Before I Begin This Article, I would like to thank all of you for voting me Overall Best in Guitar Player's 1985 Readers Poll. Winning Guitar Player awards has been the greatest honor of my career.

I've limited this piece to left-hand (fretting-hand) vibrato. But keep in mind that "vibrato" is also used to denote pitch changes brought about by tailpiece or whammy-bar devices, electronic modulation of pitch or volume (a feature of some old tube amps, Fender Rhodes pianos, and electronic Leslie-like devices), and Doppler-effect pitch and volume changes, afforded by rotating deflectors and Leslie-style speakers.

Why use vibrato? Because it can make a note, double-stop, or chord sound better, as long as it's not overused. Once mastered vibrato adds warmth, tone, and sustain without the use of effect devices. There are several types of vibrato: Finger, whole-hand pivoting-hand, classical-style, and arm. Whatever type you happen to be using, it's important to be able to control its amount and speed.

Finger vibrato requires moving one or more fingers perpendicularly to the string while the hand remains stationary. The only time I use this is when I'm playing a chord with a melody note that need vibrato without effecting the other chordal tones. Finger vibrato is good way to bring out a melody that is not the highest note of the chord and wouldn't stand out on its own. Of course, you must commit one finger for that note; you can't barre two or three strings and single-out one for vibrato. A minority of players use this technique for most or all of their vibrato.

Whole-hand vibrato involves using the entire hand, without a pivot point. The hand just moves up and down (perpendicular to the neck), sometimes with the thumb supporting on the neck. I find this difficult to control, but it has the advantage of enabling you to keep your thumb behind the neck, rather than around it.

I call my style of vibrato pivoting-hand vibrato. The basic idea is to touch the back of the neck with the point of your left hand, as shown in Fig. 1.

I also anchor my left hand by reaching around with the thumb, as shown in Fig. 2. This enables you to have the best leverage for bending and vibrato in the upwards direction (toward the ceiling), and to have your hand acting as a counterweight for downward bends and vibrato (toward the floor). Your wrist is the part that provides the energy, and the vibrato is easy to control, due to the fairly natural twisting force involved and the leverage at the pivot point.

Classical style vibrato works best on nylon strings, since they are more elastic than steel. However, it can be used to some extent on the electric guitar, as long as you stay near the center of the string length, where it is most effective. The basic idea is to move your hand back and forth (parallel to the string, rather than perpendicular) while holding the note or notes (see Fig. 3). The movement is similar to a violinist's vibrato, and your fingers push and pull on the string in a lengthwise fashion, instead of deflecting the string from a straight line, which increases the tension. When your finger applies pressure towards the bridge, tension is momentarily decreased on the sounding portion of the string, resulting in a definite lowering of pitch. As your finger applies pressure toward the nut, the tension is increased on the sounding portion of the string, with an increase in pitch.

One important distinction of classical-type vibrato is that it is the only one that raises and lowers the pitch of the fretted note. The pitch that your ear hears averages out to the same as the fretted note, which makes it very appropriate for delicate tuning, chords, and any part that is extremely pitch-sensitive.

Arm vibrato is a severe type of vibrato that I use occasionally. It is very hard for me to control the speed of this vibrato because it requires an almost spastic arm movement. Your finger, hand, and wrist are all held rigid, with your thumb clear of the neck. The vibrato comes from an overly fast up-and-down movement at the elbow. Like I said before, it is fairly radical and should be used sparingly.

To summarize, here are a few general guidelines to keep in mind. All vibratos (except the classical-type) bend the string and cause it to be momentarily sharp. In most cases, if your guitar is in tune, non-classical vibratos sound fine, since the note keeps returning to the correct pitch. Obviously, the more you bend, the more drastic the pitch change, so be able to control the amount of vibrato to fit the situation.

In addition, learn to control the speed of the vibrato, which is critical to expressiveness of the technique. While vibratoing, practice both bending up (toward the ceiling) and bending down (toward the floor), and do it with each finger, and on each string. Observe that you will be able to bend the E strings away from the edge of the fingerboard only.

Remember: Bends, vibrato, and attack changes are what keep us from being replaced by sampling keyboards, so stick with it. Good luck.

Transcribed by John D. Smith