If you miss this event you’re going to KICK yourself!

When: Monday 20 to Sunday 26, July 2009
Where : the town of Libramont in Belgium
Organisers: Académie d’été de Wallonie and Clic Music

Here Daniel Schell demonstrates his Clear and Logical ‘MySpace’ method, just a part of what you get at the ETap Seminar …
…

2009 Tap-Guitar Teachers

• Adam Fulara
• Mathias Sorof
• Wolfgang Daiss
• Daniel Schell

Check out this Report on the 2006 Seminar!

ETap 2006

Get the Full Details and Grab Your Place Quick!

The European Tap-Guitar Seminar Site

Are you an Absolute Beginner?

You’re an absolute beginner. You can’t read and you can’t play…

No problem. The beginners class can accept people from various backgrounds. You might find absolute beginners in music but also trained readers on another instrument who begin the tap-guitar, or t-g virtuoso who cannot read and wish to do it, and so on. After say, 2 days in the beginners class you may ask to go to the intermediate class. There are also special afternoon classes and private tuition available to satisfy your individual needs.

You play the Brand X tap-guitar, you’re tuned in the Y way, and you play only Z music.

Welcome! The Seminar is open. It aims to to teach general techniques of playing, reading, and understanding music for the tap-guitar. Your options will be respected and the methods you will learn are general and adaptable to all situations.

You don’t have a tap-guitar …

No problem. You can bring a simple electric guitar if you wish. The E-Tap, Brussels school, can by special arrangement also lend you a tap-guitar for the week.

The classes are all equipped with a mix desk and a small PA. There are also some guitar amps. Therefore those who come by plane or train do not need to bring an amp. Those who come by car might as well bring an amp if they wish to have their own sound, or just help the seminar.

However it would be best to bring your own personal practice amp to use in between the courses or in the evening. This might be a small mini- or a batery driven micro-amp. There are also some devices with headphones, which you can carry on your belt and which are very handy.

For more info and to reserve your place today, go to
the European Tap-Guitar Seminar Site.

Don’t Miss It!

Enrollment is filling up fast. Sign up and grab your spot. If you act quickly you’ll avoid disappointment.

[A note from Traktor ... This is about the most fun seminar I've ever attended in my life. You'll have fun meeting tappers from many different countries, and it's really cool to have all different kinds of tapping instruments in a spirit of learning and growing together. Plus, let's be frank here. Belgium has some of the best beer in the universe. Nuff said.]

Those who receive the free MegaTapper Newsletter know that we’ve been working on video systems for a couple of months now — specifically videos about guitars and tapping instruments — and it’s starting to pay off.

IF YOU WANT MORE TAPPING VIDEOS …

Then we need to see your comments, votes, and ideas below in a comment you add to this post, if you please, thank you very much!

We did a little survey, and folks taking the survey said that generally they find getting new music info, two-handed tapping info, and general guitar info in the form of VIDEO to be the easiest to use.

Good enough.

Video it is.

A LIST FOR NEW VIDEOS. PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT

Here is a small (and incomplete) list of subjects that might be useful, taken from the list of questions that people frequently ask when they call us …

• • Where can I test-play a tapping instrument?
  • What amps work best for two-handed touchstyle?
  • Twelve strings versus 8 strings?
  • Bassbottom versus inverted fifths
  • Mirror fourths versus parallel fourths
  • Crossed and uncrossed
  • Strengths and Weaknesses of BassBottom and Inverted-Fifths tunings?
  • How does the differing construction of tapping instruments affect the sound?
  • Can you make a left handed tapping instrument?
  • Can you make a straight tuning across all twelve strings?

And here are some questions that people don’t ask (but they should!) …

• • Can a MIDI pickup track bass strings?
  • How easy/difficult is it to play MIDI on a tapping instrument?
  • How is a Roland modeller different from MIDI gear?
  • What does the Screaming-Ghost piezo system sound like?
  • What’s the difference in sound of active-circuits? Why?
  • How does posture and positioning affect your music and the health of your hands and wrists?
  • What’s the easiest way to begin learning?
  • What is the simplest Basic Hand Orientation?
  • Fretboard Mapping - Where are the notes?
  • What’s with big dots on Stick, or double-dots on Megatar?
  • Best Way to tune up?
  • How does Buzz Feiten Intonation System work?
  • How do fanned frets work to give better tone?
  • How to do setup and adjust intonation?
  • How is the sound and tone changed by picking versus tapping, the wood, the type of pickup?

