my vibrato

[john]

guys i need help,

ive been playing guitar for say 6 or 7 years now and i still cant do vibrato!!!

i suppose the reason i never devedoped it i that im originally a bass player and never needed to use it.

does anyone have any tips or exercises i can do to help ?

i have a serious lack of rythm in my left hand

john.

[weezerboy]

use two fingers, put one directly behind the other one for more leverage..thats all i can think of

[GregP]

Good advice, especially if you do a lot of bending, too. I do it the B.B. King way a lot of the time, too, though, and I feel there's more natural 'rhythm' that way--

Hold the note with just the forefinger, and let the rest of your fingers fan out-- don't force it and make yourself uncomfortable, but they should be fairly extended for this technique to work. Then, instead of thinking about wiggling the string itself around I just shake my hand. I never concentrate on how much I'm moving the string, because if you're putting that much 'thought' into it, you're bound to get uneven vibrato. The extended fingers give your hand some 'leverage' to throw around for a nice, natural (usually fast, though) vibrato.

For that really slow wavery stuff, you're usually better off with weezerboy's type of grip, though I'll still do slow one-finger vibrato sometimes.

Greg.

[VanKirk]

Yeah, the BB King "Butterfly" as he calls it works for me but I got a little frustrated tryin to get a deeper, slower vibrato.

I noticed that going to a thicker string helped me. Then I was able to just push the string and let the tension from the string pull it back.

Using a finger behind another helps too but you'll have to just strengthen your index finger since you can't put another finger behind it.

Experiment with different speeds until you get one that just feels good to you.

Sorry, can't think of any good advice other than that at the moment.

[lovekraft]

i suppose the reason i never devedoped it i that im originally a bass player and never needed to use it.

I thought all bass players used vibrato! Anyway, for an exercise, try holding a fretted note with a single finger, remove your thumb from the neck, and slowly bend it up a half step and release it smoothly by turning your wrist. Do it very slowly (use a metronome if possible) until it's completely smooth and even, then slowly speed it up. The trick is to develop a light touch, and avoid developing tendonitis . You can also use a more classical approach and roll your fingertip back and forth along the length of the string the way a cellist does. It's not as wide a vibrato, but it might be easier to control. Give it a try. HTH

[westhemann]

i use two types of vibrato...i rapidly bend the string by wiggling my fingertip on all the strings except the outside ones...on those strings i just shake my whole hand because they tend to fall off the neck if i do it the other way

[keithb]

I use four types of vibrato (I think they've all been mentioned already, but whatever )

• 1 - Using only my finger(s) to move the string up and down along the fret
  
• 2 - Using wrist/forearm motion to move the string 'back and forth' like violin or cello vibrato (this one sounds pretty nice because the string moves up and down in pitch)
  
• 3 - Using a twisting motion of my wrist/forearm with the fingers fanned out (think of twisting a door knob) - I think this is the 'BB King' style mentioned before
  
• 4 - Everyone's favorite - the whammy bar! With a free-floating trem I can get ultra-fast, ultra-wide, slow and subtle, or anything in between
  

[westhemann]

yeah i use the bar too...i don't do the wrist twisting thing though....

[Curtis P]

heres how i get a good vibrato, if i can still post music i will just do vibratos to show yea

in a power chord, anyone I pull both fingers to the High E, then once I got that, i just push it back and pull it again, makin sure its smooth

It takes practice, it came natural to me though, dont know why....

Curtis

[Curtis P]

ok, it sounds bad, just couple power chords

Dont Click Here (wink)

Hope this helps some

Curtis

[GregP]

It's kind of out-of-tuney! Could be rather useful for certain kinds of songs, but it's not particularly smooth or consistent; also, I think we've MOSTLY been talking about single-note vibrato, though I guess nobody really said anything about single notes.

Greg

[westhemann]

i think you are overdoing it,curtis...the vibrato you had on your other recording was much better

[darren wilson]

Shake it.

Shake it, shake it.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture.

I do mostly the back-and-forth across the frets method. I don't find the "rolling the finger" method very effective on fretted instruments, but it's the only way to get good vibrato on fretless bass or other stringed instruments.

[wylde1919]

Shake it.

Shake it, shake it.

Shake it like a Polaroid picture.

well thats in my head for the rest of the day.....

[weezerboy]

mine too

[daveq]

My guitar teacher used to get pissed at me when I was first learning and did it like you would on a violin - shake it from body to peghead. Of course, on a fretted instrument it does little to nothing unless you span multiple frets and then it sounds quite dramatic. I think Hendrix used to do that once in a while. The main idea (at least the way I was taught) is to bend up and down evenly around a center point. Don't go too fast - a med/slow vibrato is all that is usually needed.

I don't think it matters how you do it as long as it sounds right with the style of music you're playing. I don't even think it matters if you're not doing it evenly around the center point - sometimes you may want a crazier sounding vibrato - but I think a good starting point would be trying to keep it even and at a moderate speed.

[VanKirk]

When I first began playin I tried the body to neck wiggle but I found it wasn't very useful. Especially, when I would bend a note then use vibrato as the note was bent.

I seem to get more consistent pitch and speed when I bend my whole wrist but I don't practice enough either way I do it. Find something that feels right and do it over and over. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!