Vibrato

[dhalif]

Through 8 years of guitar playing, i've met and heard many other guitar players from singapore.. to australia to germany.. and some of them.. when they play.. it sounds very dead.. its like arranging notes on a midi platform and just do a playback on the notes..

So today, im going to explain some of the things that can change that - you might not be aware of it.. but it helps tremendously.. and give a real change to your overall playing.. so people can go "wahlahnehh power sial!".

Vibrato
So what is vibrato?
Players of many instruments, including the human voice use vibrato to make the sustained notes more lively and add an expression to it.
How to do siaaa?
It's done by rapidly bending strings up and down so it produce a change in pitch rapidly from point 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 while sustaining a note.

Usually, for starters, try to use 3 fingers to hold the string and do the vibrato - you will have more control/strength to do the vibrato.
Now, vibrato temperatures are (in my opinion) very crucial - how much should u bend? how fast?
How much you bend doesn't really matter.. just as long as it doesnt go more than a whole note up it should sound perfect.... ok now, try to follow the mood/flow of the song when you vibrato(speed wise).. a very fast vibrato will not sound really nice on a ballad-y slow song.. and vice versa

If you don't wanna use fingers to do a vibrato.. sure u can use ur whammy bar.. but it's harder to control and tends to go super widee even out of the "sweet spot" which(in my opinion) is a whole note bend.

Bending
Many of us guitar players use this technique, its like a must.. like chicken rice without chicken.. or maggi without the noodles..

So you can bend? but why everytime you do it.. it sounds like #$% ??? Again, it sounds really dead.. - ok im sure many of you have tried programming guitars in midi.. and the bend notes.. you put the bend command in or something like that am i right? how does it sound like? hahahaha...
How do you aid this technique? with what?
Vibrato. yes... the above mentioned technique - they must go together like spaghetti and meatballs(when playing long sustained notes)...so how do you use both techniques together? As you do a whole note bend up... do a vibrato at that position.. while you're bending that note.. the vibrato will affect that note you're bending (im just trying to really get you to imagine the whole sequence)... releasing the bent note and vibrato-ing is not the right way(ive seen some of my students do that when i try to explain) .. so yeah.. and really.. while ur doing this. try to use 3 fingers you will have much m uch much muchhhhhhhh more control to bend and vibrato up there..

trust me... it will be a pleasure playing guitar from then on.. the notes coming out alive and SHIOK AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

if at anytime you feel some of the parts of this post you disagree with please.. by all means slap me and say its wrong..







with guitar love,
dhalif

 

[vernplum]

Great advice. Vibrato is one of the things that distinguishes one player from the next and a good command of the technique that allows a wide range of expression sets apart good players from bad far more than other technical aspects.

Most non-classical guitarists favour a side to side (perpendicular to the string movement). Less commonly used is the classical vibrato which is along the string within the fret. This is quite a lot harder and doesn't work well in the high registers. Steve Vai mixes the two and has a circular motion vibrato in the larger fret spaces.

A note on practicing; like anything, you must home in on the technique for short periods of time, say 10 minutes where you do *nothing but* vibrato with all fingers on all strings in all positions. Vary speed, intensity, (temperature - as Dhalif so colourfully describes it ) and whatever other variables you can think of.

After this, go back to your normal 'just play' routine or noodling and make a concerted effort to end your phrases with vibrato. Think to yourself, "this phrase is about to end - I'm gonna add some vibrato!" By doing this, the technique will gradually become more naturally integrated.

"wahlahnehh power sial!".

Now I know that this means "good" (or if you're Michael Jackson, "bad")!

 

[penguin]

strange , i was explaining this so call technique to a friend yesterday..
on the topic of bending, i`ll told that guy that he can do upward bending or even downward,
hell, he can even pre-bend the notes then play it ...
there are many ways to do it...its up to the player himself..
as for vibrato...try to do it slowly....
its suppose to "join"the ealier (bend,vibrato notes to the next note)

as matter of fact prior to bending i suggest you mute the strings then wack it...

hmmm...what u guys think...otherwise the notes sounds mechanical without body.

 

[hifi_killer]

how to use 3 fingers to hold the string?

 

[dhalif]

lets say ur fretting the 7th fret.. so kinda like ur 3rd finger press the fret.. your 1st and 2nd finger support it by pushing on the string up as well... just side by side.. it doesnt matter where u place ur 1st and 2nd finger because once ur 3rd finger is on the note.. all the notes before that will not interfere..

 

[hofner]

i can't seem to do steve's circular vibrato...any advice? I am starting to blame the texture of the fretboard :?


and how does joe satriani do a vibrato on top of a bend.

 

[vernplum]

i can't seem to do steve's circular vibrato...any advice? I am starting to blame the texture of the fretboard :?


and how does joe satriani do a vibrato on top of a bend.

The only way, like any difficult technique is to do it really, really, really slowly at first. No shortcuts. if you try to do it at full intensity with no practice you are doomed to fail.

Regarding bending and vibrato, it's quite tricky, but same principle applies - do it really, really, really slowly to start with. Do a bend, then release it a microtonal amount, i.e. very little, then bend back to pitch and down again. Repeat as necessary. You can also overbend and release and repeat, or overbend, release topitch, release under, up to pitch, etc...

 

[dhalif]

i tried the circular vibrato.. and it works good for slow phrases.. i think otherwise for fast stuff.. but i still use normal vibratos up till today..