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→Whammy Bar
The whammy bar is the easiest and most versatile way to get a good vibrato. You can make it extremely large/wide. It's easier to apply to bends. You can apply it to chords, which is basically impossible for the above techniques. You can even continue the vibrato as you change notes on your left hand. And you can shift the pitch above and below the original note, so the average pitch matches the original.
The only real downside is that it is difficult to use the pick and whammy bar at the same time. And if you're not already holding the bar, transitioning from picking to grabbing the bar canbe slightly too time-consuming to work into a quick passage. If your bridge is a dive-only model (typical on a Fender Stratocaster and clones), then what you have to do to get the pitch to average around the original pitch is bend the note on the fretboard higher as you apply vibrato. The amount you should bend the note will depend on how wide of a vibrato you are applying with the bar. The whammy bar can be very sensitive. For a vibrato technique, I like to grip the bar loosely between the 1st and 3rd digits of my right-hand ring and pinky fingers. Then I make a slapping motion, like I'm swinging a tennis racket back and forth. This is a lot of movement in the hand, but most of the movement is around my index finger knuckle. The ring and pinky fingers only have a slight movement. The momentum of the swinging motion guarantees a smooth vibrato movement. How tightly I grip the bar and how forceful my swinging motion are determine the width of the vibrato. Note: this only works for a floating bridge. For a dive-only bridge, you'll have to push on the bar, going from strong to lighter pressure - you don't want to fully release pressure against the bar, or the bridge will slam into the body; and you won't get a smooth vibrato. But getting it to be subtle will take work. I would focus on getting the vibrato smooth first, then work on the appropriate width. Try to consistently be able to get different widths for your vibrato.
== Good Technique ==