Vibrato

I was looking at some of the "beginners" lessons just because. I already knew the stuff, but taught myself, and was just seeing how it should be "formally" done. Anyway, I came across the vibrato lesson. When it comes to the really high frets, I tend to vibrato by moving my finger back and forth horizontally within the fret. It said that this is "unpractical" I believe.

It's just so much easier for me this way, without making wrong strings sound. Is it really wrong?

If you can apply that technique without sounding strings you don't want to sound then it's OK...............Everyone's got their own way of doing things......
That's just my opinion. Rock on.
Doug

It's totally up to you. Whatever works.

Doing it vertically will give you more range in your vibrato and probably more control. If you're getting noise, you might need to work on developing your muting techniques.
Both the left and right hands are constantly muting and deadening strings.

Like, if you bend this note up:

G|--------14b16~~---------|

... you're also muting the 1st and 2nd string with the third finger and pinky on your left hand and muting the 5th and 6th strings with your right hand thumb and palm.

Then when you change notes, you're constantly shifting fingers around so that any finger not being used to play a note is being used to mute noisy strings.

I personally like the "noise".. it's all part of the sound a guitar makes when it is played. Sometimes I take more care and mute that noise.. but most of the time I allow it to sound because it's part of my own style. ;)

Same here. It all depends on the song and the feel you're going for.

doin it verticle will give u a higher range the vibrato can vary.
doin it horizontally although not having the same range does give the advantsge of bein able to lower the pitch as well as raise it. personally i would suggest practicin both as they bioth give different sounds.
you could even try circular vibrato, a combination of the two. steve vai talks about this on his website, which is worth a visit

That kinda vibrato will give you more of an acoustic/flamenco style song, while vertically will give you that nice wail. Its up to you, try both ways and see what sounds better, it won't take long to learn it the other way.

Hold the guitar still and jump up and down.

Originally Posted by: Kevin TaylorHold the guitar still and jump up and down.

Hehe I was at the music store today. Bought a new DI box so I could split my signal into high and low impedance signals and record two channels at once to allow for easier editing of distorted guitar... well at least that is the plan..

Anyway so there's this kid, probably about 12 years old with his new acoustic guitar and of course.. there's his mum complaining that the strings hurt her son's fingers and what can be done about it.. lol.. I couldn't help but have a little chuckle about it, as the salesperson tried to convince her and her son that it was normal.. they weren't very happy.. :D They ended up buying some .10 to .47 strings and a brass slide.. lol..

Played a nice Washburn acoustic while I was there too.. it was very cheap ($399) and sounded like a 12-string it was almost magical sounding.. the $1499 Washburn sounded dull in comparison..

I guess we are getting off-topic here.. but yeh.. your joke reminded me of that scene today.. :)

The way Kevin described vibratos and how to mute them doesn't add up to me. When I see my heroes doing it, it seems they have their 1st through 3rd fingers all on the string they are bending for extra "strength". I'm not seeing how they are doing any muting, they can just do it.

When I do it the "regular" way, I use my 2nd and 3rd fingers, and bar the 1st and 2nd strings with my 1st finger. Its the only way I can get a good bend/vibrato to sound...

Guitardude,
When I want to bend with vibrato I use my 1st through 3rd fingers on the same string to re enforce the bend with the 3rd finger on the note I'm bending. However: my 1st finger may also be muting the strings on the adjacent strings.
Doug

Originally Posted by: Guitardude61951The way Kevin described vibratos and how to mute them doesn't add up to me. When I see my heroes doing it, it seems they have their 1st through 3rd fingers all on the string they are bending for extra "strength". I'm not seeing how they are doing any muting, they can just do it.

When I do it the "regular" way, I use my 2nd and 3rd fingers, and bar the 1st and 2nd strings with my 1st finger. Its the only way I can get a good bend/vibrato to sound...

Guess it depends on how you do bends. I use one finger to do bends.
That way you get more precise control and you have all the rest of your fingers free to either play notes or mute other strings to keep them quiet.

Using two fingers to me would be like trying to play with mitts on, or like trying to bend strings with a couple of sausages.

It depends a lot on what you did before the bend.. I usually, like Kevin, use one finger for bends but it depends on the previous note(s) as well. For example: if I have just done a hammer-on triplet and ended up on my pinky finger, which is very weak for bends, I will use my other two fingers to reinforce the bend.

