I'll be a Stick beginner soon and I'll want to order a book or two along with a fresh new Railboard. I learned guitar, bass and piano well enough with little more than a book or two so video and audio are not nearly as important to me as the information contained in the video, audio, or book.

So what kind of differences are there? Does one have more on stick percussion sounds? Another on building up to improvisation? Another that might have more "crazy tricks" for playing, like one handed harmonics?

The write ups make them all sound equally appropriate for beginners, but not why one is preferable to another except that some people want follow-along audio or video.

If you haven't already done so, a good place to start are the numerous "free clips" on YouTube. Many expert Stickists have been very generous with their time and teaching skill, and allow you to sample their style with a simple click of the mouse. This allows you to pick the one (or dozen in my case) teacher that you like best. I'm still very much a beginner, even though I've had my Stick for over 2 years now I'll be watching this thread with interest.

I did two things when I started playing three years ago:

1) Try out a correct playing position. Watch Greg's videos for this.

2) Find out where on the Stick all the scales (that you play in your music) are located. Play them so you find out all alternative fingerings and neck positions. Also check out where you can reach over and tap a certain note on the other side's fretboard. Do the same "mind mapping" with all the chords you normally use.

When you have memorized the above you're ready to dive into the third stage, the one that never ends: making music!

In case you have no idea about scales and chords you need to initially take a couple of hours and read up on that. I think Steve Adelsson's educational material is good for this. Be sure that learn music and not just the instrument!

All the learning materials available at Stick Enterprises are excellent. Why not consider getting the lot for $75? You have already invested how much in an instrument?

I still find myself getting a lot of value of Free Hands. Great bits on chords, technique, soloing, etc. I have to update mine to the spiral bound edition as the binding on mine is showing some wear.

Bob Culbertson´s videos demonstrate a lot of diferent tequniques and are definitely worth the money, and you might want to check them out even if you generally learn from books. Greg Howard´s video helped me improve my mechanics a lot. Enjoy the Stick!

A reminder since it's an outside source. Truefire offers a 2 DVD tutorisl I did a few years back. Close to four hours worth.
Steve A

It's very much an individual thing. What works for one player might not be as effective to another. I've got Emmett's Free Hands Book, Steve's Ultimate Stick video, Greg's Free Hands video and I've subcribed to Bob's early lessons on Totally Guitars ( the one where he still has a 'mullet'). On top of that lot there's quite a bit of free material on-line, video and written.

I agree with Gene about ordering the whole package and Flynlion on checking out all the various clips and info on the web.

One of the first problems I had was the playing position. I'm mostly blind in my left eye so holding the Stick in the proscibed manner dosn't work for me, as I have to bend my neck out and down so far that it looks like I'm contemplating my naval! Five minutes of that and I was completely knackered!!! Once I can play without constantly looking down (in about a million years), I can adopt a more conventional position.

I'd be more than happy to send you my collection of links.


Eric

Hi NWK.

I'm with Gene on this one, as I've made it a policy to invest in all the books and vids.

For me it's a away of supporting the Stick community as well as having a personal statement from every one of the contributing authors.

Every author has strengths much like the variety inherent in the human family.

If I had to put it in words the essence of each book for me is:

Free Hands.

The original spark and a deceptively open and straight forward way of defining the Stick as a stand alone instrument.

Greg Howards Stick Book vol. 1


A tremendously musical work, each exercise begs you to return to it by virtue of it's inherent musicality and practical value.

Greg's DVD. A serious piece of work that will set your hands free, no pun intended. The "exercises" are really pieces of music in disguise.

Bob Culbertsons Stick video Lessons.

The first comprehensive video lessons we received and pretty much in my Stick DNA. You will be taken from beginner to advanced exercises over time, knowing that you have a grasp on the breadth and concept of the Stick, as well as window into what you can bring to the instrument through knowing the Sticks tool box and your own creativity.

