Hi all,

My first post on these forums. I've been a bass player for 13 years. Before that, I had been playing the piano for around 7 years. Two years ago I switched to a fretted 6-string (never played fretless) and been loving it.

I play progressive metal, which calls for a lot of versatility in techniques; fast strumming, slow parts, tapping, slapping, you name it. Because of it's versatility, the Stick caught my attention some time ago and I've been circling around the concept ever since. Now I seem to have set my eyes almost definitely on the NS/Stick. But I need some guidance please. I know it's a long thread but please bear with me, I need the advice. By the way, the following questions all assume a standard factory setting NS/Stick. If a technique needs instrument alteration to work, please point it out. I'm still very ignorant about the Stick.

Fretless vs Half-Fretless vs Fretted

In my particular playing style I focus a lot on vibrato and small bend/slide nuances which I feel would be taken to new heights with a fretless instrument. My main dilemma is between half-fretted and fretless. I like the idea of having precision on the higher strings for chord work (which I also use a lot). But how much would I miss the fretless feel on those strings? Are the frets really essential on the half-fretless or can you do without? Would the higher strings benefit at all if they were fretless? What's your opinion?

Fast Strumming

Being in a metal band, albeit a prog one, I'm required to do some fast finger strumming (no pick) in certain parts, going 16ths at 125bpm for instance. How would the NS/Stick handle that? I play fairly softly with my right hand (which seems to be a "requirement" when finger playing the NS) and the NS/Stick does seem to handle very fast runs and progressions, but what about high speed strumming on the same note?

Natural Harmonics

I am a huge fan of natural and tapped harmonics and use them often in my playing. I read somewhere in the forums that the Stick doesn't quite handle them well. Do you think my technique would suffer on the NS/Stick? Have there been any advancements in this department?

Slapping

I'm not a slapping person, at all. Thirteen years playing and never learned slapping (I know, shame on me ) hehe. But it's an avenue I need to explore. How does the NS/Stick handle slapping?

Thanks a lot for your time. I appreciate the feedback. Looking forward to joining the NS/Stick family!

Be well,

Cedric

Regarding the fretless/fretted question, I'll stay out of that one, that really comes down to personal tastes.

For harmonics, I just discovered Dominator cables. Could not believe what these directional tuned cables do with harmonics on an NS Stick. I placed an order, should be another week. Mine is a wooden neck, not as strong in harmonics as my graphite-necked bass. I've not played any of the new graphite-necked NS's, but I'm thinking the new necks would help.

For a prog-metal sound with strumming, check out Uzumaki from the Netherlands:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =127285432

Somewhere the bassist/NS Stickist has a video posted playing some distorted strumming/slapping.

I prefer my NS over my bass for strumming.

Slapping is not an issue, the low B string will provide enough low-end punch. If you still find it a bit weak, try using something like a Sansamp DI or LR Bagg's acoustic DI.The first time you pick up an NS, you'll be surprised how much power light gage strings sound with it.

Well being a person who has used his NS Stick exclusively in a band for the better part of the last year in the "Bass player" role let me give you MY take on your questions.

Fretless VS Half Fretless VS Fretted? ...

1st there is no total Fretless that's being offered to my knowledge. only half fretless and Fretted. Do you play fretless bass? I've never played a half fretless NS but my assumption is it would be similar to tapping a very low action fretless bass guitar. I LOVE playing fretless bass BUT personally don't think it lends itself well to rock or prog-rock so i would recommend full fretted.

Strumming ... sure. But keep in mind the NS Stick has REAL low action like you may have never experienced AND a well set up NS Stick has NO relief in the neck AT ALL ... it's dead straight. So you WILL need to learn a whole different technique and touch to play it like a bass guitar. ....... IMO ... the adjustment is well worth it!

Harmonics ... again ... you'll have to adjust your technique.

Slapping ... see the above!

Since I also play a traditional Grand Stick (12 string with inverted 5ths bass tuning) my ONLY gripe with the NS Stick is I wish it came in a 10 string version because when i'm playing melody and "lead" on the melody strings I run out of strings. I'm spoiled by having 6 melody strings on my Stick VS 4 on the NS Stick.

All in all I think the NS Stick is THE next step in the evolution of the bass allowing we bass players to become more well rounded contributers to the music we play and not just the foundation. Personally over the past 10 years I've owned 3 Alembic basses and Two Modulus basses and before that Warwick, Fender, you name it. Now ... I own NO basses, I play Stick products exclusively. ....... That should tell you something about MY feeling towards the instrument.

Go for it!!!

Hey Cedric,

I won't get into the fretless discussion as I don't use a fretless in any of my music and I've never particularly enjoyed it.

It sounds like you have some of the same background I have in music. Prog rock/metal, finger player.The NS will lend itself to anything you want to try with some practice. I had a very tough time with natural harmonics at first and I did consider raising the action, but after talking to other players, I decided that I should work through it. It has paid off. Tap harmonics I am still working on, pinch harmonics take practice.

It works well with for plucking, but resting your thumb on the bridge pickup is a must where the string tension is higher. The string action lends itself very handily to quick runs.

I'm not much of a slap player so I'll once again defer to someone who uses the technique on the NS.

I will say this about the NS though, it opened up a lot of creativity that I was needing. My advice is to find someone relatively near you with one who will let you take it for a test drive or just jump right in like I did without ever seeing one in person except for a Dream Theater concert in 1997.

And of course as you know Bill (but Cedric may not) ... John was using a standard Stick in Dream theater, not an NS Stick.

Hey, thanks a heap for all the help. You've really put my mind at rest on a lot of issues. I've decided I'll go for the NS/Stick as soon as I recover from my minor financial setback (recording an album hehe).

I'm still unsure about the fretless/fretted issue. It's simply something I need to sit down and really meditate upon. My biggest problem is that I live in Malta (small island south of Sicily in the Mediterranean sea). To my knowledge, over here NOBODY owns a stick. There's a Dutch guy who owns a similar instrument, but noone else. Well, more of a reason to get one so I'll be unique

On the slapping issue, I'm starting to think that the fact that I've never played any slapping before will actually work to my advantage. Better to learn from scratch than to change what you already know! We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again everyone. I'm hoping my presence will be more frequent in the future. This definitely looks like a friendly and helpful forum. Feeling at home already

Thanks for the clarification, Ray. I was intending to say "Chapman Stick" in general, but I see how that may have come across now.

Hi Cedric,

Sorry to point out the obvious, but Emmett himself would be the best person to speak to about whether a fretted or half-fretless NS Stick would be best for you. It might be tricky to find a good time to call Stick Enterprises, because of the time difference, but well worth the effort.

Cheers,

EG

You're absolutely right. But I wanted a few opinions from users so as to have a basis on which to build an opinion and then be able to ask the more specific questions to Emmett himself. I'll be getting in touch with him soon enough.

Thanks for all the info. You've been great.