# Vibrato



## bostjan (Feb 23, 2006)

Please post your typical method of vibrato.

Me:
Short notes, no vibrato
Medium notes, a little quick motion along the length of the string within one fret
Long notes, a tad slower, moving up and down to bend the string
After a bend (especially unison bends) wait about 1/4 second, then apply long not vibrato
Natural harmonics, pick harmonic and slowly reach for the trem arm and give a very slow, light shake
Flutter, standard finger-flick method
Bulgarian-style, like medium notes, but making sure to slip over the next fret up just slightly on every apogee.


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## distressed_romeo (Feb 23, 2006)

I have a few as well...

Aggressive, fast one, usually just under a semitone in width. Applied straight away.
Slow, gentle one, about a 1/4 tone in width, applied after holding note for a little bit. Mainly inspired by Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance.
Classical, along-the-string vibrato.
George Lynch sliding vibrato.
Whammy bar vibrato; slow circular vibrato on sustained notes and chords.


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## bostjan (Feb 23, 2006)

A semitone?!  

my widest vibrato is about 50 or 60 cents.


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## distressed_romeo (Feb 23, 2006)

Yeah, what can I say...I went through a big Zakk Wylde phase!


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## Leon (Feb 23, 2006)

sometimes holding a note solid can build tension. vibrato is nice though!


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## David (Feb 23, 2006)

i do em all, using the trem for the vibrato for me is the best.

I "flutter" when I do a quick vibrato, haha.


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## dpm (Feb 23, 2006)

I don't put any thought into my vibrator, I just use it when it feels right


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## Leon (Feb 23, 2006)

dpm said:


> I don't put any thought into my vibrator, I just use it when it feels right


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## bostjan (Feb 23, 2006)

Dan, you kill me!

Ever heard "Apparatus" by Matthias IA Eklundh? 

I very rarely hold a solid note for very long, but it sure could build tension!


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## dpm (Feb 23, 2006)

Tension? Holding notes?

My Dying Bride


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## Drew (Feb 23, 2006)

bostjan said:


> A semitone?!
> 
> my widest vibrato is about 50 or 60 cents.



Dude, you should hear me when I really break out the wrist vibrato, lol. You cant get away with it in every musical situation but when the time's right I'll go nearly as far as a half-step for a fast, wide "wrist" vibrato. 

Men from the boys - first time I saw Satch live, what floored me was not his technique but his vibrato.


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## distressed_romeo (Feb 23, 2006)

+1!!! I've heard Steve Morse use a fast vibrato that sounds like just under a tone and a half...seen him do it onstage too, so I know it's not the bar!


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## Chris D (Feb 24, 2006)

I think a key part of good-sounding vibrato applies to both electric guitar AND vocals:
Knowing when NOT to use it, & how to be subtle.

What sounds grim is those over-vibratoed singers you hear on (early) american-idol auditions, or karaoke singers who think they're really something... yeeauch!!! 
Or imo the most horrible, grating vocal vibrato EVAR: Edith Piaf... 

Even players with really W I D E vibrato ( ie Malmsteen, Wylde etc ) know when to tone it down, or "feed it in" & vary the speed etc.


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## Ancestor (Feb 24, 2006)

I'll tell you one thing, my radial vibrato is way better on a seven. I try not to think about it too much. I like the bar, too. 

I was watching a documentary on Julliard. Perlman was teaching. He commented that it was like watching a very tall man enter the room and how would you expect his voice to sound? or something. He was adamant that the vibrato had to be uniquely appropriate for each piece. 

I also saw Yehudi Menuhin commenting on (I think) Oistrakh. He was mentioning that Oistrakh had many different vibratos and slides, more so than any other virtuoso.


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## Drew (Feb 24, 2006)

Beelzebloke said:


> I think a key part of good-sounding vibrato applies to both electric guitar AND vocals:
> Knowing when NOT to use it, & how to be subtle.
> 
> What sounds grim is those over-vibratoed singers you hear on (early) american-idol auditions, or karaoke singers who think they're really something... yeeauch!!!
> ...



+1. This is actually something i struggle with, I play a lot of slow and mellow stuff and unless I consciously think about it i always fall into a vibrato that's prbably too fast for the peice. Having a good, strong vibrato is absolutely important, but being able to control it is even more so. 

