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welcome aboard

Greetings and welcome!! As you start your journey on this incredible instrument, I'd suggest getting some lessons from Greg to get some good foundations for your playing of the instruments. There are many fine teachers here... Steve Adelson is an amazing teacher as well... his knowledge of theory and his approach to the board is really helpful and unique... Don Schiff is another one... Besides having great facility on the instrument, he also is really gifted at helping to arrange and flesh out tunes that you might be writing and developing. I am currently working with Don on my first solo record... I have studied with all 3 and they have helped me so much. Good luck on this amazing journey!

Welcome

What music do you like to play? Any short term goals with it?

Welcome back !

Like the Crunchy Frog name. I knew someone who shouted crunchy frog whenever he stepped on BIG roaches, the kind that crawl, not the smoking type.

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Thank you.

Welcome, Crunchy, and it's good to see you back at it again after your first Stick.

I come from a similar background and musical experience, and said much of the same thing when I started, "I'll just figure this thing out." I went to school and knew theory and already played a bunch of instruments, although piano was my main.

This is not the part of the story where I say, "But if I knew then what I knew now..." and try to dissuade you from that path. Sure, it would have been cool to learn a lot of that stuff a lot earlier. I'm at day 1770 as of this morning. I have had a few lessons and sessions with the masters, who are actually really good teachers, as well as superior musicians outright on any instrument and especially on the Stick, one of the hardest to play to its full potential.

I've also had a week at Stickcamp in Interlochen Michigan a couple of years ago, with Bob Culbertson and Greg Howard, and then this last session was also with Steve Adelson and some video by the Master of Master, Emmett Chapman himself, which I unfortunately missed. It was more cool to see other Stick players and talk with them, but I learned a bunch of stuff as well.

So I encourage you to both try by yourself, use the Free Hands book, check out a video or 48 by Greg Howard, Steve Adelson, Bob Culbertson, DBro and Tipton and a bunch of others! And mine! (As bad examples anyway).) check out the videos on the Showcase AND COMMENT FREQUENTLY ON THEM!!! (sorry, just trying to get lively participation in the place where we show ourselves playing on the Stick), and ask lots and lots of questions. We love to answer questions (we may not agree but we love to answer).

And don't be afraid to take an online session with one of these guys (mainly guys, unfortunately, but we have female Stickists, too! Just not that many who teach Stick but many who teach other instruments and play Stick.) Greg Howard's video on setting up your truss rod is invaluable, by the way. You can just have a 30 minute session where you ask them things specifically and they show you.

Lots to say, but we'll see you around, and I can't wait to see how you progress! Best of luck!