You got it, Ray. I formed Heartstrings in the summer of 2006 with Mark. We recorded "Days Gone By" that winter and I've been a professional Stickist ever since.

Very nice Matt ... congrats on your success!

Hi there guys -- I'm Thomas Roche, who wrote the piece at Techyum about the Chapman Stick. No offense was meant by associating it with nerdiness...for what it's worth, at Techyum we consider "nerd" a badge of honor. In this context I was using it to mean "Someone who knows way more about an unusual topic than most other people."

I am a bit surprised more people didn't take offense at my comments on the technical video...no offense was meant there, either; I'm not not much of a musician, so I couldn't really follow it. Sarcasm's definitely my style, so I do apologize if it came across as trying to make anyone feel bad for being into what I think is an awesome pursuit.

I'm at best a three-chord guitarist myself, so I'm stunned and bewildered by the expertise and knowledge that people like those on this forum show on music matters. If I came across as a jerk, I hope you can hear it was meant with satiric or irreverent intent. For what it's worth, I think the Stick is totally bad-ass, and I love jazz guitar!

Thanks for taking the time to check the blog post, and it's good to hear your thoughts on the matter! Best,
Thomas Roche

Tom,
Thanks for the reply. I liked the article as well, I thought it was funny and has a good collection of info/ videos. I had not thought of myself as a nerd but clearly others view stick players that way, it's just that no one has said it to my face.

One thing I couldnt help but comment on in the article is the "old shoe" reference with one cloud by Rob Martino. If you have a chance, I encourage you to listen to Rob's CD in its entirety. Obviously a 1 take vid on youtube isn't perfect but the tone and the arrangement and the professionalism of Rob's studio version is excellent. I was just listening in the and thinking "old shoes"!? Seriously, Rob's CD has brought me back to why I play this instrument to begin with, it one of a handful of recordings I've heard over the last 10 years that make it an honor to associated with musicians like Rob.

Thanks again for the article, we appreciate it.

Sent from my SPH-M900 using Tapatalk

One out of two ain't bad !

Cheers,
Andy

>> I think the Stick is totally bad-ass, and I love jazz guitar!<<

Can these two ideals be combined into, say, totally bad-ass jazz Stick?

...Probably not.

Tom thanks for taking the time and effort to join the forum to let us know the angle you were coming from in your blog. That was very cool of you indeed!