As an aside, we've had a vibrato thread for two days and ~15 posts, and still no mention of/post from Pete Starks. WTF???!!!


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## YYZ2112 (Feb 24, 2006)

I'm not sure I would say I have an actual method or not, but I use a combination of my trem and my fingers to get my vibrato results. I probably rely on my trem way too much. It's been bothering me lately that I can't seem to break away from it. Even when I take the bar out I'm still reaching for it. I think I have a sickness. 

I blame Alex Lifeson. I was so into the 80's Rush stuff and I tried to emulate his every move.



Drew said:


> As an aside, we've had a vibrato thread for two days and ~15 posts, and still no mention of/post from Pete Starks. WTF???!!!



 I just saw this....


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## Drew (Feb 24, 2006)

YYZ2112 said:


> I just saw this....



 

If you change your vibrato, dude, I'm stealing all your guitars and won't give them back untill you promise not to. 

Unless of course you manage to change it for the better. Honestly, I love your vibrato, and you've got me trying to get better at a bar vibrato these days simply because it sounds so lush.


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## YYZ2112 (Feb 24, 2006)

Drew said:


> If you change your vibrato, dude, I'm stealing all your guitars and won't give them back untill you promise not to.
> 
> Unless of course you manage to change it for the better. Honestly, I love your vibrato, and you've got me trying to get better at a bar vibrato these days simply because it sounds so lush.



 Thanks man! 

To be completely honest, I never really put a whole lot of thought into vibrato before a few of you here mentioned it. I guess over time without trying I learned how to use the trem as a tool rather than just for doing bar dives. I just worry at times that the bar dates my playing.


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## distressed_romeo (Feb 24, 2006)

If it works just go with it dude!

The point about varying the vibrato to suit the song is a really good one. When I first started conciously working on my own my role models were violinists and singers, not guitarists, as those instrumentalists have generally developed pitch control to a much higher extent than we guitarists have (except for Jeff Beck!).


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## bostjan (Feb 25, 2006)

distressed_romeo said:


> If it works just go with it dude!
> 
> The point about varying the vibrato to suit the song is a really good one. When I first started conciously working on my own my role models were violinists and singers, not guitarists, as those instrumentalists have generally developed pitch control to a much higher extent than we guitarists have (except for Jeff Beck!).



Jeff Beck is a huge influence on me. I remember trying to transcribe one of his songs long ago. First I thought he was tuned down 1/4 step or something, but then I found other notes were in tune, and I realized that he had actual pitch control with his bends and trem. That realization helped springboard me into microtones.


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## distressed_romeo (Feb 25, 2006)

No-one else has developed that to the same extent he has. He really is unique.


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## Metal Ken (Mar 9, 2006)

Steve Vai influenced my Vibrato, both in articles i've read about practicing it and trying to exactly cop the same feel as For The Love Of God. 

Vibrato - Seperates the men from the boys ;p


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## 7stringninja (Mar 25, 2006)

Wait.....you mean, you guys don't use a slide? WTF!

I thought all 7-stringers used slides!


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## Naren (Mar 29, 2006)

Vibrato - seperates the men from the boys.

I remember the first year that I played guitar, I used little to no vibrato. I'd play a song I wrote then and it sounded fine. Fast forward, 5-6 years later and I play the exact song but with vibrato which breathes life and vibrance into the piece.

I use different kinds of vibrato depending on what I'm playing, varying speeds and width. Sometimes I do a slow small vibrato and sometimes a fast wide vibrato.

Like Drew, the main thing that caught my attention with Satriani (and Vai) at first was their vibrato. Mmm.


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## Metal Ken (Mar 29, 2006)

Especially the vibrato in For The Love Of God \m/


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## Naren (Mar 29, 2006)

Metal Ken said:


> Especially the vibrato in For The Love Of God \m/



Definitely. I can play For The Love Of God, but obviously not like he does. What I specifically can't do at all is use the tremolo bar to raise and lower the notes like he does. In other songs, he'll play an entire melody line on 1 fret, using solely the tremolo bar. I can't do that... of course, I've only owned a tremolo-equipped guitar since August last year.


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## usagi (Mar 30, 2006)

I was just thinking about this. I was listening to C.O.C.s Deliverance. Weatherman has some wicked vibrato. It really makes a solo. Though I think it the faster you play the harder it gets to throw in those phenomenal wide shakes.


