When the old site crashed, we lost this poll. In the long run, a Stick player will probably buy all three books.

If I remember correctly, on the old site Greg's book had more votes. But Steve's book wasn't in print then.

(In the interests of fairness, Emmett should choose between Greg and Steve, Greg should choose between Emmett and Steve, and Steve should choose between Emmet and Greg. But no one said life was fair...)

Well, I'm not voting on this thread because I've only used one. It's Greg's. I really like it. It's more of an encyclopedia it seems like. You don't need to go Front to Back. If I'm interested in chords I'll pop open page x and if I want to work on two handed bass I'll open up to page y.

My 2 cents.

I've seen all three, I currently own two, and my first standard non-"NS" variety Stick will be here Jan/Feb. For starters, I really liked the way Steve has presented the fret markers explained the tunings, and some of the theory pages at the end of the book. I'm also working on my guitar skills and some of what he has in this book coincides exactly what I'm doing with my guitar - two different instruments being learned a similar way. And the DVD really adds some great info as well.

I've already developed some LH/RH independance from my NS, so hopefully I will not have to dwell on the usual topic of hand independance. Based on my background and what I'm currently doing guitarwise Steve's book is going to work best for me for starting out.

It's all good, and there's no serious overlap of ideas from what I can see, so getting all three should not be a problem for anyone. Individual backgrounds are going to dictate which to start with.

On top of that, there's three people within a 20-mile radius of my house offering Stick lessons should I need to go beyond books and CD's.

Oh, man! I'm jealous now.

-Eric

Just finished my first spin through Steve's Stickology Book and DVD. First, for those of you who might want to pigeonhole Steve as a "jazz musician," his understanding of the instrument and his approach to teaching it are universal. So if you're a classical musician a progger a metal-head a singer-songwriter or a looper, you'll find tons of good tips, exercises, ideas, jokes and insights into what makes The Stick such a great and inspiring instrument.

I particularly like his emphasis on understanding basic theories about harmony and how they relate to the instrument in particular.

Congratulations, Steve! and all the rest of us in the Stick world as well, another great resource for spreading the Free Hands method around the globe (or if you have a Solar Stick, the universe...).

And thanks to Mel Bay for putting it out there.

Can I vote twice?

I owed a copy of each, but lost the Freehands early on, and have not replaced it. (Seems everytime I call for new strings the book is not available. I need new ones, so maybe I'll get lucky!) All three books are pretty much must haves to the aspiring stick player. Each offers a unique perspective, and different approaches to the instrument, and allows the student to gain a wide variety of insight.

Besides, it's worth buying all the materials just to support all the great instrucots of the instrument. So go get the aforementioned books, as well as Bob's videos, and Chris Crains Chord books.

You and Stick Enterprises will be glad you did.

Oh and let me just add however... on further reflection, Steve's book may be the one I'd buy if I could only get ONE (Thank god I DON'T!). Why? Well it combines great written material with a DVD. Remember... if a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth 30,000 per second!

Not to hijack the thread but as I'm still working on my songbook, I'm wondering how many of you folks read standard notation?

Just curious...

I hate to sound so ignorant but what do you mean by standard notation? I read piano, guitar, and StaffTab(TM). I actually don't read tab notation very well. Is that what you are looking for?

-Eric

I do...but not if any tab is present!