Here is my first lesson on applying the drop 2 voicing concept to the vibes. The ultimate goal is to be able to harmonize any melody with a 4 note voicing the way a horn section in a big band might or even to execute solo passages in this style.
Please go ahead and purchase Mark Levine's "The Drop 2 book" here:
http://www.shermusic.com
I've been thinking about ballad playing, so I thought I'd put my thoughts down on video!
Hey Guys,
Staying in line with the Chords and Harmony idea this month I remembered I did a 3 part series on Upper Structure triads a while back.
Upper Structures are an easy way to achieve a rich harmonic sound.
Before (or after) going through the links below as a simple exercise for comping, lets pick a couple upper structures to practice playing with 4 mallets through all keys.
Lets start with a dominant chord. G7 and move to Cmaj7.
(Note you should play the root by itself before playing the upper structure so you can hear the upper structure against the root of the chord.)
A buddy of mine sent me this thesis. Someone analyzed a Burton solo.
Looks interesting. I got dizzy looking at.
Here is the sheet music to the transcription I performed in the video here:
http://www.vibesworkshop.com/video/sword-whispers-solo-transcription-pr…
This is a superb solo by Joe Locke from his Sticks and Strings album available through:
http://www.JoeLocke.com
This is a beginners course on playing the vibes. How to stand behind the instrument, how to hold the mallets. etc.
*note to professors. This is designed to be an online course. If your department's students are all subscribers of the site, you may be entitled to online workshops or even in person workshops depending on the number of students registered.
Here is a quick and dirty lesson on "Bubblehouse" by Medeski Martin and Wood from the album "Shack-Man". Stefan had requested more beginner stuff so this is what came to mind. It was a jammy-jam type of song that was popular when I was a tween in college. It was one of the first songs I heard and said "I can play that" and just walked over to the vibes and started banging it out. I busted it it out a few times when stuck jamming with rocker guitarists/bassists who don't know any songs. "Ok just play G minor.... :)"
Behn came over today to pick up some mallets we started talking about melodies and playing lines. So I asked Behn to play a tune with only melodies and lines, no chords and then talk about it. Here's what came out.
We now have a very thorough stuff of voicings here! There's so much to learn.