Not only did Drew answer my question, but he gave me a new way to think about it. I printed his response to carry around with me for a few days so I can to go over it and absorb it enough to see if I have any more questions. This is an example of why why this site is such a great resource!

Here's me playing David Friedman's Dampening Etude #5, I openly welcome all comments, criticisms and pointers.

Thanks,
Denzell

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that i'm in search for a set of graduated bars to purchase, any brand, any condition, just as long as they're graduated and in tune (preferently 440, but 442 would work too).
anything you know of, please let me know at uvib(at)ymail.com (yes, Ymail... it's yahoo)

best,
Diego

... or from anyone who has an insight before I get lost. I've been practicing a "Key of the Week" (which has become a key every three weeks) and one of the things I have been doing is working through voicings of the chords within the key: I chord, ii chord, iii, chord...etc. Simple enough. I am also practicing jumping from the 1357 voicing to a closed voicing (7935). So here is what I'm noticing: when I voice the 1357 of the minor chord, the Abm7 in Gb, B and E for example, it voices the same way as a ii, iii, or vi. But when I voice it as a 7935 the added ninth can be different (????).

Here is a tune I recorded in my basement with a midi bass line a couple of years ago. Clearly too many notes (on a minor blues) are played here. It is fun to just go for it sometimes and see what happens.....fall get up and try again. Makes you appreciate how folks like Gary Burton get around the instrument like nobodies business!
Rusty

Definitely worthy of the chops festival. This is a very hard etude I wrote and worked on. I couldn't play it now, but here's the video where I once upon a time played it.

Ok, I think we've really worked hard on solo playing. I mean it's obvious some of us have and I assume some of you are working and not posting. Who knows though if you don't post. But I think those of us active on the site have gotten a lot out of all.

So let's start the Chops Festival. Etudes, exercises and more. Things that will help us build our technique.

hey all,

another original by us with mixed malletkat and vibes. i think the malletkat fits very good in this trio because that low rhodes sound make the missing bass a bit less obvious. thanks to marie i could also decide for a better version out of two.

p.s. thanks for all the comments on the other tunes so far. i think those german lyrics must sound strange to you... sometimes even for me too :)

tarik

Oh My God! That is soooo sweet!!! Thank you so much guys!!! :o)