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From: mm@vaxine.UUCP (Mark Mudgett)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Jordan, Chapman, Van Halen, et al.
Message-ID: <686@vaxine.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 4-Nov-85 17:50:27 EST
Article-I.D.: vaxine.686
Posted: Mon Nov  4 17:50:27 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 8-Nov-85 07:02:43 EST
Organization: Automatix, Inc., Billerica, MA
Lines: 79

>> What is special about Stanley Jordan is that he plays the guitar in a way
>> that I believe no one else has ever done it - he taps the strings along
>> the fretboard, playing it like a keyboard (I believe that they do
>> something special with the amplification of the guitar).  This enables
>> him to play independent bass and treble parts simultaneously on different
>> parts of the fretboard...

>From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN)
>While I have no dearth of admiration for Stanley Jordan, this technique you
>describe is not new, though Jordan has used it more extensively than most.
>This "two-handed tapping" is relatively common amongst heavy metal guitarists.
>Eddie Van Halen is a maestro of this technique, and he is the one responsible
>for its current popularity.
>And actually, Jeff Beck was doing a bit of it back in the 60's, and I would
>not be at all surprised if someone like Chet Atkins or Les Paul was doing it
>a decade or two earlier than that.

>From: todd@scirtp.UUCP (Todd Jones)
>Ever since Eddie Van Halen stole this ancient trick from the great blues
>masters, electric guitarists have been beating it into the ground. Sorry,
>Stanley. What do you expect from a Princeton graduate anyway?

     First of all, Van Halen didn't STEAL the technique, he LEARNED it.
Would you say he stole a G7 chord just because some other guitarist
played it before him ??
     Eddie  usually uses this technique to play three-note trills that
would not be possible using the left hand alone (without using a non-
standard tuning).  Generally, he holds one finger on a string at one
fret, and plays two other notes by "hammering-on" and "pulling-off"
(these techniques are known collectively as "ligado", and were known
before the blues existed) with another finger of the left hand and a
finger of the right hand.  He also moves this whole structure up and down
the neck, creating the moving three-note trills that are part of the
characteristic Eddie Van Halen sound.  Yes, other guitarists before Van
Halen used this technique.  Beck, Belew, and Zappa come to mind.
     Stanley Jordan goes beyond the use of the right hand to make chords
that would be impossible with the left hand alone.  He uses his right
hand to play a part that is independent of the part his left hand is
playing.  While he "comps" with bass and chords with the left, he plays
lead with the right.  I have never heard this from Van Halen (no offense
meant to Eddie -- I really enjoy his playing).  Stanley makes very
innovative use of techniques that others have used, but I wouldn't accuse
him of stealing -- and his use of the right hand on the fretboard is
far more advanced than Van Halen's.
     I don't doubt that Stick technique influenced Jordan, but to say
that he is just a mimic and Chapman is THE innovator ignores the fact
that these techniques pre-date them both.  I suspect that some North
African oud player had them beat by centuries.  Did he invent it?  Did he
STEAL it?  (From Kate Bush? :-)  Chapman, Jordan, Van Halen, Belew, et
al. learned from others, and refined the technique to suit their own
needs.
     Chet Atkins has been able to play bass, chords, melody, and even
countermelody using "conventional" left and right hand technique.  His
version of Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" is a good example.

>From: todd@scirtp.UUCP (Todd Jones)
>For your own edification, the "Steinberger" bass you refer to is
>a significantly different bass compared to the Fenders and Rickenbackers
>you're probably familiar with. Some people like the sound, some people
>hate it. But those willing to spend near $2000 often do so because the
>instrument is so sensitive and the output is so "hot" that it requires
>very little force to produce adequate output. A lot of the bass players
>I have talked to have purchased one in spite of their hideous appearance,
>in order to get a certain tone or feel.
 ... yes, very true.  There are also other reasons:
 The tuning mechanism on a Steinberger is different from that on most basses,
and some bassists feel that a Steinberger stays in tune better than a Fender.
 The short neck makes performing on a crowded stage (such as a small barroom
might have) much easier.  Those who have stood to the left of a right-handed
guitarist on a 6' X 4' stage know what I mean.
 And the thing is smaller, lighter, and easier to transport.
 AND ... some bass players don't think it's hideous (although appearance is
not usually the prime consideration when a musician chooses an instrument)
-- 
------------------------------------
 Mark C. Mudgett
 uucp:  ...!decvax!encore!vaxine!mm
 phone: 617-667-7900x2394
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