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE?

Surely we can never do *all* of these, and maybe some are of little interest, and maybe others are of GREAT interest to people. You can help guide us.

Please add a comment below and tell us which ones you’d most like to see explained and demonstrated in a video.

Then add any additional ideas that you may have.

Just to make sure we’re not wasting our time making these videos, we’d like to see some activity and participation in the comments, please.

Thank you very much for adding your comments below!

It’s surprising how often people ask, “Where are you?”

Perhaps a tapping-guitar factory on the slopes of a volcano way up in Northern California is somehow unusual … and to answer that question more fully, here’s a view of the local scenery …

Hello, tappers. Good news! This week, we are unveiling our newest model, the quad-output Mobius Megatar “Nitro” –

ToneWeaver "Nitro" with Screaming-Ghost "Acoustiphonic Sound"

SELECTABLE SOUND SYSTEMS

The Megatar Nitro features two selectable sound systems for bass, and two selectable sound systems for melody.

On the left side of the body in the photograph above, you can see two chrome toggle switches.

One selects melody sound, the other selects bass sound.

RICH BARTOLINI MAGNETIC OR SCREAMING-GHOST ACOUSTIPHONIC PIEZO SOUND

For either melody or bass, your first sound choice is the warm and rich tone of authentic active-circuit Bartolini magnetic pickups. This is the warm, rich sound that has made the Bartolini name world-famous.

But that’s not all, because for melody or for bass, you get a complete additional sound palette … the lush, crisp, and full-frequency sound of GraphTech Ghost Acoustiphonic piezo pickups. The Piezo pickups are embedded in these custom string saddles of Graph Tech’s patented ‘StringSaver’ material –

GraphTech Ghost Acoustiphonic piezo string saddles fabricated from the patented "StringSaver" material

You can *just* see one of the wires at the left side of the first string saddle. The piezo wire is threaded through a hole or slot in the individual bridge plate. Below the bridge plates we have cut a trench, with tunnels through the wood to route the twelve piezo wires into the large pickups cavity beneath the black pickguard.

Also beneath the black pickguard, in addition to the dual Bartolini active-circuit preamps and noise-filtering circuitry, we have installed two GraphTech Ghost Acoustiphonic preamps. These contain additional circuitry which allows you to select the magnetic-pickup sound, or the acoustiphonic sound.

BLENDING YOUR SOUND

In the middle position of your selector switches, you can have both mag and piezo sound, and then the tone/volume knobs act like a mini-mixer right on the instrument.

Here’s a closeup of the tone/volume knobs and dual selector switches –

Megatar Nitro quad tone/volume control knobs and selector switches

The nested tone/volume knobs on the far side control melody and bass for the active-circuit rich Bartolini sound.

The black push/pull tone/volume knobs on the near side control melody and bass for the full-frequency Screaming-Ghost ‘Acoustiphonic’ sound.

‘QUICK-SWITCH’ SOUND SELECTORS

One of the chrome ‘Quick Switches’ selects either mag or piezo for melody, and the other chrome Quick Switch selects either mag or piezo sound for bass. (When you set either Quick Switch in the middle position, then you can precisely blend any mixture of the two sound systems. The tone/volume controls have become a convenient mini-mixer right on the instrument!)

Mobius Megatar quad-output "Nitro" -- The Gigging Pro Instrument

The quad-output Nitro is provided with two mono oxygen-free ‘ClearCables’ made of Japanese Canara Cable with heavy-duty German Neutrik connectors. The cable transmits every bit of the rich active-Bartolini sound and the brilliantly crisp Acoustiphonic sound to your amp, for the ultimate in a voice that’s sweet, and rich, and down, and dirty, and everything in between.

GARGANTUAN SOUND PALETTE

Hear searing solos. Hear crisp choral tones like you’ve never heard them before. Play an acoustic-sounding Nashville sound or a metallic bassline from outer space. It’s all here. It’s all yours.

And for you sound-fanatics out there, the dual outjacks pictured above are actually ‘SmartJacks,’ because if you plug in our mono Clear cables you have bass and melody as usual. However …

SMART ROUTING BUILT-IN

If you choose to plug stereo cables into the outjacks, then the smart-routing circuitry will present you with four separate outputs for the most flexible routing in the world:  Melody Bartolini, Melody Acoustiphonic, Bass Bartolini, and Bass Acoustiphonic.

