Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to work on my solo playing. I'm starting to get more comfortable accompanying myself. I find the hardest thing is to keep a line going and not have the chords interrupt the flow. I can play through changes fairly well unaccompanied without chords. But now I find my left hand is always going for a chord.

Mixing up Improvisational Techniques and Concepts on "All Of Me"

Here is a quick "pass" at a solo vibes version of the TOTM, just one time through the form, incorporating some of the reharm stuff from my quartet arrangement of the tune. It's a work in progress, but feedback is welcome... :-)

My pick is Gary Burton - Alone at Last

What's yours? Only one and you can of course talk about why.

For me the solo playing on this CD is unmatched to this day. I heard it when I was young and it blew me away.

Your turn.

HEY GUYS, I think it's great to include you all in some way. So I'll post questions and hopefully you guys will answer. I'll provide links to this stuff for the attendees when it gets close to the workshop.

What is a specific exercise someone can do to work on improvising. Be specific and short. You can link to something here that helped you of course.

Any Ideas?

If you're not familiar with the collection of Bach's violin sonatas and partitas you should pick up a copy. They sound beautiful on vibes and marimba and have been studied and performed by numerous students and professional mallet players. David Friedman recorded one movement on "April Joy". He improvises on it too, in the Baroque style! It's amazing!

The manuscript PDF file I'm including seems to have an extra repeat of the "B" section....don't know why. The piece has just 2 sections, each repeated once. Bar 34 in the PDF file should be the final bar. Ignore the rest.

https://soundcloud.com/frankvalente/my-foolish-heart-solo-vibraphone9-2…

The link above is of a recording of the first ballad I learned to play in the Solo Vibraphone Style. I'm quite new to the solo vibraphone style and took many ideas from the soloist approaches of pianist such as Bill Evans, Fred Hersch, and Brad Mehldau, as well as the guidance of my teacher. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Line I like and use too much.
-Tyler