Gary Burton demonstrates the Burton Grip 

I'm a guitarist but still find this fascinating. Just a joy to listen to this man play and talk.

I am such a huge fan of Gary Burton. I love playing four mallet vibraphone parts. Just something about it that makes you feel like you're on top of the world.

Man, RU-vid sure is a time machine. Just a few minutes ago, I watched old performances of Gary from the 60s (with Stan Getz), and this was under related vids. Kinda weird seeing him young in one video, and then immediately old in the other lol. Funnily, he still looks exactly the same, except with wrinkles (sorry Gary haha). The power of RU-vid's archiving.... Anyway, very informative clip.

Interesting to hear how he developed the grip. The Musser grip does allow the mallets to come closer together for smaller intervals and is more accommodating for marimba, but seems far less natural to me than the one he developed.

i am a marimba player and when i first learned to play with four mallets this grip was WAY easier than that other grip!

I listen to Gary Burtons Music since the 70th after I saw his group live in Frankfurt. Wonderfull to hear his explainations here. Thank so much for upload.

today I found out I was accidentally doing burton grip instead of traditional! I only knew stevens and I wanted to learn traditional, and I was like "this doesn't feel right" and sure enough I swapped them and was like "ah there we go." so glad I did that!

What a total gentleman with a beautiful energy sharing music!

thank you very much for uploading this

Outstanding explanation!

Thanks for this video. I am a music teacher and what he says makes total sense. Start students the right way. Quite honestly, I did not know this before today. Thanks

Amazing.

@Conn210 .I said :" Thank's a lot for this VERY useful video, by by the master of the modern vibes. Greetings for RU-vid !" And greetings from France...

Ahhhaaaa I got to see him in concert back in 1983 in Izmir Turkey open theater I had a great time seen him :) Specially "African flower" song... God Bless him

The great liberator of jazz in the 1970’s.

I was trained with an orchestral background, so I learned the Musser grip. I didn't really know that other options were available. A year or so ago I sustained some injury to my hands and wrist so I've been looking for alternatives to help with pain, so I'm going to try changing over. If it's good enough for Mr. Burton then it's definitely good enough for me.

Great video, it explaines alot. ive been playing for about a year now, with 2 mallets. cant decide on what grip im gonna use, i havent really tried any yet. I've been seeing all kinds of grips, Fulcrum's grip, stevens grip, burton's grip

I really admired and I am fan of Gary Burton He is very honest to say that about the grip. In Chiapas Mexico, the traditional marimba players used that grip since 100 years ago, and they don't know Gary Burton, they called traditional grip. In Mexico we call that the Traditional grip, and the "Traditional grip" used in Japan we called "Japanese grip". So please, Gary Burton say it, is not Burton Grip, always Americans wants to be the owner of all things in the world.

this is a very very helpful video!! thank you

man, it’s the best instrument!

Merci beaucoup pour cette TRES utile vidéo, par le maître du vibraphone moderne. Vive RU-vid !

@ConradJacob Well I'd say it depends on what you're playing. I'd use stevens for marimba where you may need really wide stretches, then use fulcrum or burton for vibes. Of course that's just a preference!

I play bass and this is still interesting haha.

@obstreperousdrum I definitely found Burton to be the most intuitive of the three. I do have a weakness for Stevens, though. I found the work necessary to get some Stevens chops to be very rewarding in the long run. I consider myself more a marimbist than a vibraphonist.

you fooking genius bro

@boybawang9997 you have to check craigslist constantly. At least a few times a week. I just picked up a 1971 musser one nighter that is in very good shape and I paid just over $1,000 for it. That is inexpensive in the world of percussion considering the cheapest new musser vibraphone is slightly over $2,000. Then you also have to look into finding one with graduated or ungraduated bars. It's preference on that really.

@jimova72 There is a difference between traditional and Burton grip though. Are you not mistaking it for actual traditional grip?

You're right. It is easier to learn Burton because of it being a crossed grip. There's a lot of muscle building you need to do with the Musser. Musch more building than Burton, but you still have to build muscle for Burton also.

im trying to use 4 but i dont know what to play. i can use 3 and play some triad pieces but do you have any rock/metal piece sugestions?