True quad-output, and outstanding, easy, intuitive control. In your hands.

If you wish to see even more detail of the features pictured above, click on any of the photographs to see a huge photograph with a magnified view. (Caution: dsl connection recommended for humongous detail photos.)

SELECT PARALLEL OR FANNED-FRETS

The fanned-fret ToneWeaver is shown in these photographs, but if you have a tuning that thrives better on standard parallel frets, we can build your Megatar Nitro with parallel frets as on our popular MaxTapper.

HEAR AUDIO SAMPLES

We do not yet have proper recordings of songs using this new instrument. However, the nice folks at Graph Tech were kind enough to supply us with Ghost recordings to demonstrate the startling Acoustiphonic sound –

The instrument in these guitar recordings is a strat; however, the Megatar Acoustiphonic melody sounds very similar. The recordings of a bass are made with the same riff played on normal mag pickups, and then using the Ghost Acoustiphonic system, so you can compare, and discover for yourself the amazing wide palette of tonal colors that will be available to you … only with the Mobius Megatar Nitro.

UPDATE, STARDATE 2009, JAN 30

Faraway sensors report imminent arrival, running at lightspeed, the Nitro Explosion due to arrive Earthside February 1, 2009. And a question that you might ask yourself  –

“Have you Ever Seen $500
Disguised as a Web Page?”

No? Then click here: Nitro Explosion, coming February 1, 2009

.

Mobius Megatar announces … the “Holiday Cheer Touchstyle Club“.

This promotional offer gives hundreds of dollars of discounts on Mobius instruments, between November 15, and December 31 of 2008.

All Mobius Megatar instruments have huge savings available, from the simple Eclipse to the astounding Hammer of Thor.

MaxTappers, ToneWeavers, Storms, Dragons, MidiTappers, PiezoTappers, and customizing to your hearts content, huge discounts available on all instruments and configurations … if you act quickly.

Very probably, you will also find the Holiday Cheer page entertaining, and informative. The posted information shows you how to save money three ways, plus free gifts just for signing up. No obligation, no cost. It’s like free money.

LIMITED TIME

>>> This limited time offer ends New Years Eve at Midnight.  <<<

HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS IN DISCOUNTS

Hundreds of dollars of discounts are available on all Mobius instruments, free $90 factory-installed edgedots will be given to the first ten who claim these prizes, and there are also free gifts just for signing up in the club.

FREE GIFTS JUST FOR SIGNING UP …

http://megatar.com/promo/holiday-cheer/

But please remember, limited offer ends Midnight December 31, 2008.

———-

PS: For a bit of fun, go over to Tappistry.Org, and describe what the page looks like when it first appears in your browser … To see the Tappistry.Org discussion thread, please CLICK HERE.

After a few people have looked and then posted there, you’ll see what I mean …

Here is a configuration seen in use at a local music festival. The sound guy said he liked the tone of the smaller speakers on top, because they were brighter and sounded good when blended in with the larger speakers below.

[A tip of the Megatar Sombrero to correspondent Roger Faynes in Australia.]

I read recently an article claiming that layaway is making a comeback, and googling ‘layaway making a comeback’ shows a lot of articles on the subject. Here are some excerpts –

• “I think a lot of people are watching their money, they’re trying to avoid the high interest rates on their credit cards,” says Tampa Kmart store manager Mark Swafford.
• Layaway is a shopping strategy that University of South Florida marketing professor, Carol Osbourne says helps consumers learn to budget. “Rather than swiping a credit cards; because that’s like funny money,” Osbourne says.
• Osbourne believes people will still spend this holiday season, but will adapt their shopping habits to the economy. “People were spending and spending and living beyond their means so layaway is actually a good alternative,” Osbourne says.
• This season, Kmart is heavily marketing their layaway program. But, it’s available at a variety of other stores including Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory. Sears and Walmart also offer layaway on fine jewelry.
• Ms. Kasanthian Austin says she primarily uses it to buy toys and clothes and Megatar musical instruments for her kids, making a happy holiday an affordable one. “I can get my bills paid and still try and get things done for Christmas for my kids,” Austin says.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

WOULD A LAYAWAY PLAN HELP YOU TO GET YOUR MEGATAR?

