Let’s share some uplifting stories for and about Greg!!

I’ll start….. perhaps the most important encouragement I ever received was from Greg at the 2004 Charlottesville seminar. I had been only playing for about 2 years and both Greg and Bob C really encouraged me to perform a couple of tunes. As I (and Greg) was downing a few “arrogant bastard” ales I began to get cold feet. I told Greg how nervous I was and that I wanted to back out. …. Greg really didn’t give me any wiggle room and really pushed me to play…. Best encouragement of my stick journey…. AND then after a few more “arrogant bastards” Greg played the best set I’ve ever seen … I’m not sure how much of it he remembers…… I can never thank you enough Greg!!!….

MORE STORIES PLEASE!

With the exception of Emmett Chapman, Greg Howard is quite possibly the most influential and relevant Chapman Stick players of our lifetime.

He has hosted more seminars (by x10), turned on more players, created more guides, videos and books for Stick players than any other person on the planet.

If ever we as Chapman Stick players had a hero, it is Greg Howard.

Greg stories...I'll go!

I was very interested in this Stick thing since 1989-90ish by way of the legendary Texas band Ten Hands. I visited maybe 29 music stores in my hometown of Houston asking about it. Only one knew of the instrument (Rockin' Robin's Guitars...they were once a Stick dealer), and they said "You have to buy it from the man who makes them...in California".

In 1993 I find a bass magazine ad for SE and call the number. I talk to Yuta, and I realized it would be a while before I could afford one (poor college student days). She suggests a new CD by a guy from Virginia, called "Stick Figures". "It's the Stick solo, with no overdubs or backing band". So I buy a copy.

That was the recording that sealed the deal for me. I wanted in.

A couple of years later I get a Stick. Two years after that I learn this Greg Howard guy is conducting a seminar in NYC (1998 - anyone here go to that one??). I tried to go, but couldn't make it happen. I learn that a week later Greg's playing up in the TX panhandle about 5 hours drive from me. A buddy and I go. I couldn't believe it. I finally get to hear and meet Greg Howard. I was such a fan.

We talk and discover he has to drive through my town (Abilene) to get to his next gig in Dallas. So we set up a 1-on-1 lesson at the music store I work at.

Totally floored. It fixed me straight on a few bad habits I developed. My playing began to sprout new life from that day onward. And still is.

I took him to lunch where he plants the idea to have a seminar in Abilene. He said something like, "Why couldn't there be a Stick seminar in Abilene?" (As opposed to the NYC one)

Three years later it happened...the West TX Stick Seminar - March 2001. 8 students from around the state and Greg. Amazing.

I've kept loosely in touch with Greg ever since. He gigged in Abilene a few times after that. We reconnected a decade later at Gabriola Island 2011, after my move to Canada. And again in Michigan 2019 - Interlochen.

My mentor. First teacher. Friend. And most inspiring to me is his original compositions. It drives me to write and perform better music, always.

As stated in another post, I first met Greg up in Vancouver some19-20 years ago at the first Stick gathering up there. He and I drove back together to Seattle and got to chat quite a bit. Now, I used to live in Keflavik Iceland in the early 1973... In the Navy chasing Russian submarines from the air... I loved the Icelandic culture... In our conversation something came up about me being in Iceland, and low and behold, Greg wrote either a paper or a dissertation on Icelandic Sagas. which are sorta like stories handed down over hundreds of years of Icelands history... Just blew me away!... His generosity, his spirit and his soft spoken nature always made it a pleasure to be in his presence. Bravo!

Always willing to share his knowledge, good at explaining things to both beginners and experts, and more patient about it than I would be.

I was at Interlochen in 2017 with Greg. Learned a lot, right from the get-go. Within an hour of meeting him, he was helping me sort out my pedal board and settings for the mixer I was using at the time. Learned so much from Greg at that seminar, but that interaction by itself may have been worth the cost of the trip.

Later on, driving from Glenn’s home back to Interlochen with Claire and Cory, Greg played King Crimson the whole way, who I was not really familiar with (yeah, yeah, I know). During that drive, his sense of humor was on full display as he explained to us about how, among other similar concepts, “this is the music you used in high school to impress the girls.” If only I had known!!!

