Four-mallet style Vibraphone

vibraphonist gary burton , guitarist julian lage. note burton s four-mallet grip.

the popular four-mallet grip vibraphone burton grip, named gary burton. 1 mallet held between thumb , index finger , other held between index , middle fingers. shafts cross in middle of palm , extend past heel of hand. wide intervals, thumb moves in between 2 mallets , inside mallet held in crook of fingers.

also popular stevens grip, named marimbist leigh howard stevens. many other grips in use, variations on burton or stevens, others idiosyncratic creations of individual vibes players. 1 common variation of burton grip places outside mallet between middle , ring fingers, instead of between index , middle.

vibraphonist joe locke s idiosyncratic four-mallet grip. many vibes players adapt standard grips varying degrees.

four-mallet vibists play scalar linear passages same two-mallet players, using 1 mallet each hand (outside right , inside left burton grip), except four-mallet players tend make more use of double strokes, not avoid crossing hands minimize motion between 2 bar rows. example, ascending e flat major scale played l-r-r-l-l-r-r-l, keeping left hand on black bars , right hand on white . linear passages leaps, 4 mallets used sequentially.

pedaling techniques @ least important four-mallet vibist two-mallet players, all-or-nothing dampening system of pedal/pad presents many obstacles multi-linear playing since each line has own dampening requirements independent of other lines. overcome this, four-mallet players use set of dampening techniques referred mallet dampening , in addition pedaling techniques used two-mallet players. mallet dampening techniques vibist garlic , fresh basil northern italian chef , contribute expressive four-mallet playing.

mallet dampening includes dead strokes player strikes bar, , instead of drawing mallet back, directly presses head of mallet onto bar, causing ringing stop. produces distinctive choked sound , dead strokes used particular sound in addition dampening aspects.

in hand-to-hand dampening, vibist plays note 1 mallet, while simultaneously pressing mallet onto ringing bar. dampening mallet , striking mallet held in different hands, advanced players can, in circumstances, use 2 mallets same hand. powerful of mallet dampening techniques can used dampen note on instrument while simultaneously striking other note.

slide dampening can used dampen note physically adjacent new note being struck. player strikes new note , controls rebound of mallet slides on , onto note dampened. slide dampening can make new note sound bent or if there glissando dampened note ringing one, 2 notes ring short period of time.

hand dampening (also known finger dampening) can used dampen white note while striking nearby black note. player strikes black note mallet, simultaneously press heel of hand or side of pinky finger onto ringing white bar, using same hand strike black note , dampen white note. using both hands, s possible dampen , strike 2 notes @ once.