Tapping from the violin.

[wilper]

Hi!

I stubled across tapping on YouTube a few days ago and now the thought of tapping will not leave my head. I must get an instrument to get peace of mind again. :-) I must have watched http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjimMO2SdE fifty times alreaday.

I have read much of this forum to learn some about tap style playing and tapping instruments but I still have some questions that I wonder if you could answer for me.

I have seen that there are some threads discussing 4ths vs 5ths tuning, but I didn't see anything written from a violinists perspective. I have watched the Megatar videos that talk about the advantages of 4ths tuning, and I see that the Chapman instruments use both at the same time.

But I don't have a history of playing the bass, and my guitar history is short and sad. Instead I play the violin and cello. Since a violin and cello are tuned in 5ths, should I get an instrument that is tuned the same way for familarity? I see myself playing both instruments in the future and wonder if I would not get confused from switching back and forth between tunings.

Does anyone have any advice for me on this?

I play mostly folk and rock music.

After consulting with both my patience and bank it looks like a Megatar is the right instrument for me. If I choose to use 5ths tuning for both the sets of strings will I end up having trouble finding suitable replacement strings in the future? Or are they common enough?

[matrix]

The transition from Violin to a tapping instrument will be an interesting journey.

The scale length alone is significant and the hand positions
as well. Also you will be going from 4 strings to 12 strings.

Remember there are no open strings.

Strings should not be a problem even if you decide to tune in fifths as I am sure Traktor at Megatar should be able to supply what you need.

Enjoy the Ride.....

[GaryOpenhill]

Remember that both on a stick and a megatar you can easily change between the tunings yourself, so whatever you order its not the final cut. Maybe you find that you want both sides in fifths!

[wilper]

Originally posted by GaryOpenhill
Maybe you find that you want both sides in fifths!

Hi, thanks for your thougths. Yes, that sounds like a nice option, it think it would be too confusing to have different tunings on both sides. So my headache now is should I have all 5ths or all 4ths.

[GaryOpenhill]

Originally posted by wilper
Hi, thanks for your thougths. Yes, that sounds like a nice option, it think it would be too confusing to have different tunings on both sides. So my headache now is should I have all 5ths or all 4ths.

Yes, the thing that is most different is that the scale length is 34 to 36 inches. Specially playing on the frets near the nut will be very different than on a violin or a cello in regards of reach and you'll have to do more position changes when playing melodic patterns, and the smaller intervals are impossible to do in one hand. In fourths this is not really an issue. So if you are planning on doing lots of scale based stuff (meaning Bach), then fourhts is definitly prefered. If you get a short scale guitar length tapper, like the box guitar or the rec doeuble neck, then fifths on both sides could be very nice for u i guess.

[rpmartino]

Thanks for mentioning my video. I think the issue of what you ultimately want to accomplish with the instrument is more important than making the instrument as familiar as possible.

I went through various stages as far as tap instruments, first the 5ths bass/4ths melody, then an 8 string in straight 4ths, then back to a Stick with parallel 4ths, (like a standard Megatar) and ultimately mirrored 4ths (which all my music you see on youtube uses).

For folk and rock, I think 4ths is very much part of that language in terms of easy pentatonic patterns, and rich, close-voiced chord accompaniment. I wanted to develop both a melodic bass and acoustic guitar-like accompaniment style on my left hand, which is why I chose 4ths over 5ths. 5ths gives you wider sounding chords and more elaborate jazz voicings I think, but that's not a sound I really wanted to pursue.

Using a more commonly used tuning helps when getting started, since more instruction material is available (unless you have a good ear and decent grasp of theory so you can figure things out on your own). For that reason I don't think the bass in 5ths/melody in 4ths is a bad place to start, since there is a wealth of instruction from accomplished players using that tuning. It also has some clever musical elements to it (as well as ergonomic advantages) even if it seems weird at first.

I love my mirrored 4ths tuning but don't always recommend it all the time since you're more on your own as far as teaching yourself and developing a style. I go into more detail about it in this article I did for the Stick site:

http://www.stick.com/articles/mirrored4ths/

Good luck!

[traktor]

Rob has done a lot to make fourths bass better known in the Stick world, though Daniel Schell has been pushing the advantages since forever.

Most folks know I think that fourths bass is much easier to learn and, due to more clarity, more powerful.

Usually I talk about parallel fourths, like our BassBottom tuning. However, for some folks, because of the way they're wired, the mirrored tunings may seem more natural.

Folks that are mostly visual -- and this is the majority of us male, technical-occupation guys who form the bulk of tapping players -- will 'see' parallel fourths as the most 'clear.'

But some folks are more tactile. These are 'hands on' kinds of guys who want to 'get a feel' for how things move. If you're a tactile kind of guy, the mirrored tuning, where an identical hand-gesture produces identical notes, may 'feel right.'

And, to see which works best for you, our good friend the four-foot long 1"x4" piece of wood is the best investment a new tappista can make.

Take your prototype tapper, and set its butt on the kitchen table for support, and you have something very like the fretboard of a Stick or Megatar.

Now place your hands. Try playing it, with both hands, as if playing a major triad, first with parallel tuning. This means that going 'up' the scale means moving to both hands to the left. Visually, you will 'see' this 'clearly.'

Now, try the other way. Place your hands. Try playing, with both hands, as if playing a major triad, with mirrored tuning. This means that going 'up' the scale means moving both hands toward the center of the board. See if this 'feels right.'

Quite often, this simple experiment to determine what 'looks' the simplest, or 'feels' the best, will tell you quickly whether you'd want parallel or mirrored tuning.

(This would be true even if you wanted strings with fifths, but Please! let's not go there.) ;)