hey everyone .. i just received my malletkat pro today. Very excited to be back playing mallets and equally excited to be playing on mario's malletkat pro 6.

from the start it was easy to plug into reason 4 and start immediatly using the sounds. however i must solve a transposition issue with the vibe sound on the nnxt module inside of reason.

i must admit im a little challenge when reading manuels and understand the flow of the book.. so with that in minde .. HOw do i transpose the malletkat down 2 octaves? the patch i have on reason is way too tinny.

I'd like to subscribe but I don't know what the differences are between the 3 subscription levels (Premium, Standard and Student). Can anyone help?

Thanks!
Ryan in Florida

Some tips on simple soloing over rhythm changes.

Here's the deal.

Download the pdf of ONLY the high notes. Fill in the other voices (below) and make your own etude. Play and post your version. Then check out mine! You can my version, but don't look at mine. Fill in your chords first!!!

Dear friends vibists,

unfortunately (!), I have decided to sell my brand new M55G. I bought it last november, it came to my house straight from the Musser factory.

I am a first year graduate music student in NY. As from this summer I am not sure whether I will be able to continue my studies because it is possible that I will not get my funding and scholarships renewed (I have 3 at the moment). We all know that these are tough times for the arts....

Since it was Lionel Hampton's birthday on Friday, I've decided to focus my practicing this weekend on tunes he was known for. Figured I might as well start with the one that started it all! I tried to play as Hampton-esque as I could...you can be the judge of how well I succeeded!

...I had to use the school vibes for this, and the pedal is definitely a little creaky! I played along with this recording: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_QDBdWsaNw

And here's the backstory from Hampton on how this became the first recorded tune with vibes:

Practicing Misty. Melody alone (well, with Florian coughing in the back ground) ;-)

Here's one chorus etude on rhythm changes. Just one chorus chock full of bebop licks. Usually when I work on blues or rhythm changes I'll transcribe a bunch of stuff, then mix it up together and make a little etude like this to practice in some different keys, thinking about how the lines work and trying to make it swing and feel natural. See if you find that useful.
-Tyler

I too would like to give my little contribution on our new TOTM and post a lesson... A great lesson!
Enjoy, work hard, and post your version based on it!! ;-)