Reasons why your vibratos aren’t sounding as great as they could be
A quick introduction for beginner guitar players
A vibrato for anyone who doesn’t know. Is a phrasing technique to make a note on your guitar sound super awesome. Well, it does sound super awesome when you do it well. And can really make a big difference to whether you sound a beginner, intermediate or advanced guitar player.
This technique used for many other instruments, and involves a note being made to “vibrate” back and forth.
The ways you can do it on the guitar involve whether bending a string up and down or doing slide vibratos between different frets.
What to watch out for when training on your vibratos
Here are a few things for you to look out for to improve the quality of each individual vibratos you are playing.
Moving up to the right pitch
When you play a vibrato, you want to make sure it is consistently going to the right pitch. Whether it’s a semi tone above, or a full tone. Making sure it’s consistent will make a big difference.
Moving back to the original pitch
When you play your vibrato and you are moving it to the new pitch, it needs to travel back to the original pitch as well.
Speed of your vibratos
You may have a preference for the speed of your vibratos, you want to make sure whatever it is, that it is consistent and has a nice rhythmic pattern to it. And most importantly, that it fits with the music you are playing as well.
Your vibratos are dying off too early
You need to make sure you are applying enough pressure to your string that your vibrato doesn’t die off way through. If you are doing a very long vibrato, you can pick the string again.
Where do your vibratos come in?
You want to place your vibratos at appropriate points in the music. If you over do it, it may be less dramatic when you do a great vibrato. Use it to put emotion into your music and express yourself. Not like tinsel on a Christmas tree. (Not sure why that analogy came to me because it is definitely not Christmas time right now!)
To help you with this, think about how you may sing the melody and where you may insert your vibratos into it in your head. And then try to replicate that on your guitar.
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Vibratos aren’t coming out like how you want to when you solo
When you are soloing, or playing in front of people. Your nerves do kick in. And maybe your vibratos don’t sound like how you want to yet. If that’s the case, it just means you need to do more practise independently till it feels natural.
Getting your own distinct-sounding vibrato
There are many different artists that have great vibratos out there. Use them as inspiration and practise mimicking their phrasing. And think about how you want your phrasing to sound when you play so you can create your own sound. Vibrato is just one thing that will help your guitar playing sound more awesome and more unique.
Hope these few things give you a good checklist to go over when you are practising your vibratos to make sure they sound great every time you solo.
About author: Guitar Tuition East London teachers adults and kids guitar, and is focused on getting them great results for the things they want to be able to achieve. And most importantly, for them to feel good and confident about it! Having tonnes of fun along the way.