Vibrato Help!

Les Hardin · From: Cleveland, NC USA

Could someone please explain how to develop a good vibrato technique? Mine sounds uneven and "wobbly."
Maybe my left hand is not that coordinated. Is there a good exercise that would help?? Thanks.
Les
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Looking for guitar; Nashville 1000; Hilton VP; Peterson Strobe Tuner.

Carl Kilmer · From: East Central, Illinois

Hi Les, I'm not a pro by any means, but 2 things that I would
recommend are, to make sure your bar is straight over the frets,
and roll the bar (or rock it) slow and easy, instead of sliding it.
It can take a while to get used to this, but it will work for you.
Carl "Lucky" Kilmer
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aka "Lucky Kay"--Custom built Rittenberry SD10 3X5, Walker S/S, NV-112, and Hilton Pedal

Brett Lanier · From: Madison, TN

Try to consciously listen when you're using vibrato. Sounds obvious, but I think it's something we can all do better. Really listen to what sounds the guitar is making, as well as try to create whatever sound is already in your head.

Marc Jenkins · From: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Bob Hoffnar will hopefully chime in with some great advice.

Les Hardin · From: Cleveland, NC USA

Listening IS great advice. Also, when I tried to make the vibrato "from the wrist" I did get some bar slanting, so that's not the trick. There also seems to be 2 main techniques of rolling versus sliding to get vibrato. Rolling is hard to do fast, so it tends to slow down the vibrato.

Vibrato is harder than it looks; is critical to great steel sound; and is talked about very infrequently. This is why I thought I was missing something "easy."

Thanks all for the thoughts. Keep them coming.

Les
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Looking for guitar; Nashville 1000; Hilton VP; Peterson Strobe Tuner.

Doug Paluch · From: Michigan, USA

I've been struggling with this same issue. I've found a couple of solutions to my particular problem. I feel I'm not smooth with my bar, and it is a bit jerky, because I feel tense.
I'm right-handed, and I'm always surprised how many things I can do naturally with my right hand. For example, I play drums, and in the process of learning to play traditional grip (after twenty years of matched German), I used my right hand playing traditional as a reference.Not playing both hands in traditional, but just to use for reference.. I could play right handed traditional with no effort, so I just practiced mimicking the same motion. It is easy to see the imperfections in my week hand by watching the strong hand.

I've been doing this with vibrato as well. I'm new to steel, but the feel of rolling the bar is almost a push-pull between my middle and index. The motion is fluid in my right hand. I sit at the steel and, with a bar in each hand, attempt to copy the motion with both hands. It works!
I also work with a metronome- very slowly! I try to get the motion to be a smooth roll back and forth instead of a start/ stop herky jerky movement. I start small and slowly exaggerate the right/ left travel a bit in an effort to gain facility. I feel it is easier to minimize that travel, because I have more control. Anyway, after a couple weeks of this, It does feel like I'm gaining more control over the bar vibrato. Hope this helps, but beware, I'm a beginner using homespun logic...

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Subtle vibrato, I used to roll the bar under my index finger, it yields excellent results.
Unfortunately, I got a minor Dagorhir injury and a bar rolling vibrato hurts like the dickens.
If a shaking vibrato gives you intonation or alignment problems like slanting, I would hurt you to both stick with rolling the bar and to practice your keeping your bar straight.
Even when I WAS able to roll the bar, I was unable to roll the bar back and forth quickly enough to get my Hughey on, and had to shake for fast shimmy
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Les Hardin · From: Cleveland, NC USA

Doug,
I can relate; I played classical violin for 6 years and never mastered vibrato. My right hand could do it, but my left hand felt uncoordinated. I gave up violin because of that, but I will not give up on the steel - I am determined to get this right. I know it will be a long journey, but that's where the fun is. Winking

Lane, you just can't trust those enthusiastic warriors with self-made weaponry! Sorry to hear your "roller" is busted. Stay safe.

Les
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Looking for guitar; Nashville 1000; Hilton VP; Peterson Strobe Tuner.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

I tried to borrow what I could from what I could steal from Indian music, as they have an incredibly systematic approach. Besides making sure that you are playing a consistent number of cents or variance from a particular note, both up and down: the most important aspect is the timing. If you're playing half-notes, you can work on vibrato at quarter-note, eight-note, and sixteenth-note speed. Then their rhythmic complications go beyond my little white head, but I do try to work on triplet vibratos - threes and sixes. You just play the beats with the bar or slide.

One of the main elements of the practice is to learn how to play vibrato perfectly, even robotically, in order to be able to play off the beats a bit intentionally. Which is painful to listen to, if that's all the guy knows... Laughing

Vibrato is one of those things I practice when I can't think of what to practice, or I'm "just passing by" for a few minutes... as many have said, it's harder to play slowly & well than fast and flashy, but how far back do you go to find a great musician with a lousy vibrato?

Incidentally, the Indians see no difference between what we call vibrato and what we call a trill, even a whole-note trill is just a big vibrato. They also use systematic unequal deviations in pitch, also beyond my po' little mind. But if you can't play just one note, really well, the odds of sounding better by playing lots of 'em are stacked against you.

EDIT: (I almost forgot: turn OFF the reverb, it'll drive you crazy if it's bouncing notes back that you made a quarter-second ago.)

Les Hardin · From: Cleveland, NC USA

David, Hmmm. I never thought of 'vibrating' on divisions of the beat! I think that's brilliant - especially for learning to control the vibrato so that it is consistent - even if you ultimately accelerate the vibrato to coincide with decay. Also, the part about the cents on either side of the pitch being equal - yeah right! Winking

That's possibly the holy grail of vibrato, IMHO, and you're correct - that's soooo critical to get right and should be practiced. Great feedback!

Thanks,
Les
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Looking for guitar; Nashville 1000; Hilton VP; Peterson Strobe Tuner.

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