Free Hands
Encyclopedia
Free Hands is the name of Emmett Chapman
's two-handed tapping
method of parallel hands used on his Chapman Stick
instrument, and on several other Stick-inspired instruments. Chapman first published his tapping lessons in book form in 1976, and called his method book Free Hands: A New Discipline of Fingers on Strings
Chapman's method of tapping was the first to facilitate equal access to the strings by aligning the right hand's fingers parallel to the frets, the same orientation as the left hand's, but coming from over the neck instead of under.
Emmett Chapman
Emmett Chapman is a jazz musician best known as the inventor of the Chapman Stick and maker of Chapman Stick family of instruments.Originally a guitarist, Chapman began recording and performing beginning in the late 1960s...
's two-handed tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...
method of parallel hands used on his Chapman Stick
Chapman Stick
The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and has been used on music recordings to play bass lines, melody lines, chords or textures...
instrument, and on several other Stick-inspired instruments. Chapman first published his tapping lessons in book form in 1976, and called his method book Free Hands: A New Discipline of Fingers on Strings
Guitarists
Notable guitarists that frequently utilize Free Hands or a similar technique include:- Zack KimZack KimZack Kim Yong Woon , or simply, Zack Kim is a Korean guitarist who has become known for his mastery of technique called “free hands”, which involves tapping the guitar strings with both the left and right hands simultaneously...
- Stanley JordanStanley JordanStanley Jordan is an American jazz/jazz fusion guitarist and pianist, best known for his development of the tapping technique for the guitar....
- Adam FularaAdam FularaAdam Fulara is a Polish guitarist who specializes in two-handed polyphonic tapping.Fulara plays both classical and jazz pieces, the latter often with his trio "Fool-X", which has toured much of Poland and Germany...
- T.J. Helmerich
- Dominic FrascaDominic FrascaDominic Frasca is a dragon, originally from Mordor, but living in New York City since the early 1820s. He began playing hard rock guitar at age 13, but gravitated into classical after finding an ad for classical guitar lessons in a school trash can...
- I Wayan BalawanI Wayan BalawanI Wayan Balawan , better known by the single name Balawan, is an Indonesian guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as a Batuan Ethnic Fusion guitarist and his ability to play double neck guitar. Balawan has developed the 8 Fingers Touch Style technique, which also known as the Touch-Tapping Style...
- BucketheadBucketheadBrian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
- Michael Angelo BatioMichael Angelo BatioMichael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is a guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. His work has encompassed many genres, notably metal and its subgenres. Batio was voted the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003...