@wadoryu2u yes and no, steven's grip is widely accepted by collages and music conservatories, but burton is widly bcome accepted as the prime grip for vibraphone, as the mallets are more flat to the board than stevens, and stevens grip is not the the "best" grip, each grip: crossgrip (traditional), musser, burtons and stevens have their pros and cons, stevens has wide intervals and mallet independance, as burton has better intervals short of an octave and it is easier to learn...im 15

the inside mallet for the stevens grip is suppose to be in the fat of your palm....if you are holding it by just the end, then, of course it is going to be clumsy

Well, I'm sorry if I don't know how to spell one simple thing. And I KNOW it's about the Burton grip, but DUH, at 4:42 he demonstrates the Musser grip, and I thought it was called Stevens grip, not Musser.

I don't understand when he says he plays single line parts with the upper mallet of each hand. It looks like he's playing single parts with the upper mallet of his right hand, but the lower mallet of his left hand.

I'm currently a high school student pursuing how to play with four mallets. Any suggestions for lessons online or teachers in the Las Vegas area?

I've actually gotten so used to 4-mallet that i'm equally fast, if not better. I dunno, I haven't used two in awhile.

Apparently I use this grip but I thought I was using just a traditional cross grip...can anybody explain to me what the difference is between these two? They seem exactly the same to me.

I play stevens mostly and that was a very bad example of stevens grip, but that's not what the vid is about. But with stevens you can play more difficult things on marimba.

Actually there are many differences between Musser's and Stevens's grips. Not to mention that there isn't actually a Steven's grip, more technically its a Steven's Movement.

Has anybody else found Burton easier to learn than Stevens'? I'm not trying to say that one is better than the other by any means. They both have their place. But, it seems that, because of the stability in any crossed-grip, learning Burton has been easier than Stevens'.

I guess two mallets technique can single out a lot of technique problems since it's simpler...

I'd love to learn to play a vibe.

I think it was more of the fact that so many people learned of the grip through him, that it has become tradition to call it Burton grip. It's the same way that musser grip has now become more well known as Steven's grip. And I detest your final statement, because it is ignorant, and close-minded.

@iamtheonetolive Stevens inherently sounds bad on vibraphone. Playing Stevens requires you to be able to walk around the instrument to reposition yourself properly; Burton grip averts this problem very conveniently as it allows you to keep one foot on the sustain pedal at all times. This is impossible to accomplish with Stevens unless you violate some very fundamental rules of his. A good rule of thumb is Stevens for marimba and Burton for vibraphone. Just FYI from someone with experience.

Practice with 4! you'll come to love it and you'l never go back trust me.

Do you know the Morin grip? Amazing

similar to puppeteering

I love how bad he is at Musser/Stevens xD Not a huge fan of Burton, but I'm gonna have to learn it anyways =/

muscer grip?? Isn't it Stevens grip? huh...

the other grips are uncomfortable and borderline painful for me so this is perfect, is that just me?

i only know the musser, and am not comfortable with it /:

It's just a 4mallettee?

Why does he remind me of Palpatine...

Bet he is great with chopsticks

Has Gary ever had a student vibist who surpassed him? For most of us teachers, that's the foremost dream we can have.

First of all, it's spelled Musser, and second this video is on Burton grip, not Musser or Stevens.

we all know Leigh Howard Steven's method is the easiest and best method and is the most widely accepted by the percussion community and taught at colleges and music conservatories in the US, so everyone, go do that...

I've heard about Gary's "grip".. LOL Gary, drop the "r"...

I agreed with you until the little shot at Americans. I understand that it's popular here, but it's not really true.

he's awesome. No soul, mega anticeptic. Bobby Hutcherson all the way.

Oh sorry, but Steven's and Musser grip are basically the same thing.

Mans created a new grip because he didn’t want to learn proper technique with traditional

yeah. I'll stick with 2 mallets... alot easier to play actual songs that are fast paced across the entire instrument

and btw, the example you gave on how you should start playing the piano isn't really the wisest thing to do. your other fingers might get undevelopped and will get even weaker if not properly practised with.

Bad Stevens technique is a notorious cause of carpal tunnel syndrome. Attaching a sustain pedal to a Stevens player's foot will indeed result in hyper-extensions and weak sound on obscure chords. No disrespect intended here, I just think music-related injuries and poor sound should be avoided at all costs :)

I dont mean to be rude but, the musser grip feels clumsy because you aren't holding it right! The end of the mallet is supposed to rest flat on your palm (creating the notorious "Jesus calluses"). You are just pinching the mallet with your fulcrum and not letting it rest inside your hand. You are a great vibe player though! I highly respect you as a musician.