What is a Chapman Stick? Where does it come from? Is it a bass or a guitar? How can so much sound come from one instrument? How is it played? There seems to be so many questions that come up in peoples minds when they encounter this strange and otherworldly instrument for the first time. For some people it is a surprise to find out that The Stick has been around for over 30 years, slowly but solidly building up a loyal following among musicians and audiences around the world with its unique sound and appearance.

   For many people their first recorded introduction to The Chapman Stick was through Tony Levin's unaccompanied riff to "Elephant talk" on King Crimsons 1981 album 'Discipline' , with its wirey tone and tritonal phrasing, it had a sound and presence all of its own and created a whole new palette of sound for a stringed instrument. From supporting the bass role in a band to performing intricate solo arrangements encompassing bass, chords and melodies, the possibilities are limitless and gives the player the freedom of expression for their creativity.

   The story began in California in 1969 when Emmett Chapman stumbled upon a new way of playing his modified 9-string electric guitar when he bought his right handup over the fretboard and started tapping the strings with his fingertips. Then by moving the guitar into an almost vertical playing position and aligning both hands at right angles to the strings, he found that all 8 fingers could play chord shapes, scales and melodies independant of each other, a two-handed keyboard technique on strings. From this discovery Emmett Chapman developed a new 10-string instrument, which was both ergonomically simple yet highly developed to facilitate this new tapping technique and in 1974 the first production of Sticks began

   The original Stick was made from Brazilian Iron wood with a 3 1/4 inch wide fretboard and 10 strings, with two embedded non-adjustable spring tempered Steel rods buried in black Epoxy into the rear of the fretted area to prevent warping. The instrument also incorporated a stereo full frequency pickup with individual volume controls for each set of 5 strings so that separate signals could be sent to different amplifiers. Another uniqueness of the instrument is its dual tuning. Two sets of strings on one fretboard, divided into two halves, a treble side tuned in Descending 4ths and a bass side tuned in ascending 5ths, with each tuning matching reciprocally, creating a uniform grid of strings and frets with all chords and melodic lines transposing intact across the fretboard and with the added advantage that it can be reconfigured to facilitate any new tuning or sequence of strings by moving the appropriate bridge saddles. The new 5ths tuning in the bass helping to create wider intervalic chords with the left hand, otherwise impossible with a tuning in 4ths.

   The Stick has continued to evolve and today is available in a number of configurations from 7 and 8-string 'Bass' Stick models to a 12-string Grand Stick in various woods and Carbon Graphite as well as the option of MIDI.

   Stick Enterprises continue to push the boundaries of The Stick and of how a tapping instrument can look and sound and players all over the world continue to be amazed and intrigued by its possibilities.

Pascal Glanville Sept 2004