I'm new here .....

[Don Genaro]

and new to two-handed style as well. I've studied classical guitar for about 12 years, but, I've had a guitarist's mid-life crisis and got rid of my finger nails. I've been experimenting with tapping on my own for a few weeks. Right now I'm just using my electric guitar which I just began tuning in fourths after finding an old article written by Stanley Jordan. Anyway, I'll have the usual annoying questions of a newcomer so be patient with me.
First of all, I have started by browsing through some of my classical books and slowly playing through pieces that seem adaptable to two hand style. Simple stuff like Bach minuets and what not. I also practice scales a bit, especially with my right hand since it needs the most work. My question is, where can I find sheet music specifically written for tapping? I have't really plowed through this website yet so maybe there's some right under my nose and I don't know it.

[rockola]

Hi Don, welcome to Tappistry!

Daniel Schell's "My Space, My Time" set of books contains exercises and sheet music arrangements. They are written with a two region tap guitar in mind, but I'm sure you'd get a lot out of them given your background.

Of course, if you're feeling adventurous and have a soft spot for late 19th/early 20th Century Russian composers, there's "Tapping The Flame" by our very own Jersey Ray, a volume of piano preludes by Scriabin arranged for tap guitar.

As for free web resources, I've adapted a Finnish folk song for tap guitar, the sheet music is freely available on URL=http://www.tapguitar.com/niinkauan.html]tapguitar.com[/URL] if you want to check it out. It's fairly simple and probably easy to adapt for a 6-string.

Anybody else want to chime in?

[Don Genaro]

Thanks. The Scriabin sounds cool, I'll check it out.

[traktor]

Tapping from the music is a bit easier when you've got enough strings to separate your hands ... similar to playing a piano with a couple octaves between left hand and right hand. It avoids the complexity of one hand having to "borrow" a string (or a key) from the other hand and then "loan" the string back.

So if you have an eight-string instrument, it's a bit easier using 3 or 4 low strings near the nut for an octave or so of bass notes for left hand, and 4 or 5 high strings near the 12th or 17th fret for an octave plus of notes for the right hand.

An instrument with two separate sets of strings, so there is zero interference of one hand's notes by the other hand is generally the best for this purpose. Hence the popularity of tapping instruments made in that fashion.

That said, when I started out, my task was learning to read the sheet music. I found Sheet Music Magazine. They have a standard Piano and an "Easy Piano" version. The challenge for the arrangers on the Easy Piano version is to write good sounding but simple arrangements.

Playing very close-grouped note clusters is easy on piano, but not quite so easy on guitars, so the Easy Piano was better. I got a bunch of back issues, then just started reading through them: bass cleff left hand and treble cleff right. It works out pretty good.

If you approach ordinary piano music, and adapt two regions to the two clefs, there will be no shortage of materials.

If a person were learning to *read*, I'd also recommend the bartok books. But that's not your interest. However, avoiding the multi-note-clusters is still good, so that would also suggest Bach two-part inventions. And Daniel's books are of course written for the tapping instrument, and perfect for such work.

[Don Genaro]

Thanks for advice. I am already discovering the limitations of using a six string guitar. The note borrowing thing really complicates matters. I'm curious as to what the instrument of choice is among the forumites here. Is it the Stick, Warr Guitar or what ? There are probably other instruments that I don't know about.

[traktor]

If you ask *me*, I'd have to say that the instrument of choice is the Mobius Megatar (http://www.megatar.com) :)

But then, I'm the guy that manufactures the Mobius Megatar. So to give a fuller answer, I'd have to say that for *some* folks the instrument of choice is the Megatar. For others, the instrument of choice is the Warr, and for others -- though I do not understand it myself -- the instrument of choice is the Stick.

The question is like -- what is the automobile of choice?

All the instruments currently made are well-made. Sticks are the easiest to find used, and are the lightest in weight. Warrs have wonderful tone, and they're the heaviest in weight. Megatars have wonderful tone, and weight in the middle. Pricing varies. The look varies.

I would suggest that you consider the tuning carefully. I've come to feel strongly that the parallel fourths is the simplest for most people to learn, and is the most powerful in play. There are some articles about tunings online at http://www.megatar.com/documents/ in the newsletter archive.

Whichever way you might go, I think you'll find the specialty instruments support the method a bit better than standard guitar. (However, let's recall that "In-Line" tapping, a different approach than what most of us use, works fine with guitars; however, the idea there is to place both hands on the *same* strings, so you've got almost an octave available *on every string*.)

Ola has experimented with that method, I think, and there exists one method book of which I'm aware, through it is in French.

[rjgoos]

Don,

This is a very diverse group here, and we have devoted owners of almost every major tap/touch style of guitar on the market (Austin-Douglas, Box, Chapman Stick, Megatar, Solene, Warr, etc.), as well as those who tap conventional guitars and basses. We even have a few people here who have made (or are making) their own instruments.

As far as I can tell, all of the leading manufacturers of dedicated touch/tap guitars make good instruments, as they all have very devoted owners.

Most of us here started with a Chapman Stick. Some here have stayed with the Stick, some have moved to other instruments, while others have a collection of instruments from two or more manufacturers. All of the instruments mentioned above are capable of challenging a musician for many years. So, on one level, I don't think a person could go wrong starting with ANY of the dedicated touch/tap instruments out there.

Perhaps a person should not start by asking which brand of instrument to start with...but with which TUNING to start with. I think the best single source for helping to sort this out is Daniel Schell's tunings page (http://www.clicmusic.be/tunings-tg.html). I use the word "helping" because there are SO many options that it is not easy to choose.


R. Jay Goos

[Don Genaro]

Whew ! Now I'm a bit overwhelmed with choices ! :eek:
I think at this point I'm tempted to go with something that most resembles a conventional guitar, but with a wider range. The megatar is looking pretty good right now,but there's a lot to consider.

[rockola]

If you want a guitar scale (25" or so) instrument, you could get a Box (http://www.bme.com.au/) (8, 10 or 12 strings) or try to find a second-hand Santucci Treblebass (10 strings). The Solene (http://www.flash.net/~solene/) (7 strings) is also a guitar scale instrument, but doesn't really resemble a conventional guitar. Most of the others are bass scale (34").