Hello everyone and have a nice week!

My name is Andrei Popa, I'm from Bucharest, Romania, in my 26th year.

Short story: orthopaedics and trauma surgeon that is also composer, drummer, guitars and bass player that found the Stick to be the ideal instrument to learn and play from now on.
10-string Railboard player (plum, glow inlays, black and gold gears, medium gauge, MR).

Long story:
I've been an amateur musician for about 11 years now, being a drummer in an alternative rock band for 7 years, until I got into med school and things took quite a change, spending much more time with learning than playing. When I got in my 3rd year of university I had to quit the band in order not to become an impediment for the band's progress, and that was the moment when I chose to start learning guitar (I still love you, my dear PRS SE Paul Allender series).

I'm in love with progressive music (Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Pineapple Thief, Anathema, Haken, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, etc.) and ambient music (the likes of Brian Eno, Tim Hecker, Thomas Koner, Bass Communion) so I started composing songs on my guitar.

Having absolutely no one to play music with and being an audiophile I started learning more and more sound design and mixing, until I realised that I really needed to learn bass guitar to make my tracks feel more authentic. I got into playing 5-string and 4-string bass, learning technique, scales, chord progressions and musical theory in general. I got the the point where I felt comfortable improvising and exploring sound capabilities with bass and guitar.

In the meantime, I became an orthopaedics and trauma surgeon, being in my 2nd year of residency. As you can imagine, this takes up quite a lot of time, so, for the moment, I almost gave up on the idea of recording an album (even though, when I will have the time to do it - probably during a couple of vacations).

This brings us to the summer of 2018, when I first saw Steven Wilson live, and during one of his most well-known soloing oriented tracks on Hand. Cannot. Erase., "Home Invasion" I see Nick Beggs take out his Stick and totally rocking the bass part. That's when I remembered I loved Tony Levin's playing on Discipline, and remember seeing videos for the new generation of Stick, the Railboard, presented by its creator, Emmett Chapman. After that concert I instantly became interested in the Chapman Stick, watching videos of Greg Howard (Adrift is extraordinary!), Kevin Keith, Nick Beggs and Pascal Glanville (If you're here, I love Vampires!) on the regular. The possibility of playing rhythm, chords and melody at the same time, using both your hands on strings has become an instant attraction to me.

When I finally got a raise (our current economic situation in the health sector has finally been brought a bit nearer to the European standards) I made my order for a 10-string Railboard (plum, aqua glow inlays, black and gold open Hipshot gears, medium gauge strings, Matched Reciprocal tuning).

22/12/2018 - order placed
23/12/2018 - order confirmed and deposit transferred
22/02/2019 - instrument complete and balance transferred
28/02/2019 - DHL confirmation, shipped to country
15/03/2019 - instrument arrived (DHL Romania is absolutely unprepared for clients in my opinion)

I am completely amazed by this instrument. I practice every day, finished Greg's Basic Free Hands Technique DVD, currently learning from The Stick Book Vol. 1 and Free Hands in parallel. But I find that The Stick Book is a bit more accessible for a beginner. I the Railboard on stereo mode through a Presonus Studio 26 interface at the moment, as it is very portable and I can take it anywhere I take my laptop and just run them through a bit of compression and reverb in my DAW and the output through studio monitors or headphones. After watching some sounds-oriented episodes on Free Hands Friday on Youtube, I'd start investing in decent equipment but I want to finish The Stick Book before that, especially since orthopaedics and trauma specialty courses are paid personally and the prices are, well, let's say quite a drag.

I am happy to finally be part of this growing community and it's so nice to meet you!

P.S. If you have any suggestions for me as a beginner, I'd be right happy to hear them!

Welcome my friend, my good friend was a traum surgeon throughout California,then became a vascular surgeon. Being a trauma surgeon is a very difficult thing.best to you in your music endeavor.Lawrence.





.
.

Welcome Andrei!!!!

Brett

Congratulations on the new Railboard and welcome to the forum! Trauma surgeon. Cool. Nice to meet you, Andrei.

Welcome!

Welcome

Hello Andrei,
Welcome to the family!

KK

Hello Andrei, welcome to the forum. I've been to Bucharest one time and it's a really nice city, you are lucky to live there. I live in my Athens property https://tranio.com/greece/attica/athens/, like to play the guitar when I am with my friends, sometimes go to play to a local taberna.