[carol m]

I've been trying to do vibratos, and watching how other guitarists do it. In Kirk's vibrato link he says its a wrist thing and I find that's getting better with practice, but often you see people use their fingers pushing and pulling across the fretboard. Is this the best/only way to do vibrato if its a chord involved?

Mostly I've seen it done when the fingers are above fret 8 or so, is this the reason why they do it in that way? I like the idea I read somewhere that the hand/wrist action is like opening a jar and that helps, but how can you do that if you are fretting more than one note - you can't really pivot then - well at least I can't. Any helpful tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[allthumbs]

I am not sure what you are describing Carol. I have never played a whole chord to get vibrato except a simple one finger across 3 or 4 strings. I use a whammy bar for chord shimmers. Considering you have to lock down the index finger in a barre chord, it makes vibrato with all the other fingers difficult because of the restricted movement.

[solidwalnut]

Hi Carol--

I think there's more than one way to approach vibrato. Maybe you could give a couple of examples of where you want it in your playing?

I guess the only other tips I can give is that there is two basic types of vibrato, and then variations there of. The first one is where you actually move the hand and not the wrist. Move the hand back and forth, left and right while you keep a stiff wrist.

The physics are that while your finger is on the string in the fret, by moving the hand you are really slightly moving the finger/string contact point while raising and lowering the pitch of the note.

The other basic type is the wrist shaking kind, where you're actually raising the pitch of the string(s) by bending them past the normal pitch of the fret and then back again.

As far as if there's a chord involved, I can do it via method 1, but it's pretty tough. I usually do method 1 with two or three strings max.

[solidwalnut]

Carol--

I forgot to mention a third basic type. This might help out. It's the type I use on the acoustic, mostly (I typed the first response at work this morning and it didn't come to mind!).

The type is a cousin to the wrist shake one. But instead of the finger and hand remaining steadfast while shaking the wrist, the hand and wrist remain steadfast while shaking the finger.

Start slow and you'll feel/hear the effect. Pick any note on the B or E string in any fret using any finger. Play the note, and now put slightly more pressure on the string and pull it down slightly and then release it (keep it fretted). Increase the speed. You can use this to great effect. Hope this helps.

Steve