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/.
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.