Lee Vatip's Stickology. This is a blueprint of Steve's concept and a deceptively Zen style book. Once you come back to it you'll understand more of his method. This book is also a great catalogue of all scale shapes.

Lee Vatip's Ultimate Stick DVD. Will get you practicing and thinking of new ways to explore the same ideas we all share through diatonic harmony/theory. I think you have to remember what you're listening to with Steve, his conversational style can jump from beginner to advanced stuff fairly quickly, but that's also his strength. Lee Vatip is a Stick shaman who shows you the path to effortless mastery.Steve is a great morning practice companion over coffee.

Chris Crain Stick elessons. Like having a friend take you into a strange world knowing you'll be safe and sound. Chris has a very straightforward pedagogy to his tuition which some will find very helpful. Chris contribution through the Sticktionary is not to be overlooked, it is a staggering phd style research paper. I refer to Chris in a very loose and fun way, as the Jamie Abersold of Stick.

Greg's songbook. I don't actually own this yet, I'm in Classic tuning, still I'm sure it can be applied.

Another things for sure, start reading simple melodies from piano music and make a start to studying jazz harmony and theory. All these authors deal with this topic to varying degrees, all with great clarity and Stickcentricity. I just love picking up piano books, Real Book style charts and NOT having the cheats that come from staff tab. It's all music in the end.

The Stick to me is the ultimate modern instrument to interface with the world of music.

Be mindful of what you practice, sounds like you already are and... Like Trey Gunn says.
BFA = Be Fucking Amazing

I have Greg's book and Lee Vatip's book and the included Free Hands book. I experienced the same thing in these books as I did with learning piano: different teachers will directly contradict each other, and in the right circumstances they are both right.

Steve comes from a guitar background. He strongly emphasizes certain techniques directly derived from this, such as creating automatic patterns for the LH to back up soloing in the RH. He also recommends learning scales where the hand does not have to move in RH to have lots of speed available. He also has some advanced techniques he enjoys that are attractive as flair, but not necessarily required for good Sticking.

On the other hand Greg, with a keyboard background treats the LH slightly differently. Either hand can be patterned to support improvisation with the other. Hand motion is essential to opening up the entire Stick and choosing the best location for the sound desired. With an external meter source (i.e. metronome or a good foot), each hand can alter its rhythm independently.

When you explore these lessons you can see that each has a valid point, even though Steve's scales are in direct conflict with Greg's hand motion. As an individual artist, you must find what works for you. I've been at it a year or so and am still deciding. I have a piano and a bass guitar background. It's a journey. I find Greg's thinking matches my own a bit more directly for playing solo, but when I play in a band I take a more even mix of his and Steve's approach.

I have trouble reading guitar notation, so the Free Hands book is a bit tough for me. Seeing Bob's online lessons, I think the easy ones are easy, the hard ones are hard and there isn't much in the middle. He is an absolutely awesome player, though.

BTW, in Steve's DVD, I think his speech is really inspiring. I think everyone who plays Stick should hear it.

Like several people have mentioned already, I also have accumulated books and videos from Greg Howard, Steve Adelson, Bob Culbertson and Emmett. From my angle, Emmett gives the view of the inventor. Bob and Steve showed how easy it can be to just get going. Steve helped me to develop a positive attitude towards the Stick. Greg's excersises(and some of Bob's) helped immensely with hand independence. Plus all have just a wealth of knowledge concerning the instrument.

When I first got my Stick at a musicians flea market, it didn't come with a book and most people still didn't have the internet.(or at least I didn't).
I had hours of fun just getting away by myself with the Stick and exploring how to make noise and later music on it. Some of my favorite compositions came from this time period. On the downside, I think I waited too long to seek out instruction and developed some bad habits that I needed to break. And it can be frustrating if you have never just watched another player play. How do you even hold this thing?

Long story short, don't burden yourself with too many resourses all at once--but don't wait too long before getting some fundamental instruction.

Good luck, Mike