Oct 14, 2009
Chapman Stick – the coolest instrument ever ?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – if you’re not using Twitter yet, you need to be.
Today @popsong3_0 sent me a link to the fantastic video above. Links like this are what Twitter is all about, for me, and I thought some of you would love to see it, too.
Watching the video reminded me of some of my own favourite Chapman Stick moments – but before that, in case you’re new to this particular instrument, here’s the one and only Tony Levin (surely the world’s coolest bass player ?) introducing it himself:
If you’re still wracking your brain trying to figure out where you’ve heard the sound of stick bass before, the answer may be Tony’s playing on Peter Gabriel’s 4th album “Security” – “Shock the Monkey” and “I Have The Touch” are classic examples.
Next here’s one of my favourite examples of Mr Levin’s playing – from a DVD I have… um… intimate knowledge of… (Those with an allergy to Prog should probably stop here !)
(All of the Amazon links on this page are affiliate links by the way, so if enough of you use them to buy copies of the DVD or CDs in question – and I recommend you do – I can buy myself a copy of Tony’s new album ; )
And finally another great Crimson track, also with amazing stick action, albeit much more restrained and subtle (the video for this DVD was the first thing I ever encoded professionally, as it happens)
Clearly my Chapman Stick favourites have a heavy Levin bias – and I’m comfortable with that ! But there are many great players – please post any stick performances you’d like to share in the comments.
Edit: Several people have rightly pointed out that few stick players are as cool as Tony Levin. This, of course is undeniably true.
Edit #2: Check out all the suggestions of great stick players by Dan in the comments – this is why I love blogging – so often you get out more than you put in !
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Greg Howard from Charlottesville, VA is a pretty well-known Stick player and does the sample videos on Chapman’s website. Sean Malone, originally known as the bass player for Cynic, plays the Stick. My favorite work of his, on both Stick and bass, are probably on the two Gordian Knot CDs. There’s also a band out of Texas called HomBru that feature a stick pretty prominently, particularly on their Ingredients EP. Another Stick artist worth checking out, although not recommended quite as highly as GK and HomBru, is John Edmonds. You can find samples and CDs for the latter two at CD Baby.
You might also look for Warr Guitar or Mobius Megatar-related stuff. Trey Gunn’s “The Joy Of Molybdenum” (or something like that) was a pretty good disc as well. And if I’m not mistaken, the guy from Behold…the Arctopus also plays a Warr Guitar.
Hi,
Tony Levin is indeed one of the greatest bass players around. To correct you, he plays Musicman Stringrays on “Don’t Give Up” and “Sledgehammer” but his stick work on the earlier Gabriel records is pioneering.
Cheers,
Howie
@Howie – Thanks, you’re right, I’ve corrected the post.
Ian, i was thinking the saw/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6588Bx8abM / was the best instrument?? i saw a guy jam a saw with claypool but couldnt find that footage. I noticed the king crimson video…love those guys. they were my introduction to out of the box thinking in 1989…just brilliant.
Damn, you’re right, I take it back – saw FTW !
I have recorded and mixed tons of stick records (many with Tony Levin). Its an amazing instrument, but sometimes the extreme transients can be tough to work with in a mix. Re-amping out through a tube amp is one of my favorite tricks for getting them to sit better in a mix.
Here is a track with Tony Levin playing stick on a track for my upcoming album.
http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=24700807&ac=now
Ronan,
NICE.
Although, the mySpace audio player’s sound always makes me throw up in my mouth, a little :-s
Thanks for the tube amp trick suggestion, I’ve never had a chance to record any stick. Do you push it quite hard, to smooth them out ? And do you then use a compressor or limiter afterwards, for more control ?
With Stick it always takes tricky work with the compressor. getting the attack time right is crucial.
I like to push the tube amps a little hard when re-amping because the valve saturation is a really good compressor.