OK...checking in with the collective hive here...

So I've been quiet for the last couple months.

Been working with Steve A each week and steadily getting better on this instrument.

Though I am amazed by the skill of many of you....I have drifted down a different path. So many are playing bass and moving lead lines, which I too am working on, my immediate needs have been as bass and rhythm "guitar" for the lack of a better term. It's like having 2 instruments to sing over.

I use the stick in contemporary christian music and it has been really interesting. Today I was able to be bass and rhythm while my 12 year old son tore it up on lead guitar (we have a very progressive church service...like a christian music festival each sunday)

After almost 30 years of guitar playing, I'm not used to having to concentrate on the instrument I'm playing. But all in all...more progress than I thought I would have at this point.

A big thanks to Steve A for being a great teacher and putting up with my crappy schedule!!

Thanks

TP

Dude! That's an important ability to have! Awesome! Not every musical situation is appropriate for a "chords/melody" muzak type thing, sometimes you need to just play the chords to be able to sing over it.

In an ensemble situation I have found that it can be tricky sometimes to fit melody side stuff in, especially if you have musicians in there who don't leave space. I almost always end up fulfilling a bass role in any group situations... The Stick is interesting and pretty neat for people who haven't experienced it. Actually, every drummer I have jammed with so far LOVES playing along to Stick...

Anyways, I guess I'm just saying that it's cool you found your own path. I look forward to seeing and hearing some clips!

Thom, that's awesome to hear that you've wrestled your own path forward on the Stick, have made great progress, and have re-purposed it for your own needs, wants, and desires. I don't think there's any one Way of the Stick; ("We all have our rocks in the stream coming down from Stick Mountain" or something like that.)

I've been integrating Stick into my piano, drums, guitar, vocal studio stuff. I use the Stick separately as a bass and a melody device when I record, and am working slowly towards integrating them together at the same time, but I'm not worried about it. Each new song helps me use a new technique I've learned on Stick. I've gone a lot farther a lot faster than I had hoped, to be honest. "Excellence in anything equals time spent on it" and I wish I had more Sticking time, but it's really been fun and interesting and not near as frustrating as I had feared. I'm also a lazy person who just amuses himself on the Stick and then keeps playing piano, and I seem to be getting better on both, so I'm not really worried about doing anything but making music and getting slowly better. Today is day 326 for me on the Stick Journey of a Thousand Miles (which began with the first step of getting a Stick!).

Oh, and playing with your son sounds so incredibly awesome! Sounds like an awesome time and you should post some video some time. I'm sure you guys were jamming!

Keep rocking it out! (Or "Stick with it"? )
--Stickin' Steve #6

Okay then.....next lesson , less Hot Tuna and more Jeff Beck/Zep.
Chords, rhythm and sonic bursts. See you later.

Steve A

Congrats, that's great to read! (And inspirational for so many other relative newbies here.)