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{{Top-Level Crumbs|1}}{{Lesson Crumbs|4}}{{Technique Crumbs|4}} '''Vibrato ''' is a simple concept but a difficult technique to master. It involves moving the pitch of a note up and down repeatedly, to give a sustained note a bit more emphasis or livlinessliveliness. The actual pitch of the note is in constant motion, moving up and down but never staying absolutely still. Vibrato is commonly written in tab by the tilde character: ''~''. Sometimes vibrato is indicated by a ''v'', but more commonly you will see several ''v'''s or a series of /'s and \'s which means wide vibrato. --5~~-5v-------5vvvvv5/\/\/\/\/\-----5----<nowiki>~~~~~~~</nowiki>The first two notes are given normal vibrato, whereas the second 2 have wide vibrato. The last note implies delayed vibrato, where the note is first sustained without vibrato for some time. == PreReqs ==* [[Basic Technique]]* [[Bending]]
== Common Methods ==
One thing to watch out for is that you only bending in one direction. IE, you are always pushing the string away from its natural fretted position, or you are always pulling it. If you push up, then don't simply allow the string to return to its natural position but "pull through" that point and begin bending higher in pitch using a pulling technique, there is an artificial sound to the transition. Picture a sine wave - the high and low peaks are rounded off and smooth. When you "pull through", you don't smoothly approach the low peak but blaze through it. This would be like if the sine wave had pointy peaks on the bottom but rounded peaks on top, like a bouncing ball.
==== Finger Vibrato ====
Finger vibrato bends and straightens the fretting finger(s) to bend and release the string. It has a similar motion to pulling a trigger.
==== Wrist Vibrato ====
Wrist vibrato rotates the wrist using the index finger knuckle or thumb as a pivot point to bend and release the strings.
==== Arm Vibrato ====
Arm vibrato moves the entire forearm at the elbow to move the position of the hand as it holds the neck. This is generally not recommended.
=== Pushing/Pulling ===
This technique is difficult to master - it feels like you are going to slide off the fret. In this regard, it's very difficult to get a wide/large vibrato from this technique.
The main benefit to this technique is that you are not simply changing the pitch above the original note but above and below it. Thus, the average pitch of the vibrato and original note should be very close. Also, it is possible to apply this technique to chords.
=== Vai's Circle Vibrato ===
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.
A common beginner mistake is to shake the left hand instead of using a good bending technique. This will usually make the vibrato too fast, as well as weak. Be sure to apply the proper bending techniques described above. Also, fretting a note with multiple fingers (if fretting with the ring finger, also fret the 2 frets behind it with the index and middle fingers) can help get better control over the vibrato and slow it down to a nice 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.
===== In-Time =====
A good way to gauge speed is to try to play your vibrato in-time with the beat. Playing each cycle to an 8th note or 8th note triplet often works very well.
== When and How Long? ==
== 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 ''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 ===
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.
== Q & A ==
== Related Lessons ==
* [[Bending]]
* [[Whammy Bar]]
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[[Category:Guitar]]
[[Category:Technique]]
[[Category:Vibrato]]
[[Category:Notation]]