From the 1940s through the 1960s, Chapin performed and toured with a variety of bands, including Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra and groups led by the likes of Mike Riley, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey and Tony Pastor.

He also performed on occasion with his sons, Tom, Steve and Harry Chapin who was on a career high as one of the more notable singer-songwriters of the 1970s and a founding member of the World Hunger Year.

In the early 1940s, Chapin began working on a drum instruction book that was published in 1948 as Advanced Techniques for the Modern Drummer, Volume I, Coordinated Independence as Applied to Jazz and Be-Bop.

Some of his techniques were captured on an instructional video released in 1992 called Speed, Power, Control, Endurance.

In this video, he spent the entire time using a practice pad to demonstrate the methods of his instructor, Sanford Moeller.