In this week's set of lessons, we're examining some different rhythmic comping exercises. Most of these are based around a simple dotted quarter and eighth note rhythm. In this first day, work on exaggerating the shortness of the eighth note. Keep it short and crisp to make the exercise groove.

Hello everyone!
It's been awhile since I've posted anything on the site, but I'm finding time to be a vibraphonist at least a little while school consumes my life...

Last weekend I attended the first Vibes Bootcamp at Tony's house in Philadelphia. He wants to make it a recurring event, so I figured I'd give a little recap:

The boot camp was an intensive two days of studying vibes in an intimate yet relaxed setting; there were only five of us, plus Tony and Anthony Smith as our instructors. Randy Sutin also stopped by to hang and offer playing tips.

Day 5 is similar to Day 4 with open position chords. Take notice of the final chord in this lesson. It's a Cm6 chord with the 11th in the top. This is a great voicing for minor chords. Be sure to memorize this one and put it through some different keys.

Day 4: All the chords are in open position. Although they're in open position, you will see that some of the chords still have a lot of crunchiness. Try memorizing these voicings and maybe try them in a few different keys.

Day 3: You will notice some open position chords in this progression. They are on the ii-V part. The tonic chords are still closed. Make note of the crunchiness in the closed chords.

So.... I'm so busy keeping the site up, that I don't get to members comments quick enough. there is a cue of them. problem is a bunch of them are spam. So I have to look.

But this member posted this video. I think the vibes sound beautiful and he's playing an original more popish kind of tune. But I thought it sounded beautiful! So here it is... .and i'll get to member's posts and comments.

I like the clarity of it all. he def dampens to the melody NOT the chords. can you hear this?

Day 2: We've changed the top note of each chord to a G. No matter where the harmony goes, this is the note all the chords hover around. These are closed position chords.

So thanks to Dr. Stephan Clarmann von Clarence we have a serious list of vibe players.

I want to make a section of the site where i put names and then we can research them and hopefully have an exhaustive list of vibe players and information on them.

I would post the names and probably add an asterisk in their name. you guys would see the asterisk and then look for some stuff on the internet and in the comments build information on the players.

What do you think? Anyone interested in researching? Want to turn this info into a thesis? Ideas>

Can someone who was there put the list of players up?

This is our Philly mini bootcamp. It was great and we worked hard for 2 days! Mini bootcamps are fun because they are small and intimate!

I had a bass player over one day and we played a tune. here's the hour.

This week's objective is voicings for minor ii-Vs. In Day 1, we're dealing with closed voicings. Most of these contain the basic chord tones. Practice them and memorize them before moving to the next lesson.