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Here's an etude I wrote to demonstrate lines moving through scales. The sort of weaving up and down the scales that you hear advanced players do. Hopefully by playing this etude you can get some insight into all that. It's a blues, so fill in the chords and then analyze the lines against the chords. Remember if you were comping to this, you'd have to change the extensions of the chords to fit the lines. Say for instance the first note was a B and the chord was F7. Well then you'd play most likely an F7 Bb.

A quick lesson on finding threads through tunes and building lines around them.

A member of the site here just got his first gig on vibes. I thought I would mention that and mention how important it is to play live. Yes if you haven't done it, the first times are a little scary and might even be a disaster, but this is a huge part of getting better and you need to do it.

Thought maybe we could discuss this a little bit if you guys wanted to. Playing in groups and playing live is a important as practicing, if not more!

This is so grooving it's killing me!

Do you use sequencers to practice. Man, they can be very helpful. Loops are a great way to practice. But even making up loops without the sequencer and playing them in a solo vibes format can be really help you're playing.

So, I talk about loops in this lesson.

I am learning Skylark and decided to have a duet with Tony while he was at my house. Bass and drums are Band-in-a-Box RealTracks.

Barry

Tony wanted me to come over his house to hang, and record the Arabesque that I am working on. Since I don't play vibes with graduated bars as well as non-graduated bars, Tony offered to come my house!

I had a lot of fun. I got to try out a bunch of different mallets and play a tune with Tony on piano with Band-in-a-Box RealTracks bass and drums.

This etude is simple, but if it's new to you it will open up doors in your playing.

Rotate sticks 1 and 3 and then 2 and 4 with the double stops.

You're harmonizing your solo with one note. It's interesting, I think it's fun to listen to as a listener. You can use this in your comping, soloing, solo playing.

I've spent many an hour playing in this format. It is definitely based on what pianists do with lines and chords. We don't have 10 fingers so this is what we have to work with. It's a cool sound with bass and drums also.