I've seen players put the sticks in some pretty weird positions to acheive difficult voicings. But actually you really never have to stand in any sort of weird way to accomplishing difficult voicings on the vibes. Here's a little PDF to check out with some photos and the positions.

In order to learn a blues, you'll have to get some sort of system to help you remember the notes as well as to help transpose them into different keys. There are a few different types of blues scales, however in this podcast we'll focus on the minor blues scales. In the key of F the notes would be: F Ab Bb B C Eb F.

Licks are a great way to study vocabulary. There's a lot of talk that licks turn you into a copy and paste player. I disagree, you make the choice on whether to become a copy and past player. Assuming licks are the problem gives licks way too much power!!! They can be really useful.

Here's quick lick number 1. Gives you a way to use the left hand to accompany yourself over a fast moving lick.

Check the end of the lick when you hit the F chord. Just double up with your right hand to play a chord. That's a good concept/technique to get in your playing.

Quick Lick #1

Series Explanation:
When I was getting my masters in music education, one of the projects I came up with to do was a transcription series on the tune Body and Soul. The idea was to transcribe as many different soloists as possible on the same tune. I wanted to be able to compare stylistic devices and approaches to the tune as a way to try and master it. I found it to be a tremendously valuable exercise. Try it with a tune of your choice that you want to master. I will be posting all my Body and Soul transcriptions periodically one by one.

Entry:

I've been thinking about the next vibe hang. I know Mario from Alternate Mode will be back from NAMM this week. He wants to get involved and I wanted to see if a few of you guys might want to get involved and try this out.

All you need is a video camera and a stereo mic. You can even do it without the stereo mic if you had too.

I'm thinking about one of the Sundays in early February.

What do you think?

When you divide the octave up, you come up with a symetrical way of looking at music. It opens up new possibilites for improvising and playing over changes. You can come up with some interesting symmetrical scales that completely change the sounds and chords you can come up with.