Here’s what I’m imagining (though we’re open to hearing about other ideas) …

• To start up a Layaway Plan for yourself, you’d choose a model, with any of our custom features that you wish us to build. (All instruments are built to order, like always.)
• You would initially invest 4% or $60 whichever is larger to start the plan. (’Standard payment’)
• You would make a monthly commitment; because making that commitment is what makes it happen.
• Committment is what actually causes you to get the Megatar that you want.
• You would agree to send the same amount each month. (This is like paying off a credit-card, except that there are no big interest charges, because *all* your money goes toward your Megatar.)
• Whenever you wish, you can send any additional funds.
• We ask only that we don’t have to chase you, that you honor your commitment each month.
• You will probably discover that, once you start, and *intend* to have the Megatar you want, new opportunities will appear, and you’ll probably close out the deal earlier, and start playing music quicker than you’d thought possible.
• What would the monthly fee be for a typical instrument?
• At current prices (Nov 2008),  TrueTapper Eclipse, Dragon, or Storm would be only $60 per month.
• At current prices, a MaxTapper would be $64/month, or a ToneWeaver only $80/month.
• Along the way, you can pay ahead any time you wish, and you can pay it off whenever you like.
• You can send funds via personal check, cashier’s check, or money order.
• Or you can transfer funds using paypal.
• Or you can use your credit or debit card over the phone or through our secure server.
• When the balance is 90% paid, we’ll put the job order into the shop queue for building and setting up your instrument.
• Generally that means that when your balance is paid up, we can ship immediately.
• As long as the schedule is maintained, your price is locked in, even if we have increased any prices in the meantime.
• If you simply send a check each month, there’s no credit-card interest to pay, which at 12% or even 18%, this can be a substantial savings for you.
• We will not charge any interest, nor add any fee.  In fact …
• As a bonus, we’ll pay *you*, like getting interest on your money …
• Assuming you’ve been on the plan at least six months, and as long as the schedule is maintained, your last standard payment, will be … free

WOULD THIS HELP YOU TO GET A MEGATAR?

And do you have any suggestions that might make the proposed plan more flexible or useful for you?

Or do you have any questions about what is being sketched here?

Is it adequately clear? Does it sound useful?

WHEN DO YOU WISH US TO SHIP YOUR MEGATAR?

Of course, we’re still happy to accept your order the usual way, and credit-cards are still welcome.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR OPINION AND SUGGESTIONS

If the Comment Box isn’t visible just below, please click the Comment Link.

And in the Comment Box, please enter your thoughts.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Are you familiar with the Chapman Stick / Megatar Comparison Site?

No?

There you can compare the features between these two fine instruments, and you can consider the benefits of each.

You can also hear a recorded comparision of the Chapman Stick and the Mobius Megatar instruments.

RESOURCES AVAIILABLE ON THE CHAPMAN STICK - MEGATAR COMPARISON SITE:

Chapman Stick / Megatar Comparison Home

Buy and Sell Tapping Instruments | Free Classified Ads

Mobius Megatar and Chapman Stick on EBay Today

Comparison Website Mission and Contact Information

Chapman Stick and Megatar News

Newsletter about Chapman Stick and Megatar Music

The Chapman Stick and Megatar Survey

Other Interesting Websites

Other Voltos Websites

Privacy Policy

Contact Info

About the Comparision Website

Have you heard about the revolutionary Easy Touch-Style Method, and our newly-published Book Three?

No?

Well, please visit our ‘Learn to play Chapman Stick, Warr Guitar, and Mobius Megatar’ website!

There you will learn about –

• Book One — Learn the Bassics. Remarkably simple and clear method. Permits training both hands at the same time. One method works on three different tunings.
• Book Two — Learn to play basslines, plus bass hooks, and learn how to read rhythm in standard notation. All surpisingly easy to learn and easy to use.
• Book Three — Learn to play melodies, and how to read them in standard notation. Thought you couldn’t learn to read? Be startled at how easy it is to learn … with the right method.

INFO YOU’LL FIND ON THIS GREAT WEBSITE –

Learn Chapman Stick, Warr, Mobius Megatar — Quick and Easy!

Play Bass and Walking Bass

Learn Chapman Stick or Megatar — Playing Melody and Chords

Two-Handed Tapping Improvisation Made Easy

Order Two-Handed Tapping Method Books — Immediate Download

Two-Handed Tapping Articles to Learn Chapman Stick and Mobius Megatar

Two-Handed Tapping Newsletter and Free Lessons

About The Easy Touch-Style Method

How to Contact Us

Our Privacy Policy

Other Interesting Websites

Voltos Industries Websites