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→Good Technique
== Good Technique ==
=== Transition ===
The main difficulty in getting a good sounding vibrato are the transitions where the pitch shifting changes directions. The pitch shift should follow a sine wave pattern, slowing as approaching and leaving both its high and low peaks. This prevents the transitions from catching the listener's attention, as opposed to the general effect of the technique.
The best way to work on this is to practice slowly. If you try to get there too fast, you end up developing a habit of simply wiggling without real control with bad transitions and no control over speed. Start painfully slow, so it sounds like some awkward out-of-tune bending. You want to focus on always keeping the pitch moving up or down smoothly with special attention to where the pitch shift switches directions. It may help to use a wider vibrato than you actually want to use when starting to practice.
Assuming you are using the bending technique, I find it's easier to use your wrist more than your fingers for the string bending. Instead of straightening or bending your fingers to move the string up and down on the fret, you simply rotate your wrist one direction than the other. With the area between your index finger knuckle and thumb pressed against the side of the fretboard, this gives you a fullcrum to pivot the wrist against. You'll notice as you rotate your wrist, your fingers move in a partial circle around that pivot point. You can basically lock your fretting finger in place and just let it focus on keeping the string fretted cleanly. Let your wrist motion push/pull the string up/down the fret. It can feel awkward at first, but it's actually easier IMO.
I also find bending the string by pulling it towards the floor (vs. pushing it towards the sky) is easier to control and get a smooth transition, particularly for the wrist motion described above.