Riaan
Hey guys... For a few years I've been doing vibrato by flexing the joints of my fingers to create a series of small up and down "microbends", and haven't rotated my forearm much, if at all. Sometimes I use the classical technique, side to side. And all the time I thought that my vibrato could sound better as it does not always come through clearly...
I noticed that most of the great players used the rotating forearm technique, their's sounded great...go figure! Last night I watched a few lessons on vibrato on Justin Syndercombe's website, where he described in detail how the thumb should rest agains the back of the fretboard to create a pivot point, and that the wrist/forearm should rotate. I've tried it, it's something new to get used to though my vibrato now sounds better on the occassions when I get it right. I haven't practiced this much yet, just a few minutes tonight.
I'm so used to my way that it will be hard to change now, and my old way keeps creeping in, but maybe I should just sit and do vibrato's for a few nights in a row, note for note and for hours on end until it's right? My poor family...
How do you guys do vibrato?
Sean
Yep, I also checked out Justin's lesson a couple of weeks ago. I'm also struggling with it, but then again, I'm really lazy, I'm not putting enough practise in... won't get far like that will I? ☹ Any good tips?
Riaan
I remember something Tommy Emmanual said on a DVD I have...though this wasn't about vibrato, it was about developing thumb/finger independance. But the same thing probably applies. He said: "Keep on going like this until your wife threatens to leave the house and the dog growls at you, then you know you're getting somewhere..." ?
dyllels
For me it just depends on what time of vibrato sound you want. I don't really use the thumb/pivot version because i find it really awkward.
I find that you can get a lot of different feels from vibrato with my thumb just over the fretboard and using my fingers to give small bends. With the power coming from rotating the rest of my hand (kind of swinging from the thumb on top). This makes it easier to bend the strings up to a note and apply some vibrato as well.
Hope that wasn't too unclear ?
