Burton grip

The Burton grip is a method of holding two mallets in each hand in order to play a mallet percussion instrument, such as a marimba or a vibraphone, using four mallets at once. It was developed by jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton around the 1960s.

The grip was designed to make up for Burton's perceived shortcomings of the traditional grip, which he thought could be difficult to control while changing intervals. Burton grip was also designed so that a player could play two-mallet lines and melodies without having to put down two mallets. Gary Burton had observed that jazz vibraphonists would tend to play harmony using four mallets, but switch to a two mallet grip to solo, so he made the Burton grip so that one could solo without having to switch grips, allowing for chords to be used during these solos.