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→Vai's Circle Vibrato
=== Vai's Circle Vibrato ===
Steve Vai decided using just one of the above techniques was not enough, so he developed a "circle vibrato" technique that combines them both. HeIt's basically a 4-motion vibrato; however, each motion blends into the next one to keep it sounding smooth. # push the string towards the bridge, lowering the pitch# bend the string slightly, while continuing to push the string towards the bridge, raising the pitch to the original pitch or slightly above# pull the string away from the bridge, raising the pitch# release the bend, while continuing to pull the string, so the pitch is slightly above the original pitch You'll notice you end up making something like a circular motion, hence "circle vibrato". You can swap the push for the pull in the steps above so you are making a counter-clockwise circle vs. clockwise, if that's more comfortable - the overall effect is unchanged. So what's the benefit? You get the best aspects of both - the average pitch is closer to the original pitch than if just using bending, but you can get a bigger/wider vibrato than just using pushing/pulling. You can also purposefully reduce the smoothness of the transitions above, which can give a strange yet appealing sound to the vibrato in some cases. The downside is that this technique takes some ''serious'' practicing to get it to sound natural and smooth. It's also difficult to perform with the same speed as the other techniques. And speed is really a crucial part of the vibrato, to make it sound like a unified effect instead of a series of pitch shifts. I don't know of any player besides Vai that uses this technique. I think it's worth learning for the sheer versatility, but I wouldn't worry about mastering it unless you find something really appealing to its sound.
=== Whammy Bar ===
== Good Technique ==