I'm not looking for any particular sound - on the contrary, I have spent an awful lot of time struggling to get away from "my sound". I admit that was a stupid idea, but for a while I felt bad about the fact that I do sound about the same no matter what instrument I'm playing. But there just is no easy escape, as "the sound" emanates inside you and not in the instrument. So I gave up the ambition and switched my approach 180 degrees: started playing with "curious ears" and accepting any "sound" that might come around. And then I realised I had finally reached Square One

But there is one thing I can say I am looking for, and that is a comfortable way of expression. This means taking care of three areas: Your musical toolbox (applied favorite melodies, harmonisations etc.. the theory), your physical playing chops and finally intonation of your instrument. When these three parts sit well together "music" and "sound" is there per default.

Very interesting topic!
I'm looking for a warm, jazzy sound, trying to keep away from too crispy and thin sound that Stick is also able to give.

I went for stickup, and I never listened to any other pickup which is so near to what I like and look for.

Right Pre-amp for the Stick is another fundamental tool to sound flexibility.

Most important things have already been written before my post.

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Which pre-amp are you using, Nicola?

Hello, i play both the railboard and the 4villex p.u. stick...
i find the railboard easier to play and to drive to the right sound,
but the question is...how to get a good sound from the 6 string!
in my hands it sounds different from the others.
also it sound too quieter or too boomy.
(Greg has the best sounding hands i've ever heard...hahahah)

NEW STRINGS! (sorry i couldn't help myself they just arrived) good posts. Per, i got over sounding like myself long ago (my friends can recognize me in the dark)

MAN i love new strings. sounds like im tappin a piano

I play harmonies with both hands together, and pay attention to voice-leading. Emmett talks about Bill Evans' harmonies as an ideal, and this is how to play them. Two or three notes per hand--if you have just two, you can add non-harmonic tones or resolutions off the beat while holding one note with that hand...occasionally this works with three as well. It's a fairly different sound for tapping and one which may eventually catch on because there are many possible voicings not otherwise playable on a stringed instrument.


Mad Monk.

Mad monk, this is very interesting. Do you have an example of this approach to listen to? Is this described by Emmett somewhere online or in Free Hands?

Cheers!


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Emmett mentions Evans and McCoy Tyner in interviews as sources of inspiration.
I say why not make a study of exactly how they achieve what they do? Transcriptions are available and it turns out that some of Evans' stuff is actually playable with few notes omitted. "Alice in Wonderland" at the Village Vanguard, for instance. Use fourths if you try this.
I'm not saying I can play like Bill Evans, only that the things he did are describable and largely playable using a pianistic approach. If you read music and have some theory, there need be no mystery about how musicians achieve the effects that they do.
And no, I don't post my homework. Just letting people know what's going on in the wild.

Mad Monk.