Basically, Stick self is still mad at guitar self due to speed and shred chops disagreements. Stick Self can however do some stuff that guitar self cannot. Things like playing even a simple bass line with an equally separate melody line, and have distortion, and play it simultaneously and not have it sound like a garbled mess. Guitar self's tummy feels yucky...

It is true that guitar self can shred like an m 'effer. It is also true that guitar self plays bass quite well. However, guitar self cannot play these riffs; as Stick self played bass and chords and melody stuff simultaneously, even if it was only 8 measures at a time. Stick Self even played a weedly wee guitar-type solo that stick self is kind of proud of. Guitar self doesn't like the solo, but then again, guitar self is very particular...

Guitar Self is now going to try to extract revenge on Stick self by creating some sort of travis picking thing combined with ridiculous guitar stuff, but stick self thinks that if guitar self wants it done quickly, maybe stick self should just do it...

Stick self plans to traumatize guitar self into becoming a fingerstylist or something. Who knows, maybe one day they could work together, but it is doubtful...

Seriously, now...

Ok, not that anyone really cares but my tones were generated via two (count 'em, two!) Boss GT-100 processors. One for the Bass side, and one for the Melody. The two are midi'd together; I can do some interesting things with the volume pedals and the ctrl switch;The volume pedals got a bit of a workout here... The GT100's are great, I chose them after trying out a lot of different stuff.

Then, I went into an Apogee Ensemble and into my Mac's DAW of choice; Logic ProX. I have been practicing each of the riffs separately for a while now as melodic finger exercises... I try to practice stuff that I could use in a tune at some point. I just wanted to put together a tune, the same way I do with guitar, only using the Stick. Y'know, to see if my playing evolved at all... I did EQ it a bit (High and Low-pass Filter) messed with the panning, but nothing other than some EQ and Ozone on the master track as far as plugins. All Stick and Boss...
Oh and I can't say enough good things about the Apogee Ensemble. Killer interface. I love all of Apogee's products... They should hire me! lol

I was listening to a lot of Stick Men, Dream Theater and Tool, I was playing a bit of Satriani on guitar last week, so that may have influenced my Lydian sections...

The tune was created as a sort of soundtrack to this horrible dream I had the other night... Anyways enjoy, guys.

I think the two "selves" should stop talking entirely and realize that they're both action heroes. I'd say, work out an interesting LH bass-with-chords progression on Stick with RH chords on the upbeats, or repeatable RH patterns. Then blaze away with your guitar fire power over the top.

What an opportunity! You've got the orchestra and the virtuoso in your hands.

Here! Here! A thousand times this! They're very complementary instruments! (the one that means they work well together, not the flattery one--I had to look up which was which.)

There is no conflict between the two. They're both tools to make Great Things. Use them separately or together. "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Dude, you're packing an awesome tool belt--don't just use the hammer for everything when you can also rock a drill! Or something like that...You get the point.

Without sounding too much like a fanboy, I'd just point out that Emmett is a wise man, in addition to making great instruments. And also being an accomplished awesome musician with chops. A triple threat! I always appreciate the advice that he gives, even if I disagree with it. Actually, especially when I disagree--it makes me think, "What am I missing here?" and take another look at it.

I wrote all that before listening to the track! Listening now....

Soundwise: Meaty bass sound, and nice distortion on the melody side. I've given you a tiny bit of shit about your right hand Stick distorted sound and I'd say it's sounding much better!

Favorite part of the song was right at 1:20.

Compositionally speaking, this seemed like a "full" song. Other than vocals, which..hey, shut up! I need vocals on a lot of my stuff too! Stupid vocals... [mutters to himself].

I like this one a lot, Scott. It could be longer, it could have that shredding guitar over the top of it and then we can both shut up about the stupid vocals.

I think you're coming right along, Scott, and it's very exciting to watch you progress. You make me want to work harder, which is always the ultimate compliment. [Not complement--gotta remember which is which!]

