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Tutorial - Vibrato Technique
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Vibrato Technique - Different Vibrato Styles

Rick Graham 210 lessons

So far we have only looked at the standard blues-rock style vibrato. There are other techniques that we can use to manipulate the pitch and while I very rarely use anything other than the standard vibrato technique, it is well worth experimenting with others as you may find an opportunity to use them to spice up your playing a little.

The first one we are going to have a look at is usually associated with classical guitarists and that is the side to side vibrato. With the standard vibrato we have either an upward or downward movement to manipulate the pitch. With side to side we can manipulate the pitch by applying pressure to the fingertip rather than actually displacing the string. More often than not this type of vibrato involves the use of part of the arm as opposed to just the wrist so it may take a little bit of experimentation until it feels comfortable for you.

This type of vibrato is much more subtle than the standard vibrato and you may want to add it to you arsenal of techniques if that is a particular sound that you are going for. Although classical players use this technique all the time, electric players such as Allan Holdsworth use this type of vibrato to great effect.

The second type of vibrato is the sliding vibrato. This is used almost exclusively by Greg Howe and sounds ultra cool. Once we have fretted note we slide a semi-tone below and above the original pitch to create the vibrato and as such there is no string bending involved. This has a very specific type of sound and is great practice as it takes a little time before you can make it sound convincing.

There are many other ways we can create vibrato so I suggest you experiment with what I have given you and find a sound which is a sound your ears agree with and take it from there. Remember that my approach is just to give you some guidelines on how I do it so take what you need from it to create your own way of expressing yourself.

Thanks and see you next time!

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