Originally Posted by: Guitardude61951The way Kevin described vibratos and how to mute them doesn't add up to me. When I see my heroes doing it, it seems they have their 1st through 3rd fingers all on the string they are bending for extra "strength". I'm not seeing how they are doing any muting, they can just do it.

When I do it the "regular" way, I use my 2nd and 3rd fingers, and bar the 1st and 2nd strings with my 1st finger. Its the only way I can get a good bend/vibrato to sound...

First, I'd say there isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to bend- as long as you get the sound you want, it's "right".

For myself, I bend more often with a single finger, more often with my ring finger, but at times with my middle or even first- depends where I end up and where my fingers happen to be. Sometimes, but rarely, I may have my middle finger behind the ring. It's rare that I barre while bending. Off the top of my head, only time I may bend a string while barring is maybe in a finger-picking tune, like Clap- I think there's a bend in there where I use my pinky- but of course I'm not going for vibrato (forgot the original theme of thread.)

So, getting back to vibrato, I'll push/pull across the board; how quickly depends on the sound I want. Sometimes I'll "shake" by quickly going horizontally; I'm getting the vibrato effect without changing the pitch.

As far as muting, you may not be seeing the player mute with their picking hand/palm. Alternatively, you may also not be seeing the lower strings being muted by the thumb of the fretting hand, as many players hang their thumb over the edge of the neck of the guitar- this will help in pushing/pulling on the bent string also. As for the higher strings being muted, this often occurs naturally with, say the first finger just resting (not pressing) over the string(s) not being bent. So, say you're bending the G string, your thumb hangs over the bottom E and A, you're fingering the G with the ring or middle finger, and your first finger is lightly over the high E and B strings. Take the thumb out of the equation, finger the same way, but with your picking hand, mute the low strings with the heel of your palm. Hope this clarifies/helps a bit.

As for the 3 finger bend, I'd say the curl of the 3 fingers will mute the strings that aren't fretted. If you're an accurate picker, you wont have to worry about the bottom strings, or you can mute with your palm or thumb. I just pulled my guitar out to examine how I do things, that's why I'm adding this down here. I'll also add that I sometimes bend more than one string using just my ring finger, or maybe the 1st, 2nd and 3rd finger across the board using the open A chord shape. Think SRV does this.

As for jumping up and down- nah, I'm too lazy for that. Just vigorously shake the guitar up and down. At least you can do this while sitting :D

For vibrato on bends I always bend the string down towards the floor, gives a lot more strength to anchor from. If it feels like too much or if the vibrato you want is to be more extreme, try bending it then using the trem bar (if you have a floating system).

Originally Posted by: SuperhumanFor vibrato on bends I always bend the string down towards the floor, gives a lot more strength to anchor from. If it feels like too much or if the vibrato you want is to be more extreme, try bending it then using the trem bar (if you have a floating system).

Hey, Superhuman,

I just noticed I tend to pull towards the floor also when bending for vibrato. Just an observation I'm passing along. Funny how you don't notice certain things. I rarely use the trem bar for anything- maybe it's something I should start experimenting with, just to see where it takes me.

Yeh I also vibrato in the downward way.. I tend to do horizontal vibrato more on acoustic guitars.. it has a different sound quality to it.

I learned somewhere (dont remember where) that the top three strings you should bend downwards always, and the bottom three strings you should always bend upwards. Makes sense, considering I dont think its possible to do a downwards bend on the high e.

The upwards bend and vibrato always messes with me because I just cant seem to get a good enough grip on the string.

There are no rules. Whatever works best for you is the way to do it.


I Usually bend upwards with my third finger but depending on what note is coming after it, I'll bend downwards.

With the top E string, you're pretty much stuck with doing up bends becauseyou'll just run out of room.



Generally, I'll do both up or down depending on what the lead is and the kind of vibratro I'd like to get.

Yeah - I bend the high 3 strings up and the low 3 strings down toward the floor for vibrato. Weirdly, I also find I get better control that way. Pulling the low strings down also makes it easier to damp the higher ones with your fretting hand in my opinion.

I only use the horizontal vibrato on acoustic/classical as well - it's too subtle for an overdriven electric guitar.