What a great session we had with Tom and Dave Brosky hosting. Dave did a bang up job of reviewing some of the projects that Tom has been involved with over the years, pulling some great stories out along the way.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4wPqOVIJlU[/youtube]

Tom shared some of the projects that he currently has in the works along with his agenda for the next few weeks, which will include a trip up to Canada for the 13th Annual Vancouver Stick Seminar with Jim Meyer and Dale Ladouceur.

Lots of great discussions along the way about songwriting, looping and Tom's long history with the Chapman Stick.

Looking forward to lots more this month too - the month of May is packed solid with great discussions, here's what's on deck:

Friday, May 9: The legendary Don Schiff will be our guest along with NS Giraffic Jam man Kyle McCann.

Friday, May 16: A multi-effects spotlight on the Line 6 HD500x. We'll share how to use a single effects unit to run dual signal paths for your dream Chapman Stick sound. We'll also discuss the many other features built into this multi-faceted unit.

Friday, May 23: One Cloud ambient-groove visionary Rob Martino rolls in for a discussion on everything that he is currently working.

Friday, May 30: The return of Kyle McCann, but as a guest! Another fine session with a fine NS player - we'll check in on Kyle and get the latest on how his band Giraffic Jam is tearing up the prog scene in the Salt Lake area.

This Free Hands Friday is a STICK revolution ,what a line up you have coming, excellent. Cant wait to get home to an internet connection that can cope with youtube, hanging out to see Tom.
Great work Gene.

FHF has been a cool thing. Being there for the live session is great, but it's also been cool having the recordings for when attending live is not possible.

May's looking like a really good month...branching out into equipment use and/or reviews is a wonderful idea to help flesh things out! Looking forward to it!

Many, many thanks to Gene for pulling these together.

I agree. A really valuable asset to the community.

Randy

I think Tom is absolutely awesome!
This is by far one of my favorite "Stick" tunes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYTrLNXpR-o

(Damn can't make the youtube video imbed work!!)

Tom has a really incredible way of creating a solid groove and layering a really tight melody on top.

I think one of things that he does so well, that a lot of other Stick players don't do seem to do, is make a really "musical" song - catchy melody, beat, phrasing, etc.

I totally get that he has been playing a long time and has some very developed skills - but he seems to be able to make some really good songs....that is something we all should aspire to do.

Anyway, I hope nobody thinks I am being negative about their music, I'm just trying to point out the things that really catch my ear.; I love technical guys, and appreciate skill, but ultimately it has to be a song that I play in my head...a groove, riff, beat, that I just dwell on over and over....right??

I mean listen to the part of the song (3:00 min mark) where he just totally jams!

Heh, I think I now understand why you reacted so strongly to the suggestion of discussing melody signal chains in a Hangout. I really have to laugh thinking about your reaction in light of when you posted the message I quoted.

This message probably is itself gratuitous, so let the gratuity continue: thanks for being a genuinely great dude, Gene. These FHF Hangouts, and the resulting YouTube videos, are a fantastic development. Is it just me, or is 2014 fast becoming a standout year?

The trick with YouTube videos is to remove the 's' in the 'https://'.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYTrLNXpR-o[/youtube]

That's one of my favorite Stick videos, too. That and Rob Martino's One Cloud are probably responsible for me being here. I have not watched this week's episode yet and I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks to everyone involved!

-Eric

Excellent FHF!!

Next week will be great too.

Definitely on a roll.

Wish I could have been there.

The question I would have asked:
Tom. What is your secret to losing weight? You look sensational!

Thanks for the tip on Peterson tuners. I have purchased the iStroboSoft app for Android. It works really well and is a lot easier than the built in tuners on my Line 6 amps.

Cheers,

Simon

Great session, had to bug out early though. I second the istrobosoft app Wicher, its great!

cheers,
kev