Adding Vibrato to Your Musical Phrasing

Out of all of the technical tools that a guitar play can posse, vibrato is probably one of the most expressive. Musical phrases that go on forever without the use of vibrato can sound dull and lifeless. Adding vibrato to your musical phrasing in the appropriate places and circumstances will make your phrasing much more exciting.

Classically trained singers spend years trying to master vibrato when they sing, where as a lot of guitar players do not spend much time if any trying to master vibrato. The majority of guitar teachers do not put much value on teaching this technique or just take vibrato for granted and unfortunately they do not emphasize the importance of learning this technique.

In my opinion the most expressive vibrato is one that is wide and played in a slow to medium speed. Although there are times a narrower vibrato is needed, typically over a soft and slow musical passage. At times a fast vibrato can be effective, but be careful when you use a fast vibrato, because it can produce a sound that is out of control and out of tune. I seldom use a narrow or fast vibrato and I never use a vibrato that is narrow and fast at the same time.

Following is a list of some common problems that a lot of inexperienced guitar players have with their vibrato.

The vibrato is so fast that it sounds like a tiny insect that is buzzing around your ears, and the notes typically sounds like they are out of control.

The vibrato is not wide enough in range, it is to narrow. Unless you are playing a soft and slow musical phrase a narrow vibrato will make the notes you are playing sound timid and faint.

Many inexperienced guitarists do not use vibrato enough causing notes to die out rapidly and sound lifeless and boring especially at the end of a musical phrases.

Some guitar players over use vibrato. Many inexperienced guitarists stuff in as much vibrato at possible. The overuse use of vibrato lessens its impact on the listener.

Vibrato is poorly utilized or not used at all when bending notes. When a note is bent it will normally die out more rapidly without a good vibrato to sustain it. For those of you that do not already know this adding vibrato to any note particularly a bent note will significantly increase the sustain of that note.

A common problem is that the vibrato goes in and out of tune especially when you bend notes up in pitch, due to an inconsistent bending of the string by your fretting hand. Care must be taken to make certain that the string you are bending is bent up to the same pitch every time, if not the pitch will not be consistent and out of tune. Additionally you must release the note to precisely same pitch every time during the vibrato motion. If you are encountering this problem and cannot seem to solve it, I recommend that you practice using a good electronic guitar tuner that has a needle meter. Keep an eye on the needle on your meter making certain that you are both bending and releasing the note to the same pitch every time. It is helpful to use a slower vibrato when you are practicing with a guitar tuner.

I suggest that you listen to other guitar players that have a faultless vibrato. Following is a list of great guitar players that have helped me develop my vibrato. George Bellas, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker and Andy LaRocque. Other guitarists that I consider to have an outstanding vibrato include Marty Freidman John Petrucci, Eddie Van Halen, and George Lynch. It usually takes a long time to develop an excellent vibrato. It took me several years to develop a vibrato that I felt good about.

In closing my advise to you is that you do not ignore or undervalue the significance of this extremely expressive technique. Even after you master this technique, continually strive to improve upon it.

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