I always thought that pitch bending the vibraphone was an interesting technique, but I don't really like it. I recently figured out why. It changes the pitch lower. It is a kind of sad sound to me. In contrast, guitarists bend pitch up by stretching the guitar strings. That is a happier sound to me.

To lower the pitch on a vibraphone, you get a hard rubber mallet, press it on the node (at the string), hit the bar with another mallet, then move the hard mallet towards the center of the bar.

The ultimate thing for me is a decent vibe sound. I dig this sound and am getting very comfortable with it and playing it.

This is a different instrument and you have to approach things differently, but I know I'll get better at playing the vibe sound. But I don't think this isn't too bad.

It's great because I 'almost' (like the big fish that got away, huh?) got a gig in South Africa with a band last year. I'm not sure if I could have got a set of vibes. And this was a funky kind of loud band. I could do it with the malletKat.

Been using the malletkat for a new project of mine. Here's a short clip from a new tune entitled "Cogs."
This music will be recorded soon and the CD should be out by the end of the year. I'm running the Kat through a Nord Electro rack module, in case anyone was wondering...

-Tyler

Just blowin' on a blues of mine entitled "Hemming and Hawing"
This is from a gig I did out in LA a couple years ago.
-Tyler

Wow. I just got the new malletKat and have been playing it. I think Mario did it with this one. He's changed the feel of the instrument and put in Kurtzweil sounds. It's pretty amazing.

I was always a MalletKat fan, but thought of it as an addition to the vibes. I could go out with a band and play on only this and all would be good. The experience was incredible.

I'm thinking about recording some quick improvs to let you guys hear what you can do with this!

Just thought I'd post this.

Simple ideas that will help keep the harmony moving.