[1] 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.When necessary, the outer mallet can be separately articulated by widening the interval so the mallets come as close to a right angle as possible and giving a swift downward flick with the wrist and middle and index fingers.Although results may vary from player to player, the advantage to the Burton grip is stability, where holding a specific interval steady is typically more comfortable than in other grips.
