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Ok, it's a little early to be learning this, but my school band director wants me to learn 4 mallets so that I can play vibes on this one song in Jazz Band. Any suggestions on how to start? I am a fluent mallet player with 1 mallet in each hand ;D !!!!

I need to learn the grip, movement, and everything else! Suggestions?

if you're going to be playing vibes, you're probably going to want to learn burton grip.  Your best bet is going to a teacher and getting instruction from her/him...Nothing beats a good teacher.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with the first sentence (to a certain degree, at least), and agree strongly with the second sentence. 

Space_, if you don't have access to a teacher, the Burton grip is probably the easiest to pick up on your own, although I don't recommend it - you can learn bad habits with any four-mallet grip.  Dave Samuels' instructional book, Contemporary Vibraphone Technique, Vol. I, has the best stand-alone description I've seen of the mechanics of the Burton grip.

I think the Samuels books are good in terms of learning basic vibraphone technique, and basic jazz theory.  In terms of chord voicings, it's common for players to look at the piano parts when creating vibes parts for big band arrangements.  Don't just look at the piano parts, tho - look at the guitar parts as well. (Remember that the guitar is written one octave higher than it sounds, so you'll have to transpose the guitar parts down an octave.)

I've got a number of lessons available on my web site, including one dealing with creating your own vibes parts for big band arrangements (since vibes are so rarely included in arrangements).  The link is http://www.malletjazz.com/lessons/ (http://www.malletjazz.com/lessons/).

In terms of vibes and grip choice, there are many vibes players who use the Burton grip for four-mallet playing, but it's not the only choice.  There were and are many noteworthy jazz vibraphonists who used grips other than the Burton grip for four-mallet work, including:

• Joe Locke (Musser/Stevens grip)
• Mike Mainieri (George Stone grip, if I understand my grip history correctly)
• the late Red Norvo ("traditional" four-mallet grip)

The important relationship is not which grip you use on which instrument, but which grip fits your hands the best.  This is where a good teacher comes into play.

I agree with James.

I use whatever grip feels best for the instrument and the music I'm playing. I have some "rules of thumb" that I share with students to get them thinking what to do when and where ... but in the end they have to decide what feels best. It's just like Matched or Traditional grip with drumsticks; who cares which grip you use as long as it sounds good.

Grip choice is more about feeling relaxed at the instrument. Traditional grip would have never been invented if it were not for the fact that the Snare drum hanging around the soldiers neck was at such a funky angle. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The various mallet grips came out of a need to hold more than two mallets at a time. Each grip has its pros and cons depending on the instrument you are using, the music you are playing, and the way God made your hands.

Find what works best for you, but familiarize yourself with all the grips so you can choose the best ... for you.

I have found that Burton's grip is more effective and comfortable.  I have tried Steven's grip and Musser's grip.  I did not enjoy using them.  And I tried them during two summers in Drum Corps....

My two cents.

Higgins

Well, it's good that you found something that works for you. It's not that the other grips are bad or invalid; you just have to use the grip that best suits your needs. I use all of the grips at various times for various reasons.

Also, it's difficult to rule something out unless you've had time to really work and develop the technique/grip. If we threw-out everything that was hard or took time to develop, we'd never do or use anything!  :)

yeah...In college, I was taught both, but I really took to the Stevens grip.  I really struggled getting close and distant intervals with the burton grip (which come quite naturally with the stevens grip)

My opinion: if you need to learn a four-mallet grip in a short amount of time, go with either traditional cross-grip or Burton cross-grip. The Stevens technique sure has a lot of advantages, but it takes longer time to learn. You can always learn the Stevens grip later. I learned the traditional cross-grip in a matter of days. It's real advantages are power, and the short learning process. There aren't many things to keep in mind, really. The disadvantages are very limited interval spread, and limited independence between the mallets. But still, Keiko Abe uses it, as well as the late Red Norvo as James mentioned.

OK, My suggestion is to keep it as simple as possible if you are just starting with the 4 mallet thing.  Personally I use traditional grip and it seems to work for me.  It might be one of the easiet to start on as already mentioned.  The problem with 4 mallets is that it can get complicate quickly and to really start to get the hang of it will probably take a couple of years or at least a lot of practice.  There's a lot to learn with voicings, different sticking, dampening, etc. etc etc.  Good lick.  And try some simple voicings and don't be afraid to use a two note chord every now and then if it's difficult.  Ciao, Joe

I started off playing marimba and so I'm biased towards Stevens grip; that's how I learned to play marimba and I liked it quite a lot. When I started playing vibes with four mallets, I never even thought twice about switching, so I can't understand why people advocate different techniques for playing the instruments. I'd rather be excellent at one technique than just pretty good with two or three. My advice is just to pick a technique you like (I'd recommend Stevens but it does take a while to get comfortable with) and stick with it.