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 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues 
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Post 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Today was 2 weeks with my new NS/Stick ("Lord Vader") and I had a dental procedure yesterday that left my jaw bruised and swollen this morning, so I took a sick day. Scott (Jayesskerr) has been bugging me to show him some of this new stuff I keep telling him that I'm coming up with on the NS/Stick. I made a video and sent him an MP3 of some sample tracks I made today.

I've been working on bass lines, especially blue bass lines, hence the overly descriptive title: "2 weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues." I wasn't playing to a drum track when I made the video, and my intent was just to show Scott some riffs on the NS/Stick tapping entirely with just the left hand,and the damper in.

I made a recent discovery that I can play two hands exactly together on the NS/Stick, because the bass 4ths tuning and one hand reaching around, the two hands finger exactly the same way. A pinky hits a 4th fret and it's a minor third in both hands. I'll have a video in a couple of weeks showing me playing pretty quickly with both hands playing the same line.

I added some titles and spiffied up the video a bit, since Scott convinced me that Stickist might like to see some more NS/Stick from a beginner. And I can certainly provide that. The beginner stuff. 551 days with my first Stick, 435 days with the Railboard, and now 15 days on the NS/Stick. And a million miles to go!

(and 133 days to Interlochen...)

Cheers!
Steve Sink
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2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues

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Today was 2 weeks with my new NS/Stick ("Lord Vader") and I try my best at some original bass lines (mainly blues) with just the left hand tapping. Playing a wenge neck on ebony-stained wenge body, NS/Stick Guitar/Bass, 8-strings tuned in fourths. Stephen Sink/Paigan Productions.

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Steve Sink, Laser Fractals
Rosewood 10-string, #5989, M4s
Sapphire Railboard, #6763, MR
Wenge-on-Wenge NS/Stick, #170130, Bass 4ths
http://soundcloud.com/stephen-sink-1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RDlN ... Ez0hN49_Qg


Tue Feb 28, 2017 10:32 pm
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Awesome, well done man! Keep 'em coming, dude.

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Tue Feb 28, 2017 10:53 pm
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Great Job!

How are you recording it? Just direct? Any plugins or pedals?
It sounds great!

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Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:05 am
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Jesus!!! Now I want one!!!! Grrrrr! Sounds amazing!!!


Enviado do meu iPhone usando o Tapatalk

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Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:35 am
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Jayesskerr wrote:
Awesome, well done man! Keep 'em coming, dude.


Skydiver wrote:
Great Job!

How are you recording it? Just direct? Any plugins or pedals?
It sounds great!


bachdois wrote:
Jesus!!! Now I want one!!!! Grrrrr! Sounds amazing!!!

Thanks guys! I'm running direct into Pro Tools and then using 3 plugins: Waves Bass Rider (live), Guitar Rig with the Precise Bass Patch (untweaked), and then Waves SSLG EQ plugin, using the Joe West patch for Aggressive Obese Bass, which tweaks the transients just slightly to sound a little growly. I'm using Guitar Rig at the moment because my new Behringer FCB1010 MIDI pedal works nicely with it, instead of the Chris Lord Alge plugin for Bass (which I use for the Railboard bass sound when playing it).

The NS/Stick itself has every tone knob cranked to maximum and all volume pots to maximum and just one mono signal straight into the MAC interface (Focusrite Pro 24). I used my Canon D70 to film the video and the room audio, but then muted it when I wasn't talking and replaced it with the PT audio signal. Like Glenn Poorman and others suggested in Jayeskerr's Go Pro thread, I used the room audio wavefile to line up the Pro Tools audio to manually sync them exactly together. And that cuts out the "clicky clacky" of fingers tapping strings onto frets and other room noise.

I went in and cut and spliced out some clunkers and pauses, but it's still a pretty raw demonstration of some NS/Sticking. I can and do play to a metronome or a beat.

I'm also close to getting my fingers in the sweet spots but obviously not quite there yet. There's a huge difference in tone just getting the fingering right--although there's plenty of leeway. It's a fairly forgiving, flexible instrument to play--but I do have to actually get my fingers on the right frets and in the right ballpark for optimal tone quality. Not there yet, but I'm encouraged at how fast it is going.

I haven't even gotten very far in jamming without the damper, like it's a "regular" bass guitar. So much to learn but that makes it even more exciting just knowing all the little tricks and expressive techniques I'm going to learn, like finger Sticking, strumming, popping, slapping, harmonics, chords, etc. Such an amazingly expressive instrument!

Thanks for bearing with me, guys! I appreciate the support and the help!

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Steve Sink, Laser Fractals
Rosewood 10-string, #5989, M4s
Sapphire Railboard, #6763, MR
Wenge-on-Wenge NS/Stick, #170130, Bass 4ths
http://soundcloud.com/stephen-sink-1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RDlN ... Ez0hN49_Qg


Wed Mar 01, 2017 7:37 am
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Love that tone. Keep it up!

