Mobius MegaBlog

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!

Good News!

Now available online — an instrument demo, with songs, to provide an overview of how the instrument is made, so that you can see and hear it in use. The video not only shows how easy it can be to play two-handed touch-style, but displays our most basic instrument, the TrueTapper Eclipse.

The Eclipse is a high-end, quality instrument with brilliant sound, so that any professional musician can feel completely comfortable using it for studio recording, with all essential high-end features included. However, the Eclipse is priced so affordably that any student with a summer job can obtain the instrument.

The video also shows U.S. Manager Traktor Topaz playing two songs. (The second song is an improvisation on the same chords as the first song.) This performance shows several of the techniques that are easily learned using our ‘Easy Touch-Style Method.’

And so, for your elucidation and entertainment, we present –

PS: This is the same instrument that was used in the earlier ‘Easy Touch-Style Method’ video. However, this video was not recorded on the Mobius Space Station, which had been rented out for a party for Google executives.

Good News!

We’ve completed the first video of the “Easy Touch-Style Method” series. The purpose of the series is to provide a demo of how easy it can be to learn two-handed touch-style play using the streamlined method developed at Mobius Megatar.

The first video is an ‘Introduction,’ which simply explains what touch-style is, and provides a demo of how one can play by touch. It then shows why having more strings makes playing easier, and shows how clear it is when both hands can move exactly the same. Then, using four simple chords, we demonstrate –

• How to arpeggiate chords in both hands using only nine notes
• How to then change that to play roots and harmony notes with your two hands
• How to use those bass roots to play left hand chords
• How to use those harmony notes while playing walking bass inside the nine notes
• How to play dual melody in both hands.
• How to play chords and improvise
• How to play chords and melody.

And so, for your elucidation and entertainment, we present –

PS: If you are wondering, the instrument used in the demo is our most basic instrument, the TrueTapper Eclipse. The audio recording was done entirely in Guitar Rig 2 with minimal effects. And, as you can see, the demo was filmed in the Mobius Space Station engine room.

Now on YouTube: “Easy Touch-Style Guitar” with the first “Guitar Prep” video, from Mobius Megatar.

“Easy Touch-Style Guitar” is a method book showing how to play beginning two-handed touchstyle on a normal 6-string guitar. This book has been written, but has not yet been published. This video is based upon an early chapter in the book, where we discuss how to set up your guitar to work well for two-handed touchstyle.

This video describes how to make “Traktor’s SusPenders” to hold a strat or similar guitar in an upright playing position which will allow the fingers of both hands to access the strings as if it were a specialty touch-style instrument.

Want to see the video? Sure you do!

And, if YouTube is online right now, then here it is:

Yow! That was fun!