TE-008 • Vibrato

[justinguitar]

Questions...

[bananajoe]

Hi Justin,
why don't you just bend in one direction instead of bending up AND down for the standard rock vibrato?
I find it much easier to get an even vibrato by going just in one direction.

[Niav77]

Hey Justin, I've basically got the same question as bananajoe. I find it much much easier to just bend either only down or only up when doing standard rock vibrato. Does it really make any difference how you do it? I mean, as long as it sounds right, shouldn't it still be ok?

[evilhawk]

Hi Justin,
Thanks for another excellent lesson.

I see that my question has already been asked (twice) so I'd just like to elaborate a bit if I may:

While practicing I noticed that I tend to just pull as opposed to the push-pull action you recommend. This applies to standard narrow vibratos of course and while you sort of suggest something along those lines towards the end of the video, my tendency is not to push less but rather to not push at all. I went back to the "five blues licks" lesson and watched the second lick (the short one ending in a vibrato on third string, 5'th fret). As far as I can tell, on that video (somewhere around the 6'th minute) you also do a pull-only action. So: What (if any) is the importance of doing a push-pull as opposed to just pull-pull? Should I make a point of doing a push-pull while practicing? I really want to get this right and not build up "crap technique"(your words )  only to unlearn it later...

Thanks in advance!

[justinguitar]

There is no real need to bend up and down, but I have found that by practicing it going up and down, most students end up getting the notes ore in tune. The big problem with going only one way in your mind, is that often you will bend the note and put vibrato on an out of tune note!!!

I do mention that usually you will end up going more in one direction, but to learn it you are better to think and practice going both ways!!

J

[jimiclaptoncarl]

Hi Justin,
I have a 2 quick questions for you. In your vibrato lesson, you say to add your other 2 fingers for support, my question is "Are those two fingers (the pointer and middle) pushing down on the string that you are bending, or are they just resting on the string without putting any pressure on the string?" Also, "How much pressure are you putting on the string with your third finger?" Is it more than normal (which is just fretting a string with one finger) or are you pressing a little harder when you bend and perform vibrato?

Thanks Justin (I love your site and I would donate if I had the money)

Jimiclaptoncarl           

EDIT (Bump)

[DeadlyChicken]

I will try to answer for you,.

Firstly adding fingers to support, are they pressing down. the answer is yes, if they were just resting on the string, they wouldn't really be doing anything of use.

Adding these fingers as support on bends particularly  you press down the string as normal with each of the fingers as if that was the only one, and bend with all of them too  Which makes it easier for each of your fingers as none of them have the full tension of the string on them.

so yes you do press down.

In an ideal world when you fret a note that is not bent or has vibrato on it.  you should be pressing very lightly, only just enough to get the note to sound ( try it you might be surprised at how lightly you can press and get the note to sound good ) when you bend a note or vibrato it, you need to add a little pressure or the note will not sound and will mute out.  So yes you do press a little harder, but it shoudl not feel like you have to press super hard.  Abviously acoustic you will need to press harder than an electric as the strings are usually much thicker and have much more tension.

So overall

yes you do push the strings down when adding fingers for support,
and yes you do have to press a little harder than you do to just fret a note.

[jimiclaptoncarl]

Thanks for your reply DeadlyChicken. 

I got one more question. When I do bends it feels like my fingers tense up. Is this normal??

jimiclaptoncarl

[DeadlyChicken]

hmm not sure, you do not want them too tense or you will have trouble gettign a smooth vibrato,maybe you ar epressing too hard, spend alittle time just frettign notes as lilghtly as you can and get them to sound.  then when trying your bends again fret it as lightly as possible so that it still sounds out.

use your wrist rather than your fingers to perform the bend .  watch justins lessons on bending for that, he explains using the pivot quite well and that should help stop your fingers tensing up.

[gibbduncan]

Hello all,

Been working on my vibrato quite a lot lately. Question, my thumb really bounces around a lot when I'm doing it and it doesn't look like Justin's is in the video. Is this normal? I'm starting to get so frustrated with vibrato I'm thinking about getting a teacher just to teach me this. So any advice would be great.

[ToastedSoul]

I watched Justins vibrato lesson a few days ago, but have some open questions (I'm not sure if I should post all of those in the technique forum section... ). Here we go:

I'm using an electric guitar, going for a blues/rock vibrato

1.
finger position:
what part of my finger should touch the string? When I use the front (like for fretting individual notes), the string slips out when bending towards the ground. Holding the fingers in a more flat way, this does not happen, but I don't know if this is considered bad technique or not. Also, is it OK to press through the last knuckle (like when doing the finger rolling move from one to another string)?

2.
When hold the neck with my fret hand blues-style, should the palm touch the neck, or should it still be 'free' (I remember Justin teaching in the beginner lessons to not touch the back of the neck, but maybe that does not apply here)?

3.
Any other tips on how to get this right?

4.
Videos?
Can you provide some video links to different vibrato styles for inspiration? I don't know what I'm aiming for yet exactly.

thanks

[justinguitar]

I have a 2 quick questions for you. In your vibrato lesson, you say to add your other 2 fingers for support, my question is "Are those two fingers (the pointer and middle) pushing down on the string that you are bending, or are they just resting on the string without putting any pressure on the string?" Also, "How much pressure are you putting on the string with your third finger?" Is it more than normal (which is just fretting a string with one finger) or are you pressing a little harder when you bend and perform vibrato?

They are pressing on the strings and helping perform the vibrato. The 3rd finger is pressing a little more than normal but not much.

@ Gibbduncan - hard to tell without seeing it dude. But don't worry about what it looks like - what does it SOUND like?

@ ToastedSoul -
1. the normal part of the finger should touch the string, as seen in the vid.
2. Palm can touch in the bvlues style, just best for beginners not to when they are learning chords.
3. I try and put all the tips I can on the lesson page and the vid!
4. Did you watch my vids? Then try listening instead of looking - listen to guys you like and try and copy their vibrato!

J

[ToastedSoul]

1. the normal part of the finger should touch the string, as seen in the vid.

Thanks for that. After working on my vibrato about 10 minutes for about a week (and getting a setup for my guitar), it's now getting more naturally.

4. Did you watch my vids? Then try listening instead of looking - listen to guys you like and try and copy their vibrato!

Yes, I did watch your vids. The question was moved from the general forum to this lesson specific forum. I know you did explain the different vibrato variants. I was just hoping some other forum users could provide some inspirational videos of exceptional vibrato players (like Zakk Wylde...).

thanks again for clearing things up!

[Astro]

Hi Justin, thanks for the lesson! I have been playing for a lot of years, and had missed out on the main 'standard' way you suggest to do vibrato. I use the classic method a lot, but also I use the one you specifically say to never do - using your fingers to do the side-to-side vibrato instead of using your hand.

It has taken many many years to get the finger method to sound any good - but now it does sound nice to me. I am practising doing vibrato using my hand and intend to incorporate that into my playing once I have nailed it.

My question is - is there a good reason I should abandon the finger method that you say not to use, now that I seem to have trained my fingers and brain to make it sound good? Or is this a case of 'if it sounds good, go with it'?

[whiteboy1150]

Hey Justin, quick question on vibrato.

I sort of did like you said and discovered it on my own, and I have no problem doing vibrato with my first and second finger but I can barely get any vibrato at all with my third finger. It seems like when my third finger is on the fretboard I don't have as much freedom to rotate my wrist as I would doing a first or second finger vibrato. I'm not even sure how to position it to get a good even vibrato.

Any tips at all or practice routines? Thanks.