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Home::Music
Guitar Lessons - Guitar Vibrato
Author : Bill McRea
Playing a guitar without vibrato is like eating Mexican food
without salsa. Vibrato is one of the most definitive techniques
in defining your musical style, your own personal unique sound.
No two players have the same vibrato sound. Some play slow and
wide while others play narrow and fast, and that's the beauty
behind spending a lot of time learning different vibrato
techniques. It's like eating different salsa's every time you go
to your favorite taco stand. Enough talk about food, lets talk
technique.
Vibrato is sometimes confused with tremolo. Basically it is just
a technique of vibrating the string sharp and flat around a root
note. For example if you are playing the 7th fret on the 3rd
string with your 3rd finger on your fret hand you can just push
the note up slightly and them pull it down slightly. Do this in
quick succession so the over riding effect is a "wobbly" tone
around the root note you are playing. Use your hand, wrist, and
arm to make the movements. Never just wiggle a finger. Some
people use a technique of pulling the string down towards the
floor and then releasing back up.
Try this in a variety of speeds and levels of bending during
your vibrato. The trick is to be consistent and smooth with your
motion. If you are playing a slow blues riff then you may want
to slow down and make a wide circular motion with the string, or
if you are playing a fast rock lick you may just ad a fast
narrow vibrato to accent the final note in a run.
It is possible to add vibrato using any finger you play with,
but it is most commonly done with the first and third finger on
the fret hand. Using your first finger is a bit trickier. I
usually use my first finger for fast vibratos similar to BB
Kings style. I will literally lift my other finger far off the
fret board, press down and just "vibrate" the string as fast and
as open as possible. That's funny the work vibrato is a lot like
vibrate, because that's actually what you are doing vibrating
the string.
When you combine vibrato with string bending, harmonics and
legato techniques you begin to discover the musician inside of
you. Playing guitar is about discovering your inner flow of
creativity and having the techniques to be able to express them.
Vibrato is one of the more personal and effective techniques. As
with all aspect of playing guitar you need to experiment with
these techniques, and most of all have fun!
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