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tips for getting better vibrato technique


Johansolo

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Posted

i want to spend some time on my vibrato technique.

its not bad, but its one of the areas i definitely want to improve on.

 

any tips or songs/licks i should try and learn/emulate?

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Posted

one of the vibrato techniques that helped me a lot , and a LOT is the technique of Steve Morse . and he would do that to get a handle on his vibrato. he would play every note on the guitar, fretting with each of the four fingers and applying vibrato with each finger. he would do that over the entire fretboard.

 

it takes a long time. but if you do that, you'll definitely have your vibrato together.

Posted

I like to look at vibrato a couple of ways.

 

The "mellow note"...something quiet I'll usually use more of a classical vibrato where the fretting hand is moving back and forth along the line of the string...not bending the string up and down. It provides warmth to the note without too much movement.

 

a fretted note that is a little more intense I'll start playing a more conventional vibrato where I am moving the string slightly in an "up and down" motion.

 

Something to keep in mind is that when a singer or violinist or really anyone without frets vibratos a note, the pitch is going slightly above and below your "in tune" note. The ear tends to hear the center of your up and down movement as the actual pitch. On the guitar, when we vibrato an "un-bent" or just fretted note there is no way to go below the pitch...when you pull the string down it will raise the pitch just like bending the string up will....if you are equal in the amounts of "up" and "Down" you will still have a center that is slightly more sharp than then non-vibratoed note.

 

The common danger that I see is when someone will pull the string down a little bit and THEN vibrato....that is making a sharp note even sharper...the quickest remedy is just to listen to you own playing and being aware of when you are out of tune....it is surprising how many guitarists play without even hearing themselves...once you get into that habit (and you might be a more advanced player and already do this) everything will sound better simply because you are not playing the instrument out of tune....

 

With bending, some folks like to play a very wide vibrato at the top of the bent note all the time....for me it depends on the moment....something mellower or more dramatic I might slow the last little bit of the bend, gradually come into pitch and then vibrato with an appropriate intensity....or if I am playing something really intense I might just play a very wide and crazy vibrato.....that part of it really depends on the music....the most consistent and what I consider the most important thing is that nothing is pushed out of tune....

 

 

I hope this is helpful....I tend to ramble a bit but to me a vibrato should be as varied as your tone of voice, and not just one way to play every note....I really don't think about vibrato when I play, it is just something I do naturally to "color" notes....

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