Tapboard
Tapboard is the name of two separate guitar-based instruments that employ variations of the tapping technique. One of these is played by guitarist Francis Dunnery and the other by bassist Balazs Szendofi. Unlike other tapping instruments such as the Chapman Stick, harpejji and Warr Guitar, both Tapboards are one-off custom designs and have never been produced commercially.
Francis Dunnery's Tapboard
Origins
While still a member of progressive pop band
Design
The Tapboard consists of a single piece of mahogany mounted with two standard guitar necks glued flush together, side-by-side. Both necks' fretboards are deeply
As with a number of other tapping instruments (such as the harpejji and the StarrBoard), the Tapboard is designed to be played on the lap, on a table or on a table-style stand, in much the same position as a pedal steel or lap steel guitar. The playing style involves the use of all ten fingers (and thumbs) in a pianistic style, with the resulting sound being similar to that of a Chapman Stick. Dunnery has commented "it's a very rhythmic instrument. And you can always see exactly what you're doing, you can work the patterns out. The things you do are totally different from what you can do on a guitar. You can hit two notes together at either end of the fretboard, you can stagger notes, like you're playing a piano, and play 'impossible' scales."[2]
The Tapboard is also infamous for featuring a chrome shower hose (which travels from one end of the instrument to the other) with an egg-timer at one end. Both of these initially appeared to have been added as a joke and for decoration, reflecting the eccentric nature of the instrument and Dunnery's ambivalent relationship with the more ludicrous aspects of rock performance. (Dunnery fostered this impression by joking that the feature was added "to see how fast I'm going - eight thousand notes in the time it takes to boil an egg").[2][3] However, in 2009 Farmiloe revealed that the shower hose "actually provided the solution for cable routing, some electrical shielding and the ability to mess with the wiring without taking the thing apart", although he did confess that "the egg timer was added last to help Francis boil a perfect egg for an It Bites breakfast!"[1]
Use
The Tapboard was used on several It Bites tours from 1989 to 1990, and made an appearance at the It Bites convention in London in 1990. On record it was used on It Bites' Eat Me In St Louis album in 1989 (on the outro for "Leaving Without You" and the instrumental "Charley"), and on two single B-sides during the same period ("Having A Good Day" and "Reprise").
The Tapboard was never produced commercially, and only one example of the instrument exists. Despite initial intentions, Dunnery did not use it for either recordings and concerts after 1990 as by then he was moving towards simpler composition and playing styles. However, he retained the instrument and claimed to have begun using it again while recording his 2005 album The Gulley Flats Boys (although there is no aural evidence of its use on the final release and it is not mentioned in the album credits). Some fans claim that the Tapboard can be heard being used on the song "I'm In Love" from Dunnery's 2001 album Man, four years previously.[4]
Dunnery began using the Tapboard again as a live instrument on his 2009 New Progressives tour, commenting "I don't think I ever fully utilized the true potential of the instrument, so I'm having another go twenty years later. I'm going to break the guitar land speed record and will be performing some of the Tapboard classics as well as some new material!"[1] During the tour, he played a version of the 1989 It Bites track "Charley", which he had also re-recorded for his 2009 album It's a Whole New World Out There.
Szendofi Tapboard
Another Tapboard instrument is played by Hungarian
External links
- "It Types" (feature on Francis Dunnery and the Tapboard in Making Music)
- "Tapping A New Talent" (feature on Francis Dunnery and the Tapboard in Sounds by Julian Colbeck.
- YouTube video of Francis Dunnery playing Reprise on the Tapboard (originally filmed at the It Bites Convention 1990 (poor quality footage).
- "Francis Dunnery on the Tapboard - Live in Manchester 30.10.09"
References
- ^ a b c d News story re the Tapboard by Stephanie Sobey-Jones on www.francisdunnery.com news page Archived 29 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 14 July 2009
- ^ a b c Colbeck, Julian (January 1989). "It Types: Well, what else can you do with both hands at once?". Making Music. 103.
- ^ a b Colbeck, Julian (3 December 1988). "Tapping a new talent: Julian Colbeck discovers a new guitar technique perfected by It Bites Frank Dunnery". Sounds: 51.
- ^ Reader review of Man album by "Nicky" at www.rateyourmusic.com, 7 June 2002, retrieved 23 September 2008 - [1]
- ^ Balazs Szendofi's instrument list[permanent dead link], accessed 4 June 2009
- ^ Review of Mindflowers' Nuances album on Guitar9 website, retrieved 23 September 2008 - [2]