I started experimenting with Tony's signature Balter mallets about 6 months ago and they have become my goto mallet, replacing the Good Vibes (now Vic Firth) Burton mallets that I used for so many years.

Although they are harder than the Burtons, they can still produce a nice full tone, but with some added brightness that makes the vibe sound bell-like and beautiful. I've been recording with them lately and am including a sample here.

Improvising with Upper Structure Triads on What Is This Thing Called Love. Upper Structure Triads is the first of five chapters in Volume Two of The Complete Guide To Improvisation. Volume Two is not available yet but Volume One is available through Amazon and www.edsaindon.com

In this clip, the first chorus is a written out solo that utilizes Upper Structure Triads (USTs). To view and download the first chorus along with a chart that lists the USTs and analysis of the UST techniques, go here to Google Docs:

Hey folks,

hey,
this is one track of our latest recordings in my studio, written by the guitar player...
hope you like it!
tarik

Friends, I just finished reading "Wonderful World of Percussion: My Life Behind Bars," the memoir by percussionist/vibraphonist Emil Richards. As many of you know, Emil, now in his eighties, has had a wonderful career as a film and television studio musician, and also a jazz vibes/marimba player. He worked with Shearing, Sinatra, George Harrison, and tons of other big names, he traveled the world many times, performing and collecting an amazing array of obscure percussion instruments from various countries, and he also performed on the soundtracks to more than 2000 films!

Here's a simple etude with chords. It's basically like a shout chorus with some different voicings. Enjoy!

Here's some great licks that you can use while paying the blues. Remember to download the pdf before watching the lesson in order to understand what I'm doing!! Have fun=)

this week its about Old Folks.

Here's a lesson with some examples and ideas that I'm working with over Altered Dominant chords.
-Tyler