posts/2009-07-01-chapman_stick.markdown


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---
title: The Chapman Stick®
date: 2009/07/01
tags: music, chapman stick
---

The [Chapman Stick](http://stick.com) is a stringed instrument invented quite
some time ago by [Emmett Chapman](http://www.emmettchapman.net). It is a blank
slate equipped with a grid-like touchboard, two groups of stings and a powerful
pickup allowing the player to tap notes rather than requiring fretting and
strumming.

![Grand Stick after arrival in Shanghai](/images/posts/stick.jpg)

I usually describe the Stick as being a guitar and a bass unified on one
fretboard, though I think that it is much more than that. It rather combines
the advantages of a piano over a traditionally stringed instument---such as
tonal range---with the advantages of the fretted instruments, i.e. direct fine
control over the sound through plain fingers on strings. More than that, it
even expands on these concepts and brings a number of [improvements and innovations](http://stick.com/instruments/tunings/12/classic_66).

Check out the [official website](http://stick.com) to read more about what sets
apart the Stick from other tapping instruments.

There's a documentary about Emmett and the Stick story in the make. You can
[see the trailer here](http://www.chapdoc.com/trailer.html).

I've received my first Stick---a 12-stringed Grand---in July 2009 and have just
placed my order for an Alto Stick made from Indonesian Rosewood.