StickyDBRmf

http://IMG_20200106_123635423.jpg 

Not a bass but it's bamboo sorta like maple. I'm trying to post a photo. Ignore if there's nothing there

Bass players that take themselves seriously. Oooh, good name for a band

The Flux Capacitor works really well on Stick

G.S.-H. was DEEP. And the first rapper 

I use a compressor because I like the sound! My first one (which I miss dearly) was in a 80's Roland Bass PreAmp SIP-300. (just youtubed it, optical). Not for any reason to wrangle my sound in, a sound effect in-and-of-itself. Think Tony Levin on K.C. Discipline. And yes I play the Stick. And that one is the Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer. It has ONE KNOB 

I know you're asking compressors, but...have you ever tried the Morley Wah AFTER the Big Muff?  I'm talking INSANE. (and then some delay..........)

NOOOOOOO! I thought it was. Unwound strings just don't "tap", (and because of the tension & properties of tapping there's a lot in the set, even the bass 5ths side) and there's really no room to pick or strum on a Stick.  BAD IDEA

Oh, and BTW, lots of pretty basses posted. I think un-lined basses are just SEXY

I don't like lines. They throw me off. Just give me side dots. History of basses - Jazz bass, Precision w/ maple frettless, removed the epoxy/resin...wore the neck out, replaced w/ Mighty Mite ebony no finish, Pedulla Pentabuzz was requested w/ no "Buzz" finish, no lines...Ibanez 8-string that I .tore the frets out with a claw hammer...I wound up selling or giving away these except for the 8-string. I have two Chapman Sticks, one is an Ironwood from mid-80's w/ nickel frets that, after missing the Pedulla so much, had my local luthier remove the frets. WHOOPS. It'sa good thing I have two Sticks because a fretless Stick is a BAD IDEA. I'm having a luthier put frets back in. (I'm not sending it to Emmett, they're like his babies, I'm just glad he still sells me strings). And I bought a Hartke bass for $30US w/ a bad p.u. but the neck is so straight I pulled the frets out (the right way this time) didn't fill in the gaps just oiled the stinky poo out of it. Right now just the J-bass p.u. works so it's all Jaco all the time. I do have one fretted bass it's an ESP Ltd. neck-thru w/ active p.up.'s it sounds like any bass I would want. Like I said in other posts when I play these days I play Stick.

OH, AND ANOTHER THING...I have short stubby fingers. Never could play proper chords on guitar. (That's why I do Joni Mitchell tunings nowadays). The width of the fretboard and closeness in string spacing is a help not a hinderance on Stick. First, left hand chords in inverted 5ths are EASY for me (and with 6 strings in the bass, upper chords have lots of possibilities, and I can de-tune the 12th string, and I've never broken one. Lots of guys use the High Bass 4th tuning). Also, because the right hand engages the fretboard from above, I CAN play chords on the melody side. So, I'm always telling Emmett on Stickist.com that he invented THE COOLEST INSTRUMENT IN THE WORLD. Now realize also Emmett was a jazz guitarist coming up with a new playing method of fingers on strings with both hands perpendicular to the fretboard, he just happened to also build an instrument with a REALLY COOL BASS SOUND.

No matter who I try to sound like, I sound like me. Gift/curse? I can diggit.

OK I'm caught up. What everyone says / + my own 2 cents (pence?). Yeah, I'm not a guitarist I'm a BASSIST and I want to play the stuff the guitarist THAT IS NOT THE LEAD GUITARIST in the band is supposed to play, but is too whizzed off because he's NOT the lead guitarist, and never learned how to be the rhytym guitarist. You know, comping, GROOVE, things like that. (When I told my band in the 80's I was buying a Stick our guitarist threatened cutting the Melody strings off...he didn't) I found out SamAshNYC had a Stick in the shop ('85) I drove like a maniac up the New Jersey Turnpike and the salesman handed it to me and said, "Good luck". I didn't even plug it in just mucked about then handed over my cash (1,200US). Those days-no internet, YouTube, Skype lessons, just Emmett Chapmans "FreeHands" and I WANT THE TONY LEVIN SOUND. But...I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston MA for 2 semesters, they weren't teaching me what I wanted (my music has "No Commercial Potential") & I wound up working in the food bizniz fulltime & a band part-time. Also I became a full-time drunk, so, not much Stick-playing (requires effort, study), but could slog my way on the bass. Got sober in '09, got another Stick (12-string) that I've tried every tuning on, but I'm back to what I started with on this one, which is Dual Bass Reciprocal. Even though the tuning seems "redundant" the low end of the melody side sounds different than the bass 5ths side, I play "crossed" and "uncrossed" when & however I feel like it, I play "across-the-board" grabbing notes where they lay to fill out chords or lines, etc.,etc.,etc. The thing is, whenever I put any effort in something on the Stick, (especially "things I can't play", but hear) I get back SO MUCH MORE. So, bass players out there, if you're hearing more than just a bassline, and you want to compose (write tunes), GET A STICK (and stick with it). Oh, one more thing for now, I don't miss the higher melody string too much.

Just joined the forum mates (is that how u say it across the Pond?) I can get away w/ saying "Jersey" in the U.S. because we're the only state that drops the "New" from our name but I have nothing to do with cows or islands just attitude. So yeah, I'm a bass player that made the switch to Stick...not that I'm any good, but it's alot more fun to play than bass once you get the hang of it. So...ASK ME ANYTHING. I'm gonna read this post from the beginning to catch up. 

Hello! I had back surgery two weeks ago & I'm just browsing around 'cause I've been playing bass (electric, upright, trombone) since highschool & then I bought my 1st Stick in the 80's after WANTING Tony Levin's sound...pretty much always playing Stick these days original music getting ready to do some Audacity recording w/ myself on drumboxes, HandSonic, NordLeadII & variously oddly tuned guitars & fretted/frettless basses (when I need those sounds...no calluses these days playing Stick). FYI Stick's are mid-80's 10-string Ironwood & '08 12-string Dual Bass Reciprocal bamboo Grand.