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Here is an invaluable lesson. When you listen to someone play, vibes or any instrument, especially when they are playing solo. Listen once and then go back and snap your fingers. Listen to the time. Is it ok? Does it suck?

I record all the time at home and then go back listen and snap my fingers. Once in a while (ha ha, more than once in a while) I get done and snap and realize that that take SUCKS. Why? because my time sucks. We have to keep time, internal time.

So by keeping time with other recordings and video you are learning to keep internal time.

Improvising on this classic with a focus on incorporating deadstrokes, ghost notes, accents, dynamics, varied sticking and dampening to enhance the line, phrasing and time feel. The vibraphone can be a difficult instrument in terms of playing it with expression and getting subtleties and nuance from it.

There is a good book called Develop Sight Reading which is great for reading as well as working on these musical elements since the pieces have a lot of phrase markings, dynamics and include many passages with varied articulation. Highly recommended.

Hey Vibes Workshop

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"But Beautiful" - chord melody using voicings and reharm from my book Voicing Concepts for the Jazz Vibist available from Amazon. The voicings and reharm are written out as well as other voicings for comping on Autumn Leaves, Green Dolphin Street, Stella By Starlight and a chord melody on You Are Too Beautiful. The summary and table of contents of the book can be viewed on my FB page Voicing Concepts for the Jazz Vibist.

I really enjoyed working on this piece out of the Mallet Dampening book. I think there's more I could do to polish the transitions between phrases, but I wanted to post this anyways to show where I'm at with it.

Vibraphone Masterclass – Left Hand Accompaniment on “Poor Butterfly: Here are some of my thoughts and techniques for left hand comping on this great song from 1916. Hard to believe this song was written that long ago. I’m more or less playing in a four to the bar feel ala pianists like Errol Garner, George Shearing, Art Tatum, Dave McKenna and Teddy Wilson. I really enjoy playing in this style and playing tunes like this.