Kia Kurosawa has an interesting technique page that might be of interest to Stickists. Tehre are some interesting methods of adding more guitar technique to tapping, including picking and strumming with the pinky. If you watch the videos, he demonstrates his style.


http://www.happysad.org/10_finger/

except that it has almost nothing to do with independence, I like it. Thanks for posting.

I agree, the name is something of a misnomer. However there are some interesting techniques adapted from guitar in it that I am finding useful and adding to my tool box. I especially like strumming with the pinky finger. Not that I am any good at it yet.

Did a tiny gig down here with Kai last May (where almost no-one turned up to listen, sadly) - nicest guy I've met out here for ages... and had a chance to watch this pinky-strumming thing he does close up... and I have to say, it's pretty impressive to watch and listen to when he does it. He plays mostly 'un-crossed', not sure if that makes a difference to how easy or not it might be... if there is an independence element to it, I'd say it's that those pinkies (both of them...) are strumming kind of 'independently' to what the other fingers on the same hand are doing. Distinct audience 'wow' factor, regardless, if they're close enough to see what he's doing.

I remember checking out Kai's instrument with excitement a few years ago, before I became a Stick owner. I liked the combination of fretless bass strings and a tapping area. But then I heard about the half fretless NS Stick and thought that might be a better choice due to SE's long experience in designing tapping optimized instruments. Learning more about the Stick design details convinced me that a Grand Stick would better serve my immediate musical needs, so I went that route for starters. Then the half fretless NS Stick was discontinued and I picked up a NXT Electric Cello instead (actually a better studio recording combo together with the Grand, although not everything in the same instrument for gigging, like Kai's instrument).

Yes, the pinky strumming is great! When I was new on the Grand Stick I sometimes applied a capo on the melody side to achieve similar sounds. But now, having learned a little better Stick playing I'm able to hold down a quarter chord with the index and strum with the pinky. I have also found great use for alternating between tap-on and pull-off with the pinky. The cool thing with that is that you get a rhythm and can use the right hand to fill in melodies with complementary accents the bass side (going uncrossed). If recording a piece like that it sounds almost finished right away... such "orchestral aspects" is one thing I love with the Stick.

Ooops... got to edit my post and add that I mostly do that index-holding-chord-while-tapping-pull-off-pinky with my right hand on the melody side. Works faster when based in crossed playing. Uncrossed playing is my Plan B if something isn't reachable the normal way.

I think that semi-acoustic FTI he plays is one of a kind - when I looked at it, I thought the fingerboard to be almost impossibly wide (like two acoustic guitar necks stuck together is about as close as I can describe it) and the action on it is really waaaay higher than Stick... not sure how that works with the tension of those nylon-coated strings, but he can certainly play it in an impressive manner. To play it crossed, he leans it over the other way... I remember him describing how lots of stuff on it had been changed, modified or repaired - almost all of it, in fact, including the frets - since he got it in 2007, I think - holes where UPS had dropped it and so on... and when you check it out close up there are quite a number of visible repairs. I think he's getting a new one specially built for him, not sure what it'll be like - whatever it is, I'm sure what he does with it will be worth watching.
Pinky-strumming remains in my 'too difficult' tray for the time being... I must watch some more of your vids, Per ! (Love "Sub-Aqua City" !) Had a feeling that the crossed/un-crossed aspect might affect how reachable certain areas might be as a factor in doing it... not obviously apparent when Kai does it, though, all seems perfectly natural to him as one watches him play. Then again, I've never seen anyone play with their thumbs over the fretboard like an extra finger with apparent ease except Bob C. .... lots out there for us all to discover...

(Sorry, Per - that should read "Sub City 2064", not as I wrote above - watched it again last night and loved it... recommended to anyone who hasn't seen it yet ! )

Boris Bazurov!

Boris does that ? Wow ! He certainly does a whole bunch of other stuff I've not seen anyone else do...
Lots of people, myself included, use my right thumb on the top one or two bass strings now and again, it feels like a kind of natural piano technique for anyone who's played keys before... but the way Bob does it is quite totally different, he seems able to use it everywhere on all the strings, just like a 6th finger... and, notably, with his left hand, too - I was amazed the first time I saw it. Tried it when my l/h damage got so bad that I couldn't grip the instrument properly or 'anchor' with my left thumb - and - IT'S DIFFICULT !!!
Time to seek out BB vids... thanks, Greg !

Very happy to see this here.

So many vectors, so little time.