Tag Archives: chapman stick

17th Century Schizoid Man II – updated

Written by Jamorama on July 21, 2009 — 1 Comment

In the previous post I took a rather circuitous journey from the lute through to the Chapman stick – a lute-like modern fret based instrument that occupies a unique space in between the guitar , the lute and the piano. If you have ever wondered why the mathematical complexities of a 6 string guitar account for the 3rd string anomaly then here’s Bob Chapman’s illumination upon the matter – it`s all about playing in keys… followed by Hettory playing the Stick.

What’s interesting about the stick is it’s ability to play chords, leads and bass parts simultaneously.

This is an invaluable mode of thought when approaching the guitar and most players want to bridge these gaps – the long sustain capabilities of an electric guitar for example mean that with some manual dexterity you can attempt to create some interesting harmonic combinations – plus blending in tapping techniques like those of Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani stretches the Stick metaphor. If you`d like to venture into modern acoustic territory then have alook at some of the newer percussive styles of playing:

Cheers,
Jake Edwards

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17th Century Schizoid Man I

Written by Jamorama on July 20, 2009 — Leave a Comment

Just in case you`re already finding the 6 strings of your guitar a little limiting – [or maybe that`s just your head? ] – I`d like to look forwards and backwards with regards to where you might like to draw your inspiration from and where you may take it to…

Around twenty years ago I was fortunate to see a gig in an Anglo Saxon church in Sussex, England and this featured lutenist Robert Spencer, and a singer. What was more interesting to me at the time was that they were playing what appeared to be a particularly melancholic form of 17th Century English music that was imbued with an almost blues-like medieval feeling, plangent and almost harrowing – it was an experience imbued with an omnipresent musical vastness and other-worldly quality.

It was the music of none other than John Dowland.

Flow, my tears, fall from your springs,
Exiled for ever, let me mourn
Where night’s black bird her sad infamy sings,
There let me live forlorn.

The lute’s strings are arranged in courses of two strings each where the highest-pitched course usually consists of only a single string. An 8-course Renaissance lute will usually have 15 strings, and a 13-course Baroque lute will have 24.
Even within the confines of the non-classical almost freestyle idiom of 20th Century+ blues-rock, the influence of the classical – with levels of complexity and technical mastery, ensemble playing, understanding of tonal and harmonic principles etcetera, has been seeping, albeit loosely into the fabric of our listening from the production values through to
If you listen carefully to the lesser known songs on albums by mainstream late 60`s British band Cream, for example, you will hear the classical training of rock-jazz maestro Jack Bruce evident. If we jump forward again about a decade we find this infusion of instruments, themes and even cultures on King Crimson`s astounding “Discipline” album…this record features the combined hyper talents and skills of Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp and Tony Levin who plays a (usually 10 string) Chapman Stick.

The Chapman Stick is really what this whole post is about and …I`ll be focussing upon it in a related post where all will become clear. Here`s Fripp, Belew and the King Crimson playing title track “Discipline”.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

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