For both ZenTappers and Megatars we generally recommend the BassBottom tuning, where bass is tuned in fourths, just like a standard 6-string bass. Learning is much faster with this tuning, and most of what you already know from guitar or bass transfers quickly, plus your right hand picks up what your left hand knows very [...]
Megatar FAQ
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Category Archives: Chapman Stick
Q: How Can I Compare the Sound of Chapman Stick and Mobius Megatar?
A: A member of the Tappistry.Org was curious about this same question some time back. He had in his possession a TrueTapper Eclipse, and his Stick, and so me made identical recordings — minimal effects, same settings — and as a further comparison he also recorded the same song on a cheap Strat-knockoff. It’s a [...]
How To Count the Frets
[reprinted by permission from MegArticles Two-Handed Tapping Archives] Image by Brian Hathcock via Flickr HOW DO YOU COUNT FRETS? It’s not a silly question. I have been surprised by how many times this question comes up. Since this little question baffles so many people, I did a search on our favoriite search engine, and didn’t [...]
Q: How can I Reduce or Eliminate Hum?
A: Generally speaking, there is nothing in a guitar that actually generates hum, generally you can assume that the hum is being induced into the guitar, or it is being added to the signal of the guitar. Experimentation is your friend. Here are some possibilities – RECEIVING BROADCAST HUM There is something in the environment [...]
Q: How to map the Megatar fretboard?
A: We are working on a chart that shows all the notes on the fretboard, and hopefully that will become available soon. However, in the meantime, in the Method Book #1, in the Appendix, you will find some blank fretboard graphs, which can be photo-copied. These are only 8 frets long, and don’t cover the [...]
Q: Where can I try a Megatar? Any music stores?
A: Someday, tapping instruments will be found in any music store. (If in fact, in that future, music stores still exist.) But that day is still some years in the future. And in some ways this works to your advantage. For example, one of the reasons our pricing is (relatively) low for a specialty instrument [...]
Q: How do you compare your instrument to other touch-style instruments?
A: Well, first of all, if you know how to play any other manufacturer’s instrument specially made for touch-style play, then you’ll find our instrument very easy, and you may well enjoy some of the innovations we’ve added. That said, we think there’s a lot to like about instruments made by several other manufacturers, and [...]
Q: Does the Buzz Feiten Intonation System really work?
A: Check it out with your own ears. It works. Major players all over the globe, including Stu Hamm, Liona Boyd, Robert Fripp, Larry Carlton, Jimmy Haslip, Joe Satriani, and Steve Vai all have good ears. Every one of them will now play on nothing else. You’ve got ears. Give a listen to a Feiten-tuned [...]
Q: Why is Mobius’s standard tuning like a bass?
A: Why not? It’s a bass! The tuning of a standard six-string bass is a good thing. Musicians all around the world already know this tuning so it’s easy for them to learn touch-style on a tuning they already know. There is also the popular bass-strings tuning we call ‘Inverted Fifths’ which has some enthusiasts [...]
