Welcome to Stick Enterprises. Our designs are based on the revolutionary Free Hands two-handed tapping method discovered by Emmett Chapman on guitar in 1969 and taught since then to players around the world. With Emmett's 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, Stick Guitar 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; a blank slate upon which to "tap your potential."

• FREE HANDS ACADEMY: MEET THE MASTERS Los Angeles, August 23-25 With performance and instruction by Emmett Chapman, Greg Howard, Don Schiff, Kevin Keith, Gene Perry, and special guest Alphonso Johnson information and registration
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Reserve production discontinued as of May 7th
  We are now working at max production capacity just to fill individual customer orders and cannot continue our separate pre-strung "reserve" production. Our current turnaround time for customer orders is two to three months, but can be shorter, depending on where we are in our production cycle at the time you place your order.
  click to go to our instruments and tunings page.
  
  
• 2013 INTERLOCHEN STICK WORKSHOP with instruction by Bob Culbertson and Steve Adelson
  July 11-13, Interlochen, Michigan, organized by Glenn Poorman. information and registration
  
  
  
  
  
  
• NEW Stick Tech Video: Meet the Pickups
  Greg Howard describes the Stickup, ACTV-2 and PASV-4 in detail and present sound samples of each recorded direct and through bass and guitar amplifiers.
  
  
  
  
• NEW BOOK: The Chapman Stick by Bob Culbertson
  Bob's new hardcover pictorial tribute to the Chapman Stick is now available...read more...
  
  
• ARTICLE: Sticks and Nutshells
  Sean Malone on the new Cynic CD with "Ten-String Grand" and his realizations about Villex sound (his PASV-4) and the Free Hands technique. more...
  
  
• Stick Enterprises donates a new instrument to the U. Va. Music program
  Greg Howard has been teaching Free Hands at the University of Virginia for several years. Now the program has their very own 10-string Stick. Read the story on U. Va. website.
  
  
  
  
  
• Stick Enterprises now accepts PayPal
  In addition to VISA/MC/AMEX and DISCOVER, you can now use PayPal to pay for your order. click here for more information.
  
  
  
  
  
• ORLANDO SCIENCE CENTER STICK EXHIBITION REPORT: Check out the recent Chapman Stick Exposition by Jeremy Birdsall and Juan R. Leõn video and slide show
  
  
• New Stick Tech section on our website
  dedicated to helping you keep your instrument in the most easily playable and best-sounding condition.
  check out the Stick Tech page
  
  
• NEW DVD: Stick Night Live Now available, a new DVD of live Stick performance, featuring nine different artists solo and with their bands and duos, recorded over three nights at clubs around Los Angeles. Featuring Steve Adelson, Emmett Chapman, Bob Culbertson, Tom Griesgraber, Hettory, Kevin Keith, Gary Jibilian, Larry Tuttle, and Ben Weber. Produced and Directed by Dan Chapman. more info
  
  
  
  
• NEW INTERVIEW PODCAST: With Emmett, Tom Griesgraber and Dan Chapman
  "Stick It to Me Again" - on the Dividing Line Broadcasting Network
  
  
• VIDEO: SPIRIT OF THE STICK CONCERT AND FILM SCREENING: Watch Performance by Emmett Chapman and Tom Griesgraber at the Museum of Maing Music in Carlsbad, California, Saturday, March 12. A short edit of the film Emmett by Dan Chapman will also be shown. watch the recorded video stream...
  
  
• NEW PODCAST: Steve Adelson on the Friends of Dan music podcast. listen in...
  
  
• NEW INTERVIEW: Emmett talks about the origins of The Stick
  Interview by Dr. Matt Warnock at guitarinternational.com.
  
  
• Avant guitarist Michael Garfield explores the cosmology of his latest instrumental discovery
  in Guitar International Magazine.
  
  
• Kevin Keith interview on EMGtv: Kevin talks about EMG pickups, and playing the bass and Chapman Stick in his live music and film composing (external video link).
  
  
• "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...
  
  
• 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 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 ...