Lesson Number Two

Vibrato

Vibrato is just about the most important technique you will ever learn on the guitar and the only one that you  will probably spend the rest of your life perfecting but it will be totally worth it.  Good vibrato can make a mediocre lick sound good and bad vibrato can make a great lick sound like crap.

Before we get into the techniques involved let’s talk about Vibrato types and examples of great Vibrato.  There are really just two types:  Deep slow Vibrato and Fast Shallow Vibrato.  BB King is a great example of the fast shallow vibrato and Eric Clapton is the premier example of slow deep Vibrato.  What type of Vibrato you choose is up to you.  What ever Vibrato sends chills up your spine and makes the hair stand up on your arms is the Vibrato that is right for you.  Trust your ears first and foremost when it comes to Vibrato.

Now how to do Vibrato.  Some shake their whole wrist.  Others shake there whole arm some just use their fingers.  Some try the side ways finger wiggle like a Violin of Cello player but for a fretted instrument like the guitar you just can not get enough of a change in pitch to really develop any kind of good Vibrato. 

There is no real right or wrong technique as long as you are not hurting yourself and you are getting good vibrato.  If it sounds good it is good.  What I would do is watch your favorite guitar player watch the way he does his vibrato and then start there.  Slowly you will start to develop your own unique technique.

Vibrato is unlike any other technique in that it is not really easy to teach you can’t just say do it like this and you will sound great.  It requires more of your ears than of your technique to have good Vibrato.  For example the way you stop your Vibrato is just as important as how you start it.  You want the last note to be in pitch with were it started.  If you stop and the note is bent slightly out of pitch it’s going to sound very bad.

You should also be capable of doing Vibrato with all the fingers on your fret hand.  This can take a lot of strength and training to pull of good Vibrato using just the pinky finger but it can be done and there are times when it is necessary in a quick or difficult passage to use the pinky finger for Vibrato.  99 percent of the time though you can just use your ring finger or index finger or do like Leslie west and lock your ring, middle and index fingers together for a much stronger and more aggressive Vibrato.  I really like to use this technique when I want very deep and fast Vibrato.  Listen to the Intro to Mississippi Queen and you will hear what I’m talking about.

Also you need to learn to get good Vibrato on each string and each fret.  The guitar has a sweet spot in the middle where Vibrato is really easy and juicy but don’t get stuck there you need to be able to apply good Vibrato on any part of the neck.  What I did in the beginning of my Vibrato training was start on the high E first fret with my index finger and did my Vibrato then same string same fret switched to my middle finger and then ring finger then pinky.  I would go back and forth making sure the Vibrato sounded the same every time for every finger if not I would do it again and again until I got it right then I would move on to the next fret and start all over going fret by fret al the way to the top of the neck then switching to the next lower string until I had worked through ever fret on every string with every finger.  It took me a very long time about a year before I could zip through it all with out stopping do to cramps in my fingers but it helped me make my Vibrato not only strong but flexible and like second nature.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten something but this will be a good start for you.  As usual if you have any questions feel free to ask.

-Spook