I finally got my hands on a Stick back in early December. After some time going through some of Greg's exercises, I decided to dive into "Tapping Into Bach." I don't recall when I started studying that book or when I actually started to learn the first piece (Minuet in G Major), but as of today, I can play (haltingly) the entire first two "verses" (are they called "verses"?)
So now, it's just a matter of practice, practice, practice while I work on the 3rd and 4th verses.
Some observations about the experience.
The first challenge I found (in addition to tapping at the proper spot, keeping the hands engaged, not just the fingers, keeping the thumbs against the edge of the FB and not "flying around") was playing legato. At first, everything was very staccato, and I spent a lot of time improvising with the right hand, using major, minor, harmonic minor scales to get that nice legato sound.
Next, the two-hands coordination was easier than I'd anticipated. But there are two aspects to this.
The first is the rhythmic coordination; getting the hands to operate independently, being "unified" by the external "clock" of the meter. This was the part I found to be quite easy, which actually wasn't too much of a surprise. Having been studying drums for over two years, counting out the rhythm is second nature, so it was easy to count and use that to "trigger" the movement of the hands.
The other part of the coordination is the playing of the different right-hand/left-hand melodies. I got so I was able to play either melody independently, almost without having to look at the fretboard. But when trying to play them simultaneously, while rhythmically I was fine, my hands were all over the place. Two-fret or four-fret jumps that I could nail when playing either melody in isolation, were now getting missed. I'm still having a little trouble with that, hence the "haltingly" I referred to above.
So I'm super encouraged. This is fun. I have to say that playing the Stick is as easy as I'd hoped. I originally had trouble keeping my left elbow up, but now that I've been playing a while I notice that that problem seems to be taking care of itself. Having the left elbow raised to keep the angle-of-attack perpendicular to the strings just becomes the natural thing to do.
As a way of keeping interest up and getting past the inevitable frustration when getting started with a new instrument, I will frequently take some time to improvise with the right hand while keeping the left hand engaged with simple one-note harmonies. Hard to explain why, but I'm finding more freedom to explore and experiment with the Stick than I ever had with the guitar. It may be that my entre to guitar playing was through the blues, which is so formulaic that it's hard to break out of.
Last, I'll mention that I've developed a physical problem that is affecting all of my musical activities. After sitting for more than a half-hour, I develop a very painful ache, almost a sciatica-like thing, in my upper left leg. It's most pronounced after sitting at the drum kit, of course, since your position on the throne is dictated by having to use your feet. So far, I'm finding ways to work around it while playing the stick using a good pad on the chair and adjusting my position. I rigged up a support to allow easier use while standing (don't seem to like hooking it in my belt), but that too highlights other physical limitations. I hate getting old!!
So...that's it. Back to practicing!
