Bought my first tap instrument today

[rjgoos]

Hi guys. I have played the guitar for almost 40 years, and had never heard of tap, touch, or any such thing.

My wife and I saw Bob Culbertson at a street fair and were blown away, maybe 50% by Bob's abilities, but at least 50% also by the tonal possibilities with a touch-style guitar.

So, I was on a search for a touch-style guitar. I exchanged emails with Traktor, Jim Wright of Warr/ADG, Ray Ashley, and a lot of Stick players...ALL of whom were very helpful.

I had it narrowed down to a ADG-10 or a 10-string Stick. I have small hands, and my wife wants to learn also. Sorry, Traktor, the Megatar looks just too large for me, as are 12-string Sticks.

I bought a used Stick for one reason...I tried to find comparable recordings of a 10-string Stick and an ADG-10. Both are great instruments, but I think the tone of the Stick (with traditional pickup) is closer to what I want. I should have it in a week or 10 days.

The main thing I want to say, though, is that I think that it is pretty sad, the bad blood between various tap instrument players and companies. Seeing the pictures of the European tap seminars, with all shapes and sorts of tap instruments indicates to me a better set of attitudes. You guys look like you are having TOO much fun...

Well, perhaps some of you will see it as a mistake, but I'm going to start with classic 10-string Stick tuning, and go from there.

The glory of the guitar, over instruments like the violin, is that there is nothing sacred about it...size, shape, tunings, materials, method of play....every aspect of it is open for experimentation. I see that one touch-style instrument is made from aluminum pipe, for heaven's sake.


RJ

[rockola]

Welcome to Tappistry, RJ!

I used to play a 10-string Stick in "standard" tuning, now I play an ADG-10 in the same tuning. My experience is the same, the main difference is the tone, so if the Stick tone is what you're after, you made the right choice. Of course there are numerous other differences, like string spacing, neck shape, body, strap/belthook (or lack thereof) and so on, but for me there was no adjusting at all when I made the change.

[traktor]

Hi, rjgoos,

Sometimes folks think that this or that instrument looks too wide, but this is primarilly an illusion. True, if you hold the instrument wrongly -- with bad posture, it won't work well, but with bad posture, on any instrument, you can create health problems for your left wrist.

So, regardless of which instrument you choose -- and we are all lucky because there are several choices of instruments, each with their own unique qualities -- *PLEASE* focus to get your posture correct, to avoid health problems.

By which I mean, please find a position that holds the instrument fairly upright, so that your torso is upright, you are NOT playing with your head bent down and rolling tops of shoulders forward, and you are playing with your left wrist generally straight.

Look at pictures of Bob Culbertson, for example. No, you don't have to look straight up to heaven as you play, but notice how his torso is always erect, he doesn't have the chicken-wings posture, you don't always see the top of his head, and his left wrist is often quite straight.

Take time in the beginning to get your posture right -- regardless of which instrument you play -- and you'll have comfort and health benefits for the rest of your tapping career.

And welcome to the club!

[Jersey Ray]

RJ,

congratulations! that was the instrument and tuning I started out on, and I played the heck out of it for 5 years. remember the important thing is to practice every day, or at least 3 times a week, and keep at it, eventually you'll get some decent sounding music out of it.

When I was a beginner, I figured a lot of it out for myself, played in a bar-band, and I really learned how to play on stage. it was a baptism by fire, as I was playing guitar and bass parts in a rock band, and I made a lot of mistakes. After about a year, I went to the Stick Seminar in Connecticut that was taught, at that time (94), by Frank Jolliffe.

The timing was perfect, because after one year, I was ready for some guidance on improving my technique, but I had enough of a basic technique figured out so that I could get a lot out of a one week class. So if you do avail yourself of a class or seminar, I would recommend working on your own for 6 months (every day if you can) first, to get the basic feel of your instrument down.

good luck, try to keep good posture, and (here's the controversial part) play with all four fingers of both hands!

Ray

[vsteele]

Congratulations and welcome to the world of tap instruments. I too started on the stick and just ordered a new Megatar. I think you will find that the stick is lots of fun and will change the way you play and write music. Keep us posted on your progress!!

V

[rjgoos]

>I think you will find that the stick is lots of fun and will change the way you play and write music. <

Once I get the hang of it (I am not fooling myself, I know it will take time, even years), I am certain that what you say is very, very true.

Having the curse of a fingerpicker (small hands), I write most of my music, as the work of famous fingerpickers just isn't physically possible for me to play. I write in a very free-form way...just explore different runs, explore different bass lines, just listening for something that sounds and plays nice, while being accessible to the limitations of my instrument, hand size, and abilities. The most important thing I've learned about songwriting is....once I have something nice...RECORD IT, so I don't forget it.

I'm sure having a Stick will not change my basic laid-back attitude towards writing music, but will open up totally new tonal possibilities, and I am really excited about the possibilities...that is...after I learn how to play it.

I made a CD two years ago, mostly to give to friends and relatives. It's available for free:

http://members.ifmcs.net/rjgoos/Public/Music/

I was going to take the month of September off and make another CD, but I'll be exploring my new Stick instead.


RJ

[vsteele]

I too have small hands. You will find that the positioning of the stick (or any other tapping instrument for that matter) will feel very comfortable and natural. Even the wide string spacing instruments such as the Warr Phalanx are very accessable to play.

I strongly suggest that you check out some of the lessons on this and other touchstyle sites to get some ideas of technique. When I first got my stick, I tried to play it like a bass or a guitar. As soon as I used the instrument the way it was designed, a whole new world opened up.

Good luck

V

[rockola]

Jersey Ray wrote:
So if you do avail yourself of a class or seminar, I would recommend working on your own for 6 months (every day if you can) first, to get the basic feel of your instrument down.

This is probably good advice, if you are able to get somewhere on your own. However, I was not. When I got my first tapping instrument, I was frustrated because I just could not figure out the very basic things like how to touch the strings properly. The instruction book I got with the instrument didn't say anything about such elementary things, it just jumped straight into which Greek mode to improvise on on Gmaj7.

So I got nowhere for the first few months, and I was getting frustrated. Of course, it was impossible to find a teacher locally. But then I heard about this seminar in Belgium, and thought: "I need to go there if I want to learn how to play this thing." And so I did, as an absolute beginner, and I wouldn't be playing a tapping instrument today if I hadn't gone to that first seminar so many years ago. During that one week I learnt far more than I had during the months I had tried on my own. I wasn't a virtuoso when I got back, but I had the basics down, and was able to continue on my own.