My name is Luke Gray and am a multiple instrumentalist who received my first Chapman Stick about 4 months ago. It is a 12 string Rosewood Grand Stick with Pearl inlays.

I play violin, and have played it for 12 years. I am about to go to George Mason University to major in violin performance. I have also been playing bass for 4 years and have already gone nose deep in Jazz, Rock, etc.

I first found out about the stick when I was participating in the All-Virginia Band and Orchestra event in Charlottesville, VA when the UVA faculty put on a short recital for us. Half way through the program, Greg Howard comes out with the brand new instrument I had never seen before called the Chapman Stick. He played Goodbye Porkpie Hat and, needless to say, I was blown away. I had been playing tap Bass and listen to people such as Stu Hamm, Victor Wooten, Adam Nitti who all have done tapping on their basses, and here was an instrument entirely dedicated to the art! A year and change later and here I am with my own Stick! #6124

I live in a Fredericksburg VA, and I was equally shocked and ecstatic to find out that the one and only Rob Martino live here as well! Not to mention Greg Howard lives about an hour away in Charlottesville. God works in mysterious ways, no?

I have only been playing the Stick for 4 months now, but the 12 years of violin and 4 years of bass have helped me learn this new beast of an instrument fast. Rob Martino graciously let me play a few tunes with him and Flint Blade when I only had my Stick for 2 months. Hopefully I can show Rob my heavily expanded set list soon. I am getting ready to go on a recording spree and post multiple covers and originals ranging from Traditional Irish to Rock and Jazz. I look forward to hearing some feedback from my fellow Stickist!

Luke

Welcome Luke... This forum is unlike any other.. The wealth of knowledge and members willingness to help is unparalleled. Looking forward to your tales from tapographic oceans.

=0)

jimi

Hello Luke

I have been playing a stick for zero months now ;<)
(waiting for my stick order to go into production)

Since we are in the VA area - should bump into one another at a stick event some day.

Welcome!

I lived in Northern Virginia for several years while stationed there and had the opportunity to see both Greg and Rob during the FredTap Clinic in 2009 (along with Bill Burke and Steve Adelson,a superb weekend).

Hopefully they get one of those together again in the future. Good luck with your new instrument and your first year in college.

I've been playing (well, learning really) for nearly a month now. But I can't dedicate more than 1 or 2 hours a day, and some days I can't even take the Stick out of its case, so it's been slow for me, although today I managed to play a... I think it's called polyrhythm? You know, 2 notes on the bass, 3 notes on the melody, alternating each; interesting patterns form with those combinations.

Anyway, welcome and I look forward to listening and watching you perform; I've been playing guitar and bass for many years now, and it's definitely been useful, but the Stick is definitely a very different instrument, it's definitely not just "bass + guitar"; it's so much more...

Hey Luke,

Welcome...looking forward to hearing your recordings when you get them ready. How cool that you got to jam with Rob and live so close to Greg.

Nice to see you here Luke, hope we can set up another gig sometime this year!

Luke truly impressed at the last Stick Night in Fredericksburg (with a set prepared after just 2 months with the instrument) and I believe will be a significant player in the years to come.