Chapman stick and other odd things

Here’s a young compo of mine played on a chapman stick through guitar rig 2 to demo their twang reverb amp simulator.

Here’s a quick MP3 file using the auto wah patch on my chapman stick, playing chords on the guitar side and walking on the bass side. I am playing on top of drums recorded by a friends in Montreal!

Link: Giorgio & Antoine guitar rig 2 autowah patch on chapman stick
Link to download the patch: here

I just tried using my camcorder to post on youtube, this is a very short clip of me playing that auto wah patch.

I’ve been playing around with guitar rig 2 and came up with an auto wah patch.Guitar rig 2 allows you to stack up effects block by block and link them together.

I am using an input level monitor to control a wah wah effect. I am playing through the guitar rig kontroller which has two inputs, one for the guitar part and the other for the bass part of my stick. Then in my patch (picture attached), I am using a split module to process bass and guitar independently and then mix them back together.

I have attached a picture, a sample mp3 file with me playing using that patch and of course the guitar rig 2 patch for those interested!

• Guitar rig 2 auto wah patch for stick
• MP3 file of me playing that patch
• Guitar rig 2 auto wah patch screenshot
• 

Have fun,

Giorgio

Let me start by describing my gear. The chapman is a unique instrument developed around the concept of Emmett Chapman’s two-handed tapping technique. It incorporates elements of guitar, bass, piano and percussion, and rather than plucking or strumming the Stick, both hands tap the strings onto the frets, making multi-part arrangements easier to realize.

I am using a 10 string chapman stick with 5 bass and 5 guitar (melody) strings. The instrument output is stereo, left for guitar, right for bass, so it’s possible to process them independently! That’s why as a stick player you need effects and amplification for both guitar and bass instruments….

Like many stick players, I use direct input boxes and preamps to process my sound and use a regular amp or AUX input of a guitar/bass amp because passing the signal into a guitar amp only actually limit the sound capability.

So enough chatting, here’s my setup:

• Instrument
  • 10 string chapman stick with integrated roland GK2A pickup (midi output)
  • Lag roxanne floyd electric guitar
  • Takamine electro acoustic guitar
  • Yamaha Clavinova piano
• Amp
  • Roland microcube: regular input for guitar and AUX for bass trough my BDI21 bass driver
  • Marshall VS65R: I own it since 9 years, for heavy guitar work…
• FX
  • Behringer BDI21 bass preamp & DI box: process my stick bass output and feeds my Roland microcube in the AUX input
  • Digitech RP7: I own it since 7 years now, rich american guitar sound with an integrated 12AX7 lamp!
  • Roland GR30: incredible guitar synthetizer, crazy sound powered from my stick builtin GK2A midi pickup
  • Brand new Guitar Rig 2: this native instrument software is an incredible guitar effect unit that can process 2 guitar sounds which is exactly what a chapman stick player needs! I just bought it and I am experiencing replacing all my effects with this plus a laptop, way less cables and way more capabilities but that comes with a higher complexity and learning curve… so far I am impressed though. I bought it with the hardware USB2 sound card and pedal board which allows live playing and a real good old guitar wahwah and stomp box command style

That’s a lot of gear! But I like collecting musical instruments and devices…. In my next post I will share some sounds from those devices.

See http://ihunda.blogger.com

Hi all, I just received my first Chapman Stick 3 months aga and I am opening this blog to share my progress and my discoveries on that crazy 10 string tapping thing!

I am living in downtown Paris (11th) and welcome any opportunity to play and train with other musicians.
You can reach me by posting a comment on that blog, I will then send you my email address privately.

See http://ihunda.blogger.com