Vibrato and Bending

I am having a hard time performing a good sounding vibratro at the top of a bend. I have seen and heard so many of the instructors do it so flawlessly and smoothly, but the technique escapes me. Can anyone give some advice or exercises that would help achieve that smooth, seductive vibrato at the top of a bend?

I know what you mean.

As I see it, this is an area where a player adds their own flavor and is part of what defines their sound and tone. An instructional blues video I used years ago (Keith Wyatt I think) suggested loosening your wrist an using your wrist to get the vibrato.

I understand the concept, but that never really worked for me. What I find myself doing is lessening the pressure of my thumb on the back of the neck and using my arm and wrist to generate the vibrato. Sometimes I completely remove my thumb from the back of the neck when doing this. I find I can get a pretty fast vibrato doing that.

The one that gets me if non bended vibrato. I see players that spread their fingers apart, shake their wrist at some insane speed and get an insane vibrato. Joe Bonamassa comes to mind.

Hope some of that helps.

Here's a quote from an article I found on the topic:
"...the movement needed to play may come from the arm(reccommended for beginners) or from the wrist (this one is more difficult, and only after very much practice you can get a good sound), like Carlos Santana's vibrato. "

So I guess my vibrato is still at beginner status despite 30 years of playing :-).

Here's a link to the entire article. Don't bother reading the vulgar and immature comments at the bottom:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/guitar_techniques/vibrato_techniques_for_beginners.html

The book I'm working with says three methods:

1) Draw a circle with your finger tip on the fretted note. This will vary the pitch slightly.

2) Move your wrist closer then further away from the fretboard.

3) Rock your finger lengthwise on the fretted note. This is to change the volume of the note. (as far as I can tell, not really meant for bent notes).

Experiment with each method and vary the vibrato speed.

That's basically what the text says. Works for me, hopefully it helps you out.

Originally Posted by: jefflynch58I am having a hard time performing a good sounding vibratro at the top of a bend. I have seen and heard so many of the instructors do it so flawlessly and smoothly, but the technique escapes me. Can anyone give some advice or exercises that would help achieve that smooth, seductive vibrato at the top of a bend?

I had the same issue until I got some great advice on this topic:

1) set a metronome to a slowish tempo 70-90 bpm

2) practice your vibrato as a set of mini bends in time with the metronome and make sure you are aware of the note values you are following.

EX. vibrato in eight notes at 90 bpm 4/4 = 2 mini bends per metronome tick
EX. vibrato in eight note triplets at 90 bpm 4/4 = 3 mini bends per click
EX. vibrato in sixteenth notes at 90 bpm 4/4 = 4 mini bends per click

keep these mini bends as evenly spaced as possible.. It helps to record yourself and listen back to what you have done :)

Originally Posted by: David PortelliI had the same issue until I got some great advice on this topic:

1) set a metronome to a slowish tempo 70-90 bpm

2) practice your vibrato as a set of mini bends in time with the metronome and make sure you are aware of the note values you are following.

EX. vibrato in eight notes at 90 bpm 4/4 = 2 mini bends per metronome tick
EX. vibrato in eight note triplets at 90 bpm 4/4 = 3 mini bends per click
EX. vibrato in sixteenth notes at 90 bpm 4/4 = 4 mini bends per click

keep these mini bends as evenly spaced as possible.. It helps to record yourself and listen back to what you have done :)

This is good advice, start slowly and in time as a series of mini bends, you should have this down on non-bent note before you are ready for vibrato on bent notes.

once you have bent the string, you are either going to release slightly then bend back up, or bend up slightly further and release to the original pitch of the note, this should be practiced slowly with the metronome the same as non bent vibrato. You should be cradleing the the back of the neck between where your thumb starts and your first finger starts to creat a kind of fulcrum as per your note bending left hand position. once you are getting the hang, you can try bringing in a motion from the elbow similar to shaking someone's hand which often helps the process.

It's said that the sweetest vibrato comes from bending the string slightly sharp then releasing to the original pitch and repeating that to get the vibrato. Guthrie's got a good masterclass on this topic on youtube.

be patient and you'll get there :)