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## Toshiro (Mar 30, 2006)

You know, after reading this thread I've realised that I don't think about my vibrato much, it's just sorta there. Dunno if that's good or bad...


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## bostjan (Apr 8, 2006)

Wow, I guess the general consensus has been reached. I caught myself doing something tonight at practice. I was bending into notes I didn't bend into before. Part of the reason was pitch control, but part of it was that I could get lusher vibrato going.


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## Mark. A (Apr 23, 2006)

Seperates the men from the boys


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## Desecrated (Apr 23, 2006)

I use slide sometimes, floyd rose and slide works really good together. 
My vibrato comes from listening to much to bb king and gary moore. I bend whey to much on the vibrato notes.


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## Nik (May 7, 2006)

Am I the only who doesn't really like Vai's vibrato? 

I believe vibrato should be wide, up to the next tone on the scale. Like Yngwie, I guess.

I'm really happy with my vibrato; I slowed down one of my recordings today, and found that I have managed to develop an even, in-tune vibrato. I'm really pleased with myself


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## All_¥our_Bass (May 11, 2006)

Depends on the musical piece. Something slow and/or spacy will usually get some mild subtle vibrato here and there. But then I'll play something edgier and I'll get more powerful with them, do bigger bends, etc. but I still know when it's good for the song and when it's just too much. It depends on the piece. I like to play Metal, Psychedelic, Art-Rock, and Expirimental Ambient/Noise

and BTW I'm not even a seven string guitarist, I'm a four string LEAD bassist (I could never give in to the slavery of pumping root notes and being nothing more than a support player) ,I could decsribe my style as Cliff Burton meets David Gilmour.

On another note, wide bends can be approriate even for extended periods of time IF DONE RIGHT, check out the intro to Pink Floyd's "Sorrow" to see what I mean.


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## abyssalservant (May 11, 2006)

And he means he's lead bassist in the band, too, with solos and everything . . . not just that he likes showing off.


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## All_¥our_Bass (May 11, 2006)

abyssalservant said:


> And he means he's lead bassist in the band, too, with solos and everything . . . not just that he likes showing off.


Thx for pointing that out, I can see now that my post could have been misunderstood, and I would have been labeled as nothing but a show off  
Boy, what are friends for


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## abyssalservant (Jun 29, 2006)

Urg. "The system - is stoned." The label for last post on this says "Today 6:45 PM."
Which is in the future. And the last post was like a month and a half ago.
WTF?


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## Chris (Jul 2, 2006)

abyssalservant said:


> Urg. "The system - is stoned." The label for last post on this says "Today 6:45 PM."
> Which is in the future. And the last post was like a month and a half ago.
> WTF?



Voting on a poll updates the last post timer. It's kind of annoying, but it's just the way that vBulletin works.


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## Yngtchie Blacksteen (Jul 8, 2006)

To me it's definitely one of the most important aspects of any rock guitarist's playing. It's something that many players don't take very seriously, and it leads to nervous-sounding soloing.


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## jtm45 (Aug 2, 2006)

I love vibrato in all it's forms although i've managed to back-off on it quite a nit these days.I used to over use vibrato because i just loved the expression and the soul you can add to a straight note with it.
I tend to use my fingers way more than i've ever used a trem for vibrato, mostly because my main guitars (before switching to 7's predominantly)were hardtails and that's what i learnt to play with.
I'm getting more into using the trem since i've been playing my RG7's because i find the Ibanez (Lo-Pro)trems to be just so usable and so much more stable than the trems i'd used before (non-locking strat type's,apart from one OFR i had on a Strat).

Vibrato Rules


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## Jerich (Aug 10, 2006)

Vibrato creates ones identity as a guitar player..you ever notice someone with good vibrato usually has good control over thier playing. As much as I love my own Vibrato I feel it is something that always needs work. I prefer a Slow Circular Motion smooth like Vai but not as grounded I feel. Micheal (opeth) has a great Vibrato so does Stephan Forte' and Patrick Rondat! I think that is why I enjoy these players..."shit" i might be a VIBRATO WHORE!


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## Luan (Sep 22, 2006)

Hey guys, I would like to learn how to do the vibrato with the first finger, you know, it's like a different movement, I can't get it.

Thanks


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## JoryGriffin (Oct 4, 2006)

Drop A... low notes... Gotta go crazy on it


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