--Steve

Lol it's more that I am pretty sure of what I can do with a guitar, so now it's "what can I do with the Stick?" And seeing/hearing what it is capable of all on it's lonesome is pretty fun, especially in a context that is natural for me... I could easily have added guitars, synths, vocals, whatever but I really wanted to see what would happen with The Stick. As it is, most of my friends are like, "Hey man, I dig your new guitar tune..." And I'm like "No guitars on this tune... Or basses!" Lol funny stuff.

I always find that my aggressive guitar playing style kind of "takes over" so I am hoping to make a distinct "Stick voice". At some point in the future, I will incorporate a lot of other instrumentation, for now it's gonna be Stick riffs. I love the Stick...

So yeah, thanks guys for checking it out! It is always a lot of fun to put together a tune after doing a bunch of practice. It's kind of like learning a bunch of words in a new language and then making up a story. I won't be this terrible forever, so enjoy it while it lasts.

The fact that Emmett took a listen blows me away. It really made my day to know that the inventor of the instrument and the method is interested in what noobs do with his stuff, and he took the time to comment! Cool.

So yeah, the music I created is a bit primitive and yes my Stick playing needs a lot of work but I feel like there's direction and evolution. I really expanded my range on this one, the pool of notes, and the locations I am playing and drawing from really increased. Phrasing-wise I would like to improve my right hand articulations. A goal I have is to get a Satriani-esque legato, and a few other projects are to get a better handle on string bending, and increase my melodic vocabulary. Independence is always an ongoing thing...

Anyways, thanks again dudes. Have a great Sunday!

Very fun music. I'm loving the layers under the melodic lines. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! Glad you dug it, more to come!

Sounds great Jayesskerr! I am curious if you performed any of these parts together or were they all recorded as separate parts? If all separate, I think you could pick and choose some passages to put together and possibly perform this song solo sometime. Not to assume that that is even your intent. I just thought with your progress vids I've seen, you could pull it off with some more work.(and we all know you love to work ) If you already are playing some of these parts simultaneously in the recording, then I will need to get me a hat to take off to you!

As a few have mentioned before, nice layering. And the playing sounds very clean. No "almost got to the right fret/string in time" moments that I often end up with.

Needless to say, keep up the good work.

Mike

Hey Mike; here is kind of what went down; I was thinking I should start just expressing my ideas, and try to do it with as little overdubbing as possible. I think I spent about 25 minutes piecing this together. Of course, many of the ideas stem from exercises and statements that I have been practicing all summer. As for the drums, those were pretty quick and dirty. I played 'em into Logic via my midi kit and just used the indie kit live for my samples. Mix and match with Logic ProX's "drummer" plugin, and stuff happens quickly . Thank god for "quantize" haha

Doing projects like these really help me regain focus for future practice. It's really fun to listen to something that was created in the "early stages".

"Meat and potatoes" track bass side and left side together, 8 measures at a time throughout the piece. Recorded in stereo, of course, but simultaneously in real time.

"Embellishment track" bass side and left side together/simultaneously, also 8 measures at a time, doing radically opposing stuff from the first; not sure it would be possible to play the parts "as is" with one Stick.

The "solo" is yet another set of two tracks with the bass and melody sides playing in tandem. That poor right hand has a long ways to go as far as phrasing and articulation goes. Getting there, though. Practice, practice. I really liked what Emmett said about "having the orchestra" at my disposal, so I think I will start treating the Stick as such. 10 finger, 12 string Fingerstyle guitar and bass kind of idea maybe...

I can play the whole tune from beginning to end, and it pretty much sounds like the tune but some stuff gets sacrificed. On a recording, I don't have to compromise...

At the end of the day, this was a lot of fun to put together. I am glad people are checking it out!

Cool stuff Scott, Way way out of my league lol! This is not the style of music I aspire to, but it sure is fun listening to your music as you progress along your chosen path. Man, I could never dream of playing like you, never mind accomplishing it! My 50 years of drumming just gets in the way of me trying to play a stringed instrument lol!
Good on Ya brother, it's light years ahead of where you were last year!