ShortScale.org

I LOVE liquid tension experiment [youtube][/youtube]

I think that video proves just why it's best to keep Levin within the confines of another artists vision, to be honest. That was truly awful. He's a great guy and he's worked on some amazing music like King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, but damn. That shit was wack.

Oh, it's Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater fame.

So here's the conclusion:

LOL.

I came across a busker under a bridge on the South Bank playing one once about 6 years ago - the conversation went
"Wow - is that a Chapman Stick?"
"Yeah, you want to try it?"
"No, I just want to listen for a while"
and he was damn' good.

i've never heard it played tastefully.
it may well be a sweet instrument, but honestly, everything i've ever heard played on it is trite shit.

gaybear wrote:i've never heard it played tastefully.
it may well be a sweet instrument, but honestly, everything i've ever heard played on it is trite shit.

Well at least the beauty of the Stick is that there's a lot of unexplored musical territory...there must be some room for good taste out there somewhere!

I keep thinking about what it must be like to put a Chapman Stick or whatever through one of our pedal baords....

Eau Claire thunder?

I find instruments and instrumentalist that intentionally perform solo pieces under the impression that they can carry the load of harmony pretentious. I also find the music extremely boring. One person playing a bizarre instrument has no appeal to me. I want music to be layered with different people coming from different places and different influences. Then, when they actually mesh together, it is something unique.

Don't get me wrong. I've seen people perform solo acts and when they're truly master of their crafts it is stunning but performing "composition" style pieces on one instrument does nothing for me.

Belew was using a fOXX Tone Machine around that time, I've been trying to emulate that sound for ages, but can never nail it

I still have that "instructional" vid on VHS somewhere

portugalwillie wrote:I find instruments and instrumentalist that intentionally perform solo pieces under the impression that they can carry the load of harmony pretentious. I also find the music extremely boring. One person playing a bizarre instrument has no appeal to me. I want music to be layered with different people coming from different places and different influences. Then, when they actually mesh together, it is something unique.

Ironically I would normally agree with you, I also find much solo music boring and have a particular interest in timbre and arrangement. Yet I strangely decided to focus on solo music anyways. I'm not a pretentious person at all but found something liberating about defining some constraints and working within it, it actually made me more focused, creative and productive as a musician. And unexpectedly, I've gotten some nice recognition from it so far.

I'm very sensitive to trite and superficial qualities in music (drives me crazy to hear cliches and witness showcases of pure technical ability) so I would hope, even if someone doesn't like what I do, that one can appreciate that a lot of thought and soul goes into my music (for anyone interested, my solo Stick album can be heard in it's entirety here: http://robmartino.com/OneCloud.html ... always open to feedback on whether it's compelling or not )

So while it can be hard to do, I don't agree with the general idea that solo compositions are inherently boring or pretentious, it just requires more imagination. As an example of good solo music, here is a friend of mine playing a composition on 4 string bass, I find it incredibly compelling and heartfelt. He uses phrasing, dynamics and timing perfectly to construct a beautiful piece of art.

[youtube][/youtube]

robmartino wrote:

gaybear wrote:i've never heard it played tastefully.
it may well be a sweet instrument, but honestly, everything i've ever heard played on it is trite shit.

Well at least the beauty of the Stick is that there's a lot of unexplored musical territory...there must be some room for good taste out there somewhere!

oh, i totes agree

yawn. extremely boring. both the video on your page and the youtube video.


also, that video sums up exactly why I hate it. It is you . . . and only you playing the song through a variety of different locations. And sometimes you change from color, to black & white, to sepia. the only thing more boring then the song was the video production. sorry bro, I don't think what you're doing is interesting in the slightest bit. I'm sure some people will . . . but not me.

portugalwillie wrote:yawn. extremely boring. both the video on your page and the youtube video.


also, that video sums up exactly why I hate it. It is you . . . and only you playing the song through a variety of different locations. And sometimes you change from color, to black & white, to sepia. the only thing more boring then the song was the video production. sorry bro, I don't think what you're doing is interesting in the slightest bit. I'm sure some people will . . . but not me.

dang, yo
ouch

haha. he just reminded me of the guy that came to the site to promote his shortscale guitars and try to sell them to us.


I just hope he doesn't just google chapman stick trying to find places talking about it so he can self promote himself.

A guy tried to sell shorties? Were they custom made or something?

no. they were stupid strat mutts with cheap two piece, barely finished maple necks, that looked like poo.

I think it was called durango guitar works.

At first I was a bit surprised someone would have such an extreme view and not find any musical merit in that solo bass video I posted (and I fully agree my video production skills aren't that great), but I guess it was more about putting me in my place for apparent self-promotion. I still take all feedback to heart and do what I can to improve as a musician.

The fact is I do find topics about the Stick and solo music interesting (particularly when comments are made about it being cheesy or boring, since I used to also feel that way) and I will occasionally search for the Stick and jump into a forum when I feel like adding to the discussion, sometimes using my music as an example (and to be honest if someone ends up liking my tunes, that's cool). But I suppose there is no way around it looking like self-promotion, so sorry if it seems like I'm intruding on your forum.

However, there is not much money to be made in this and my stuff can all be heard for free, so I don't really have the motivation or time to stalk internet forums trying to sell albums whenever the Stick happens to come up (especially when I've gotten far more exposure though other avenues like YouTube and NPR).

I genuinely think that bass video is a good example of an outstanding solo composition and have nothing to gain from anyone liking it, apart from the satisfaction of turning someone on to a talented musician. And everyone is free to like or hate my tunes as they please.

word.

I'm glad you like what you do really. I tried to make my points without coming off a major douche but I still think one person playing a piece they composed is boring. I like different people bouncing different musical ideas off of each other.

I mean, at least you're not playing flight of the bumblebee or the mario theme song on it.

also, that guys bass solo song is called "Epic Love". I'm not a big fan of people talking trash on song titles but I mean, really?

[youtube][/youtube]

[youtube][/youtube]

ekwatts wrote:To be honest, I can only really imagine Levin being able to get away with using one in a "conventional" band setting.

Although the more I think about it, King Crimson were hardly conventional.

Also, if anybody could tell me how Belew gets that fucking nasty solo tone towards the middle of the video I'd be grateful.

► Show Spoiler

[youtube][/youtube]

Well, I guess we know who could play Belew in a period-specific KC doc.


(I didn't make this.) And to add something to the discussion, I've always liked the Stick because of Levin, even if I don't understand it and remain frightened of it.

Is the action just super low on those things? It seems like it'd be extremely difficult to play.