Hi everyone,

I've peeked in here very occasionally over the past several years, ever since my curiosity was piqued seeing Nick Beggs in several Iona concert videos. I definitely don't consider myself a musician, just a 40-something who's dabbled with the guitar off and on since age 13 and who knows just a bit of basic theory. I'm now considering purchasing a stick. It seems like such a neat instrument all on its own, and I think it would be a fun way to interact musically with my kids, who play guitar and piano. I've seen that there are several educational options (books/DVDs), which would be great.

I have a few questions.

1. Are there any libraries of music for the Stick? I see that Greg has a song book, and that's a great start, but for those of us that aren't talented composers, how difficult is it to find stuff to play?

2. In a similar vein, is there software available for composing/generating Staff Tab notation, for example to enhance an existing piece of standard music notation with Staff Tab symbology?

3. Are there any stick players in the Portland, Oregon area?

Thanks!

-Victor

Hi Victor, and welcome!
I'm next door to the OTHER Portland, in Maine (the first one - haha!) so I can't help you in finding any Stick players out there, but I'm sure someone else will chime in before long.
I'm very new to The Stick myself (I just got mine at the end of March) and so I have my hands pretty full with the Emmett Chapman "Free Hands" book as well as Greg Howard's "Stick Book Vol. 1" and his DVD "Basic Free Hands Technique." I should think that those would be plenty for quite some time, but you can also get lessons via Skype from other members of this forum.
I'm in the process of (slowly) doing an arrangement, using Finale software, and trying to see if I can adapt it to Staff Tab. Finale enables you to change note head shapes, so that won't be the hard part. I need to figure out how to put the string line indicators on the staff lines at this point. It's pretty labor-intensive, so hopefully something else will come along, or I'll get better at it and be able to bang out a chart in less time.
Anyway, good luck, and have fun!
-Luc

Welcome Victor

As far as songbooks go Greg's is the best IMO (I've been playing out of it at least a half hour a day for the past 2 years) Greg's "Stick book" is also great, it has some great arrangements of traditional tunes.

Software I don't know, I'm a paper and pencil guy

Good luck , and you are welcome to fly cross country and join in on the fun at the Northeast seminar.

Brett

Hi Victor - I live in Seattle and there are a few Stick and Warr guitar players here (not exactly sure how many), and not sure what the latest headcount is in the greater Portland area. There is a Stick seminar in Vancouver, BC at the end of May - you may want to check it out, to possibly get some or all of your questions addressed, and maybe meet a few local NW players. I doubt that there is any easy means for Staff tab conversion from regular tab and/or notation, as guitar tab usually doesn't translate to Stick without 'offset', because mainly the melody side is typically not played in the lower frets, and the tuning is different, plus a few other reasons. I've found it's more a matter of just figuring out the notes from the standard notation, and then applying various playing approaches until one works the best between the two hands (it gets quicker through experience). It's not like learning piano, where there's just one middle C. Emmett's and Greg's book(s) would be a good start, or watching Bob Culbertson's videos, or taking a skype lesson, or going to a seminar...etc etc.
good luck, - Brian