Greg’s contributions to this community are one of a kind. In particular, I have appreciated his efforts to get professionally published Stick sheet music out there (speaking of The Greg Howard Songbook, portions of The Stick Book, and Tapping Into Bach).

Were it not for Greg, the Stick community would be lesser.

Like Brett, the 2004 Charlottesville seminar was a pivotal event for me- I had just moved to Virginia earlier that year, and was trying to figure out if the Stick was something I wanted to start seriously pursuing as a solo instrument. Greg was very welcoming to us- I remember meeting up with him before one of his improvisational performances at Millers and taking a lesson or two before that seminar.

I was experimenting with a parallel 4ths tuning at the time and he encouraged me to try mirrored instead, and it opened up a whole new style of playing for me. He continued to be supportive and encouraging, inviting me to perform in public for the first time (something I was hesitant to do on my own) and we shared the stage on several occasional throughout my years in Virginia (as well as a road trip to New York for a big Stick Night event). I don't think I would have made the same kind of progress on the Stick (both in terms of ability and confidence) without his support. And being able to see him perform live on all those occasions, with his incredible command of the instrument, was a huge source of inspiration.

I learned so much about good technique, effects processing and achieving good tone during those times with Greg, plus he is a great guy just to hang out with - always thoughtful and humorous. He came to visit me in the hospital in 2007 (with supportive messages he had gathered from other Stick players) when I had a tumor removed from my liver, and was at my mother in law's funeral later that year. He wasn't just a Stick teacher but welcomed me as a friend into his personal life.

This is a big shock to learn that he is in hospice, he's been in my thoughts constantly.

I’ve not had the opportunity to meet Greg in the flesh. But I’ve felt his warmth and generosity eve since I’ve know him.
He’s sorted out my technique, put me on a whole new trajectory, some 8 years ago. Greg has always offered so much enthusiasm and clarity of ideas, whether it’s approaches, music or the gear thing.

You can imagine my surprise when he included a comment I’d made on his website, way back. It’s that kind of inclusive and positive attitude which means so much and sustain us all.

I had big plans for Greg and I, as a way to say thank you! Those plans will now have to be transferred to another situation.
And of course, he converted me to baritone melody.! #_#

Greg made me feel like we were brothers, as do so many from the stick fam bam.

Just remembered this one...

Sitting here listening to Greg's "Shapes" album (1994), I remember at the Gabriola Island (Vancouver) seminar in 2011 Greg performing his "Where Are You Tonight?" upon learning of the death of Virna Splendore. Very fitting. Emotional for all.

I don't have one specific story about Greg but he is a huge inspiration. My interest in the Stick began with the release of Discipline in 1981. Being a (financially) poor bassist the price was beyond my means, but the interest never disappeared thru the next few decades of job, kids, schooling, family ups-and-downs etc. When the Internet happened, this new thing appeared via emails called StickNews -- from Greg Howard. I subscribed and looked forward to receiving Greg's StickNews issues, even though there was no Stick to play on, because Greg and those who contributed created an opening into the Stick world which I could peek into. My interest continued to grow. Greg's friendly "Happy Tapping" sign-off on those emails, and later his videos on the SE website made me commit to taking on the Stick, which didn't happen until 2013, but it DID happen, and it was magic! Meeting Greg at seminars further sustained my enthusiasm and forward progress and I now gig with it regularly. With Emmett's passing and Greg's illness my desire to progress is stronger than ever. I can always find new challenges in Greg's presentations and there aren't enough words to express thanks to him for all he has done to help change my musical visions and those of so many other Stickists.

Never met Greg IRL but always been a huge inspiration online. And what he has done for the Stick community when it comes to teaching is beyond impressive. I started to play around -87. There was basically noone here in Sweden that played this instrument back then. And definitely noone that gave lessons. So it was trial and error for me from start. And then later there was news letters often written by Greg. And news groups, Stickist etc..... Impressive work by Greg over like 40 years? Very greatful for what he has done for the whole Stick community during lots of years. Seems like a very humble person as well. <3