Vibrato: Expression or Total Spazz?

Is your vibrato:

  • Heartfelt Intentional Expression

    Votes: 13 61.9%
  • Involuntary Muscle Spasm

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Dude, I Have Parkinson’s You D!ck, and Don’t Say “Spazz”

    Votes: 4 19.0%

  • Total voters
    21

sergiodeblanc

New Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Messages
27,288
Must you apply vibrato to every frikin’ note? Are you really feelin’ It and putting soulful emotion into your sustained notes, or are you just finger banging them out of sheer habit?


One of the great things about YouTube is picking things up from other players, and I’ve learned so many valuable techniques and licks from random posters...But one thing I’ve noticed about a bunch of intermediate players, and one that has made me re-examine my own playing, is this seeming inability to refrain from wiggling the hell outta every note in this spastic 16th+ note vibrato.

So in an effort to grow as a human being and a guitar player, I’m really trying to make a conscious effort to cut that sh!t out...or at least limit the behavior.

The band I’m in now plays some really down-tempo songs that has made me even more aware of it in myself, so I kinda made a mental note to either slow that stuff down or only do it like, every other time, and I think it has improved the way I sound.

How about you guys? Are you really expressing yourself, or are you spazzing?
 
I can’t guarantee it will last, but mostly my vibrato is intentional on a few notes here and there. It might be related to playing a double bass for four years before I got a real guitar.

Do you think your classical playing helps with that too?

It always kinda depends on the song and how much I've had to drink.

Does your vibrato speed up or slow down when drinking?
 
Do you think your classical playing helps with that too?
Perhaps, but I really did not started playing classical guitar after I lost access to a double bass and wanted to keep my sight reading skills up.

Thinking about it: yes. Playing classical keeps me honest on vibrato. It just sounds silly and out of tune to willy nilly wiggle the strings on the classical.

Even on a steel acoustic I don’t vibrato very much. Maybe a Sus4 I’m stretching out, but not much.

I’ve been playing some SRV recently, and I like this vibrato use. He plays a bunch of notes and then puts a wide vibrato on 3 of 5. Then starts a new line. I feel BB King is like that, but a lot fewer notes: 3 notes, sing, 5 notes, sing, big fat vibrato. He’s probably who I was trying to emulate when I developed my vibrato.
 
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Perhaps, but I really not started playing classical guitar after I lost access to a double bass and wanted to keep my sight reading skills up.

Thinking about it: yes. Playing classical keeps me honest on vibrato. It just sounds silly and out of tune to willy nilly wiggle the strings on the classical.

Even on a steel acoustic I don’t vibrato very much. Maybe a Sus4 I’m stretching out, but not much.

I’ve been playing some SRV recently, and I like this vibrato use. He plays a bunch of notes and then puts a wide vibrato on 3 of 5. Then starts a new line. I feel BB King as like that, but a lot fewer notes: 3 notes, sing, 5 notes, sing, big fat vibrato. He’s probably who I was trying to emulate when I developed my vibrato.

My nylon string has helped tremendously with my vibrato abstinence, you’re right, there’s just no way to make bending notes sound cool with them. Besides, the farthest I can bend a note on one is like, barely even a semitone before my forearm bursts into flames.
 
My old guitar teacher always preached " vibrato on all sustained notes ". It's kind of stuck with me through the years. i don't feel it's excessive, but I guess it depends on what you are playing...
 
I had a student call me out on the use of vibrato once.
Student: “Kerry, why do you always trail those notes with vibrato” (he really said “shake the note”)
Me: “does it sound bad?”
Student: “no, but why?”
Me: “here, I’ll play that same part with zero vibrato. How’s it sound?”
Student: “boring, I guess”
Me: “now with...”
Student: “it sounds more like you know what you’re doing, making it more interesting”
Me: “there ya have it”

Vibrato...impress your friends, get chicks, be the cool guy with a guitar.
 
I never realized how much vibrato I use. Just watched a video back, and it's like 80% of every sustained note.

I like to think it's more of a subtle vibrato though, I've seen some guys who just shake it like a Polaroid. :D
 
Must you apply vibrato to every frikin’ note? Are you really feelin’ It and putting soulful emotion into your sustained notes, or are you just finger banging them out of sheer habit?

How about you guys? Are you really expressing yourself, or are you spazzing?

I guess so, but I usually prefer to not compare myself to other players who are better or worse than myself. My feeling is, as others have already said, is to use vibrato (or vibrato bend) on sustained notes that are a means to an end. Anything that helps deliver whatever message I might be trying to send. IOW, I don't want to send the wrong message and have that result in something you didn't "order" originally. "Order" is typically something that creates a desirable product, usually exactly what happens with me when I am sitting at home with my feet up and the mailman rings my doorbell.

Vibrato is a technique that creates something that is desirable to the ear (doesn't "tickle" your ear, just creates something desirable). My concern is that placing too much emphasis on things that don't have a lot of meaning IRL is just searching for ways to entertain an audience with empty words. I prefer to speak or play something that has more of a direct correlation that doesn't debate issues, yet will open people's eyes to what is being said or played.

It always kinda depends on the song and how much I've had to drink.

Drunk posting or playing often leads to ordering something that forces you to sit and wait for whatever answer or item you requested. How do I know? Ever watch someone who's had a little too much to drink in one night try to answer a question himself? Run away...
 
Like all spices, they’re best in moderation, but if you like parsley that much, pour it on! Free country.
 
I tend to use wide vibrato at the end of phrases. I use a lot of microtonal bends more often. I'm not a big fan of using vibrato on every note. Another thing I hate, pretty much more than any other guitarist thing, is this new pulling the guitar neck while playing chords. GRRRR....

There is a guy (view Buck & Evans on YT) who does use the neck pulling technique quite well. And he's a darn good player, so don't dismiss this technique too quickly...
 
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