Welcome to the Stick Enterprises homepage. Our designs are based on the revolutionary two-handed tapping method of parallel hands discovered by Emmett Chapman on guitar in 1969 and taught since then to players around the world.

With Emmett's Free Hands method, both of your hands are equal partners. As they approach the fretboard from opposite sides, your fingers line up parallel to the frets and a powerful new musical language emerges - bass lines, lead melodies, chords, and rhythm, simultaneously, and in any combination you desire.

Today thousands of musicians are making their own music with our Stick, Grand Stick, Stick Bass and NS/Stick fretboard tapping instruments. Emmett continues to expand on his original concepts by adding to the variety of Stick models, features and tunings - defining the state of the art in tapping instruments.

The Stick comes from the guitar and bass, but its playing method shares roots with keyboards and drums as well, placing all of these musical voices in the hands of one musician. The Stick is unique, expansive, versatile, like each of its players. It is a blank slate upon which to "tap your potential."

• Vancouver Stick Seminar 2010, with instruction and performance by Bob Culbertson, Don Schiff and Jim Meyer. May 27-30, Vancouver, Canada, organized by Jim Meyer. more details.
  
  
• New Stick Logo t-shirts now available
  Our new black t-shirts with a new color version of the classic "Stickman" logo on the front and the new "Free Hands" logo on the back are in stock... details.
  
  
• Stick Tech Workshop and Concert. March 27, Charlottesville, VA
  Greg Howard is ofering a one-day workshop on apmplification, processing, recording techniques and instrument setup, followed by a concert with special guest Rob Martino. more details.
  
  
• "Les Folies Tapping" Festival, May 13-16, Trentemoult (Rezé-lès-Nantes) France.
  Presented by the AFSTG, with performances by Jim Lampi, Preston Reed, Pascal Gutman, Jan Laurenz, and many more, plus tapping classes for Stick and guitar. more details.
  
  
• INTERVIEW: MIDI, The Stick and NS/Stick, and the VG-99
  Roland Canada interviews Mathieu Gosselin about his setup and musical applications. read more.
  
  
• NEW METHOD/SONG BOOK from Greg Howard: The Greg Howard Songbook is now available. 14 original songs completely arranged in the StaffTab fretboard notation system, with exercises to help you learn the songs and lead sheets for playing with other musicians.
  
  
• "EMMETT", A NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM PROJECT FROM CHAPDOC
  A documentary feature film is being shot and directed by Emmett's younger brother Dan Chapman, an award-winning film poster artist. For a first look at Dan's fundraising trailer see: www.chapdoc.com. This promotional preview of highlights is almost eight minutes long, so kick back with some popcorn! more info...
  
  
• GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE INNOVATOR FEATURE ARTICLE
  The December issue of Guitar Player Magazine's "Innovator Section" has a feature on The Stick, by Steve Adelson. The cover story is a tribute to the late Les Paul. Read the online version of article and interview at Guitar Player Magazine Features.
  
  
• NEW ONLINE VIDEOS from Don Schiff, Emmett Chapman, Gary Jibilian, Larry Tuttle, Greg Howard, Steve Adelson, Kevin Keith and Marotta/Griesgraber: Our Online Videos section features high-quality live performance videos, and links to Stick artists' web sites with video content on YouTube, MySpace, etc.
  
  
• Seminar Report: Interlochen College of Creative Arts. Read about the recent Chapman Stick Workshop with Emmett Chapman and Greg Howard. Report by seminar organizer Glenn Poorman. read more
  
  
• Celebrating 40 Years of the Free Hands two-handed tapping method
  Emmett discovered his method which lead to The Stick on August 26, 1969. Stick Enterprises is celebrating by introducing a new logo for Emmett's method. read more
  
  
• NEW APP: FretBoard for the iPhone and iPod Touch
  Stickist Marc Mennigmann's new App, FretBoard, that displays chords and scales for 96 instruments, including all Stick models and tunings, is now available from the AppStore. more.
  
  
• NEW WEBSITE: learn-Chapman-Stick.com
  We have posted a new website dedicated to instructional resources available for our instruments and the Free Hands method. Books, videos, forums, lessons and other online resources are listed. more.
  
  
• NEW ARTICLE: (R)evolution of the Species: The Alto Stick
  Jeff Pearce writes about his first experiences with his guitar scale 10-string. more.
  
  
• NEW ARTICLE: Ten Strings but No Less Grand
  Sean Malone writes about his new Ten String Grand™ Stick. more...
  
  
• NEW ARTICLE: Mirrored 4ths Grand Stick Tuning
  Rob Martino demonstrates his successful use of this unusual tuning. article and videos...
  
  
• New Stick Preamp: The StepABout™
  A two-channel preamp and routing matrix footpedal for The Stick, by BassLab and Greg Howard.
  
  
• NEW ARTICLE: Stick Update and Refurbishing - A report
  Eric Knapp writes about having his polycarbonate instrument updated and refurbished, includes many closeup photos.
  
  
• More News ...