I'm a Newbie - Just purchased a new Railboard with Baritone Melody and wish to retune to Classic. I am thinking Classic would be easier to locate the notes. Assuming that I had the digital gadget the illustrates the note when the string is tapped. I've searched high and wide including youtube.

http://stick.com/instruments/tunings/10/classic/

http://stick.com/instruments/tunings/10/bm/

If you think the notes will be easier to find, I assure you, they will not. My recommendation is to consider staying with the tuning you were shipped and getting in some quality structured practice time.

What Gene Said!

I learned this the hard way... and I play an NS/Stick... It's just 8 strings in 4ths...

When I was just starting I would think about how I can make it "better" for me... and I tried some things... but I found that I really had no base, or point of reference, because I kept changing things.

Out of all the things I did I did end up with tuning a half step down since I don't have an X-Fret...

I still have ideas but I made the conscious decision to let the NS guide me in my music rather than trying to change it to what I think would be better. It may seem counterintuitive but the lack of options really freed my mind. I'm trying to put that same mindset into my pedalboard... and I'm still working on that one...

It sounds like you would benefit from a digital tuner. I use a Planet Waves Strobe tuner on each side. It really helps when you get lost. If you use Steve's book, it has a good map for notes, so you can use a system to try and avoid getting lost. It probably won't completely work out of the gate, but it does work. Good journey.

I use the free Chromatic Guitar Tuner app. This is for iOS, perhaps it's on Android too. Pressing the A4 button shows the Chromatic tuner display:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/g ... d666830030

Tune the bass at fret 5 or 7, and the melody at fret 12, using the link in the message above.

Baritone Melody is fine and is only a slight variation from Classic. But if you try to re-tune to Classic you'll crank the melody strings up by a fourth, making them very tight - not recommended.

I suggest Greg Howard's Stick Book for baritone melody, if you don't have this.

The Stick is an amazing instrument. It exposes our learning. Try to keep the instrument out so that you pick it up often.

Hope this helps,


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think that anyone mentioned to Karl that the string gages in "Baritone Melody" are backed
down a step from the standard tunings, that is why it is called "Baritone". So the tuning is
more bassy and it works out that your hands have more space to work independently,
and this is a good thing.

With Classic your hands are often on top of each other so it can be said that for a beginner
BM is actually a better tuning. I stayed with Baritone Melody for two years before I switched
to Matched Reciprocal ...

Just to make it simple though, preferences aside, all the basic tunings are similar (Classic, Baritone Melody, and Matched Reciprocal) in that the chord shapes and scales will be the same just in different places on the fret board.

It might be too late but if you try to go all the way up to Classic from Baritone Melody
you might break a string ...

jRj
*j*
.~

All I can offer is another perspective, I hope it helps... I kind of went throught the same thing, I bought this crazy instrument (Chapman Stick) and thought that I could leverage what I already knew, including how I practice and learn.

I tried a bunch of different tunings, I started with RMR (my Railboard came tuned that way), and then changed to MR at the behest of Steve Adelson, and then again to Classic, then to Baritone, then to Mirrored 4ths, back to matched reciprocal, and then again finally back to mirrored 4ths. Each tuning has it's own advantages and leanings complete with it's own kind of sound... The good news is that each tuning has all 12 notes, so one can play any music one wants to with any tuning. So yeah, just saying we've all gone through "finding the notes" it can be tricky, and it's an ongoing thing to be sure.

Getting to know the neck, that's a different story, it really is. A few tangible approaches might include sight-reading, flash cards, and using a tuner to display the notes. Another way might be to sign up for some Skype lessons with Greg Howard or Bob Culbertson; Greg does Baritone tuning, and Bob is in Classic. You could get a good perspective from either one...

Hope that helps a bit! Good kuck!

I'm fairly sure that Bob is in MR...?

We could use a table of tunings and which player plays them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is Bob in Matched Reciprocal? Oh, I thought he was in Classic tuning. My bad.
I'm sure Bob and Greg could help a fella out in any tuning, though.

Regardless of who one studies with, I am of the opinion that you'll have to knuckle down and grind a bit to learn it. The instrument is new, and as such is gonna take a bit of "re-wiring" to get familiar with it. Steve Adelson's compass idea is a really good thing to strive for, a cool concept. Also, I think that Stick music can be really complex (even the easy stuff) so maybe don't be afraid to simplify when you are just starting out. Don't worry, even simple stick music will still be extremely challenging to play on any other instrument. If it sounds good, then it is.

An opinion; Personally, learning the neck as "just" geometric shapes isn't really my bag. Similarly, focusing on only intervallic relationships isn't too helpful, nor is just using "tabs". For me, a notational approach with an emphasis on transposition seemed to work out best. "Looking at bass clef, finding the note, playing the note and then looking at treble clef, finding the note and playing the note" has really helped the familiarity and independence aspect. It has also really decreased the amount of time it takes me to learn a tune. I have made the biggest lunges forward in my playing with a mirrored 4ths tuning and embracing the language of notation.

Sometimes the "easy way" is the hard way... But hey, everyone is different. Good luck, fella! I hope this helps!