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Learning The Vibrato Technique

Electric guitar is one of the most expressive forms of music – especially in modern culture.

There’s plenty of different effects pedals and special effects to choose from – but many of the greatest players made great use of the intrinsic techniques that the guitar presents.

One of these techniques is called Vibrato.

Vibrato, literally meaning “too shake”, is an important technique that is similar to string bending.

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Vibrato is a very important part of electric guitar playing, and many guitarists would agree that a good vibrato is the sign of a good player.

Some guitarists may ever go as far to say that as long as you have good vibrato, people won’t notice if you play everything else badly. We don’t know if we agree with that statement, but its true that good, controlled vibrato is the sign of someone who has been playing for awhile.

Anyway, here’s what vibrato actually it is:

Vibrato is the sound created by minute variations in pitch on either side of a note. It’s usually used in solos to intensify the impact of certain single notes.

There are several ways that you can perform this technique.

So here’s a few of them:

The first way is to rock your finger back and forth along the length of the string. This is done not by moving the finger all by itself, but by moving your whole hand.

The movement your after is extremely slight, making the variation in pitch barely audible or noticeable. You’re aiming for a gentle wobbling sound around the note, not the sound of a normal bend.

If you’re after a more fuller-bodied vibrato, then you can create it by rocking your finger across the string instead of along the string. This is more like the motion of conventional string bending, but done more gently.

The key to achieving an authentic vibrato sound is to move your finger rapidly side by moving the whole hand.

As a side note, tremolo arms can often be used to produce vibrato as well by moving the tremolo very gently and rapidly. You can also use the tremolo to pull off vibrato and bends that would be impossible to achieve using the usual conventional methods.