Lesson

Let's face it, not every gig allows us to play the difficult and hip jazz tunes we all spend hours shedding. Even many of the best known standards are completely foreign (and possibly boring) to a large section of general audiences today.

So what to play for all those restaurant and casual gigs that might hire a solo vibes player as an alternative to a pianist or guitarist? It's surprising how well many tunes from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even the 90s will translate to solo vibes. Tunes people will generally recognize and appreciate are great choices to sprinkle into your sets.

A highlight of the workshop! Nico talks about making a vibraphone! Here is an excerpt on tuning the bars.

If you've never seen someone bow a set of vibes, check this out.

Yeah!

Great vid!

DISCLAIMER: I use the F word at the end of this video, so don't watch if you're going to be offended.

But you should watch because at the end of the video, Marie gives me a quick vibe lesson.

She's a pretty hip chick.

Lead Sheet

David Friedman talked about playing free at the VBP 2010 workshop. Great lesson here!

I was checking out all kinds of versions of 'How Deep Is The Ocean' on youtube and came across this lesson by Andy Laverne. I thought this was pretty cool.

I especially found the screen of his face above the keyboard funny to see and the way he analyses the tune after with only the piano playing is pretty cool.

Oh yeah, and check the ending. He explains what Bill Evans did on the end.

TJ

Yep, there are several different blues scales. They each have a unique quality. Of course they do, any grouping of notes will have a quality that's unique and different from other groups. For instance play a major scale. Now flat the 3rd. Just changing one note is going to uniquely change the sound of that scale or grouping of notes.

Can you cats fill me in? I just downloaded 'Guys and Dolls Love the Vibes'.