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Wed Mar 01, 2017 8:37 am
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
I was immediately stricken by the tone you got; sounds huge, man! Playing-wise, you sound a lot more comfortable in 15 days on the N/S than you do on the Stick (And you are very good at the Stick)

I'm with Rodrigo, I think I want an N/S Stick pretty badly also... I am looking forward to more clips Steve!

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Wed Mar 01, 2017 8:41 am
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Keep up the good work! My NS/Stick G.A.S. has receded (it never really was an issue since i am major broke) due to the fact i have a used $200 ESP Ltd bass tuned low to high C# F# B E and a VERY used Hartke SB-15 bass that I picked up at my local guitar store (the guy that does my major work) for a whopping $30 (yes thirty dollars) that had a shorted out P-bass p.u. but a beautiful two-octave neck that i tore the frets out of, sanded down, oiled, and tweaked. The J-bass p.u. is the only one working so it's all Jaco, all the time. Tuned the same as the ESP with med. round wounds so i can tap and etc. I'll just hafta design a Stick stand (I have the tom-tom stand that i bought at a pawn shop...where i also found a new condition Squier Strat for $60 that just needed set-up and TLC) so i can do two-instrument tapping. I have enough instruments (including an Ironwood Stick that I had the frets taken out but I want them put back in...long story), my next purchase will be a Greenboy/Fearless full-range cab. but that's $1,300 so I'll get that when my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse. But Steve that NS is way bitchin'
good luck with it and HAVE FUN. That's what I'm here for...

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Wed Mar 01, 2017 12:17 pm
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Post Re: 2 Weeks NS/Sticking: Lefty Bass Blues
Gusset wrote:
Love that tone. Keep it up!
Rocking it out! :evil: :twisted: :mrgreen: Thanks Vic!

Jayesskerr wrote:
I was immediately stricken by the tone you got; sounds huge, man! Playing-wise, you sound a lot more comfortable in 15 days on the N/S than you do on the Stick (And you are very good at the Stick)

I'm with Rodrigo, I think I want an N/S Stick pretty badly also... I am looking forward to more clips Steve!
I haven't done a performance video on Stick lately, so I'd like to think that I've actually made some good advancements on it too, but it's been really easy to transfer what I've learned on Sticks to the NS/Stick. Same 4ths tuning as the Stick melody side, and same tapping technique. I really only had to get the left hand up to speed on the 4ths tuning, and since the two hands finger things exactly the same way, there's not been much transition difficulty.

If anything the opposite, as you point out: it's really easy to noodle on either side and transfer it over to the other hand. And no mirror or inverse relationship to decode while playing.

You will see more NS clips, just cause there aren't many out there and I can get gratuitous views on my YouTube channel without spending a month on the render farm (I'm kidding. I'm still doing both anyway!) My goal is the one you outlined for me as an important milestone: get the familiarity and freedom on the NS fretboard that I have on the piano, and there ya go: instant self-expression on a new instrument with much the same crappy songs as I do on piano. If I could "see" the fretboard like I do a keyboard, then mission mostly accomplished.
AnDroiD wrote:
Keep up the good work! My NS/Stick G.A.S. has receded (it never really was an issue since i am major broke) due to the fact i have a used $200 ESP Ltd bass tuned low to high C# F# B E and a VERY used Hartke SB-15 bass that I picked up at my local guitar store (the guy that does my major work) for a whopping $30 (yes thirty dollars) that had a shorted out P-bass p.u. but a beautiful two-octave neck that i tore the frets out of, sanded down, oiled, and tweaked. The J-bass p.u. is the only one working so it's all Jaco, all the time. Tuned the same as the ESP with med. round wounds so i can tap and etc. I'll just hafta design a Stick stand (I have the tom-tom stand that i bought at a pawn shop...where i also found a new condition Squier Strat for $60 that just needed set-up and TLC) so i can do two-instrument tapping. I have enough instruments (including an Ironwood Stick that I had the frets taken out but I want them put back in...long story), my next purchase will be a Greenboy/Fearless full-range cab. but that's $1,300 so I'll get that when my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse. But Steve that NS is way bitchin'
good luck with it and HAVE FUN. That's what I'm here for...
Thanks so much, Marty! That's quite an amazing collection for rocking out there, sir! And it's what you do with the tools and not the size or the price or the quantity. (Insert snicker about tool size here.) Thank you for the words of encouragement!

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Steve Sink, Laser Fractals
Rosewood 10-string, #5989, M4s
Sapphire Railboard, #6763, MR
Wenge-on-Wenge NS/Stick, #170130, Bass 4ths
http://soundcloud.com/stephen-sink-1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RDlN ... Ez0hN49_Qg


Wed Mar 01, 2017 4:17 pm
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