, and the expression that it allows is what makes tapping music interesting to listen to. Otherwise, it's just "notes".

If you want to have complete control over when you can use a slurred technique, it's good to practice scale and interval movements in adjacent fret positions, and practice transitioning between them. This will make it possible for you to easily move to the fret position where the desired pull-offs are. I make these kinds of shifts constantly when playing, and never have to think about it.

You only have to learn three scale patterns to know the whole board.
With a three-finger melodic technique, you really only have to learn 3 scale positions, as they just repeat themselves as you move from fret to fret and string to string, and because each scale uses all three fingers, transitioning from one to the next requires no thought at all. All you have to think about is how you want to play it. The notes are all there in your muscle memory.

Since each finger has note assignments in every scale, finding the position you want for slurred techniques is instinctive and comes from having the whole key in your muscle memory. Navigating along the string through a variety of position-shifting techniques will give you as much freedom of movement along the frets as you have within individual scale positions.

This concept of position-shifting and how easy it is with a three-finger melodic technique is clearly laid out in The Greg Howard Songbook, and since I've already shown it there, I'll save myself the typing here

http://www.greghoward.com/free_hands/books/



This video shows this concept in action, with and without distortion. The section that begins at 6:56 is a particularly good example of constant position shifting, and a mix of slurred techniques and clean taps:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOAuoCCwSQs[/youtube]

RSS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOAuoCCwSQs

Thanks for the replies, guys. Of course, after I posted that and *really* started to dig through youtube and various sites are started to find some good examples. One of them being a song of yours, Greg... I think I found a song sample on your site called 'Water I' that sounded really nice and wasn't a morass of typewriter clacks.

I think one of the reasons I've held off so long on getting a Stick (or considering another instrument, like a Warr) is the overwhelming amount of 'typewriter clack' I hear out there. Obviously, it's the player and not the instrument, but I'm trying to suss out what it is that makes that so prevalent and other articulations that can make a piece more expressive.

And sussing that out without actually dropping money on a Stick and playing it is, um, kinda hard.

Thanks again. I'm on the prowl for a used Stick and may pull the trigger in the next month or so. And I see that SE have a reserve production rosewood 10 str Grand that looks awful nice.

Wow, I really liked both videos you guys posted but this Big Bang example is great and love the section you pointed out at 6:55 is so good. I really like the envelope/wah thing for the left hand part. Is that what I'm hearing? Kinda like a lo-fi, low pass filter type thing going on. Regardless, sounds great!

@swartzfeger,

You should search out Bob Culbertsson's two "blues" video lessons on YouTube. Bob calls it "sliding over notes", tapping one note and then sliding your finger along the string passing other notes/frets with only the remaining vibrating string's mass to kick off new notes (of the *slur*). It sounds very legato.

Andy - the bottom end of your Stick looks like it might be too low for a belt hook in your video. Are you using a cello spike or a stand, and if so, do you use a shoulder strap with that?

Max

Thanks Per, I will search for that now.

btw, I went to your site and watched your Retardo Romanza video -- very nice! Very creative... I use Logic as well but have never touched Mainstage. When I take the plunge and buy a Stick, I think I need to do some reading over at your blog in regards to looping and Mainstage.

a melody side technique i like to do is a "pull-off" with my middle finger while
my first finger frets and then sometimes combining it w/ the sliding over notes
technique as described below. i use it a bit on my (very loose) version of the
john abercrombie tune 'timeless' here..

http://www.myspace.com/392413927/music/ ... ss-2196179

it sounds hard to do , but if you just place your middle finger in between the two strings
a bit to "damp" your fretting finger and then do the pull off you can get a much more subdued attack
which is nice in break-ing up the melody side dynamics in your playing..

e.g. if you are playing along string 3 ...
-- place your middle finger ~ a quarter of the way between string 2 and 3 touching string 3 but not enough to fret it. placing your middle finger a decent bit back from a fret helps some here.
-- lightly fret where you want with your first finger, keeping your middle finger inplace whilst hooking a teensy bit under string 3,
-- do your pull off of the middle finger in a light fingerpicking manner, putting a bit more pressure on your fretted fisrt finger at the same time
-- optionally.. then do some additional, "sliding over" ala Bob

i'm making it sound incredibly intricate but it's not really if you work at it a little bit

Mike, I sat and really tried to visualize the technique you described while listening to Timeless and I have a rough idea... really great song and rendition. I heard one particular section where I thought 'yes, that's what Mike is talking about!'

Not quite a muting effect, but the attack has a noticeably rounder feel to it. Very nice.