8,720
edits
Changes
m
→Speed
=== Speed ===
When you employ vibrato, you are creating a repeating cycle. Let's assume any cycle starts at the lowest frequency, rising in pitch to the highest frequency and descending back to the lowest. What is the correct vibrato speed? This will depend on the context of the note in the piece. In general, however, I find about 2-5 cycles per second is a good speed. Slower than this and it sounds like the pitch is being bent in one direction then another, as though you are trying to hit certain notes via bending, rather than embellishing the sustained note. Faster than this and you start to lose the vibrato effect - it sounds like the note is buzzing or just going crazy.
Generally, it's difficult to play vibrato either so fast or so slow that it simply sounds horrible. But that's no reason to shirk on our training. You should practice using faster and slower speeds and determine what you feel sounds best. The important thing is to always maintain control, keeping smooth transitions and appropriate width. I found that my ideal vibrato is a little slower than the natural inclination of how my left-hand ''wanted'' to play it. So I had to work on reducing my speed.
Speed is often tied to the tempo and feel of a song. For a soft, sweet, singing lead, my vibrato is going to be a little slower. But for a fast, rockin', shred solo, I may want to use a faster vibrato.
== When and How Long? ==
When should you begin to put vibrato on a sustained note? This depends on the context of the note, and how long the note's duration is.
If a note is part of a fast passage of notes and the vibrato is there to emphasize it, you likely want to employ the vibrato almost immediately after sounding the note. If the note is a longer, sustained note at the end of a phrase or part of a slower melody, you may want to wait a little while before starting to give it vibrato. You want to let it sound without any flair to really lock your mind onto that pitch, but use the vibrato to keep it sounding ''alive''. It's like watching a person as they fade into the distance - it's more lively and attention-grabbing if they are waving than simply staring at you.
Practice both ways - start vibrato immediately vs. wait a little while. Also, for delayed vibrato, it sounds best to gradually increase the width up to a certain point. This gives you a nice smooth transition into the vibrato, so it sounds like the note naturally fell into it, rather than completely and suddenly shifting from static-pitch mode to vibrato mode.
You can sustain a note longer with vibrato - it naturally transfers energy into the string. This doesn't mean you should try to extend it indefinitely. As the note gets weaker, you can start to hear the noise associated with bending the string up and down the fret. This is a good reason to use the whammy bar for any notes that need to sustain with vibrato into silence. Or as you sustain with bending vibrato, use your right hand to roll down the volume knob on the guitar, so the note fades out more gracefully. Or slide down and mute the string. Usually you can let delay or reverb effects provide a nice natural decay to the note.
== Why Vibrato? ==
Vibrato is mostly useful to emphasize a certain note. This is helpful where the guitar tone or piece covers up emphasis via picking dynamics. It also helps draw emphasis to a sustained note. A strong pick stroke will only emphasize the attack of the note. For a long, sustained note, this is a very minute portion of the note's lifetime. Vibrato does a much stronger job of keeping the listener's focus until the note is almost completely decayed.
It's nearly impossible to get an instrument perfectly in tune. Vibrato helps gloss over the small pitch differences between instruments or different takes. Rather than trying to sound an exact frequency, vibrato is covering a small range that is likely to contain the ideal pitch.
== Other Techniques ==
=== Fade in ===
Since vibrato can be used to transfer energy to the string, it makes for an interesting way to fade-in a note from silence. Think Jimi Hendrix's ''Foxy Lady''. It can be a little noisy, so if you want something more subtle, it's best to use a volume pedal or the guitar's volume knob.
=== Ultra-Wide Vibrato ===
Sometimes an ultra-wide vibrato can be used to give an out-of-control feeling. For this, the actual note is less important than the effect. This is useful in a solo where there's lots of bending, sliding, fast-playing, and/or unusual scales being used.
=== Rough Transition Vibrato ===
If you read about the good technique section above, you'll know that the key to a natural-sounding vibrato is smooth transitioning from where the pitch hits the extremes. This breaks those rules down in favor of creating an eyebrow-raising WTF moment.
My personal favorite is "through-zero" bending. So as mentioned, you can either bend upwards or downwards; but when doing vibrato, you should only bend in one direction to prevent going "through zero" which will screw up the transitions around the lower pitch extreme. Well, I break that rule here. If done with a wide enough vibrato and enough speed, it sounds like some kind of crazy synthesizer automation.