Vibrato in Full Bend

[Mateo150]

All the phrasing talk has made go back to good ole Hendrix and SRV. I've run into problems I didn't think about as much in the past. One big thing is doing vibrato while in full bend. I read thru the article on bending, but this isn't covered. These guys put a lot of vibrato on notes while they are bent up a full note. When I do this, I do it by shaking my arm, this tightens my left arm. I try to keep the tension below the elbow, in the forearm only. But still, this goes against the always be relaxed type of principle, which I'm sure Hendrix nor Stevie really thought about when playing. But anyway, how other people do vibrato while in full bend?

[Bizarro]

You need to anchor and pivot correctly. Find a place where you have lots of leverage and strength.

[Mateo150]

Let me make sure I understand correctly, I use my index finger knuckle as the pivot, or fulcrum. So If I'm doing a bend on the 10th fret of the b-string and using my ring finger to do it, my hand postition is really around the 6th fret. Correct? Do you still use support bending? I used to go straight up on the string, but this doesn't give my hand a contact point on the neck, so this feels a bit odd.

[curiousgeorge]

Definitely use supportive fingering for this technique. Try both the anchored way where your wrist pivots back and forth, and unanchored where you lock your wrist and use your forearm and the weight of the guitar somewhat to produce bent vibrato. Start with quarter notes first, checking that your intonation is good for each bend, and then progress to eighth etc... until you have that beesting soulful vibrato you want. Practice with wide and thin vibrato. Make sure you don't just practice this on the G string and only at certain locations on the neck. Do it everywhere until you can make people get goosebumps with your awe-inspiring feel and tasty licks. Squirt lemon juice in your eyes for effect. :D

[mattblack850]

Squirt lemon juice in your eyes for effect. :D
I tend to use 'Lemon Oil Fretboard Cleaner'!!!!!!:D :D

Seriously though, I use mainly Middle or Ring finger for this technique, depends where on the neck I am. But as with all these things..............................
Practice and also it's what feels comfortable to you!!

[LarryJ]

I suppose a whammy bar is out of the question? I know SRV and Hendrix both used strats...could they have been using one?

Shawn Lane uses the whammy bar alot and I like the way that sounds, cause the pitch goes down and up as opposed to just up.

[oRg]

Well for the most part I've been able to do 2 step bends with my index finger which is pretty good. Though when I'm playing live I use my ring finger and anchor my index and middle finger behind it for strength and leverage (not to mention you have a better grip over the string) and then I bend and vibrate using the traditional rock vibrato. If you want some Zakk Wylde instructional videos he goes over this alot. He calls it the traditional rock bend and vibrato.

[curiousgeorge]

The whammy's great for adding vibrato to the high E string, as well as for unison bends on the higher strings. ;)

[Mateo150]

Bragging aside... how do you guys actually perform the vibrato. The traditional blues BB King kind with the knuckly on the index finger pivoting on the bottom of the neck, or do you use some other method such as "classic rock vibrato" which I haven't the slightest clue what that is, although I can hypothesize. If some of you have video capture ability, then maybe a short clip would be useful rather than just words. "I bend and vibrate" and "you need to anchor and pivot" doesn't really help all that much. Yes, I do that too.

Aside from the redundant, "do it in every key, in every place, on each string... yada yada blah blah" advice ... what are the particulars of the execution? I understood Bizzaro as saying vaugely and allusionally to perform a regular vibrato (BB King style I mentioned above) but bend then do it, since this is the only way I know how to anchor and pivot.

As for the whammy bar, I don't use one and SRV and Hendrix often played without one, and No they didn't rely on the bar to produce full bend vibrato. I myself just don't use whammy bars.

I'd like to see someone do it well on a video clip if thats possible. Maybe a video splice of the Wylde vid if ya could Org? Explaining the particulars of whats happening physically with something like this which is such a feel type of technique and often done differently by people is kind of hard to convey with language. If I see it that would solve matters for the most part.


EDIT: I'm curious about thumb postition also. I can't anchor well without having my thumb "out of postition" and hanging over the top of the neck.

[shade of black]

All the phrasing talk has made go back to good ole Hendrix and SRV. I've run into problems I didn't think about as much in the past. One big thing is doing vibrato while in full bend. I read thru the article on bending, but this isn't covered. These guys put a lot of vibrato on notes while they are bent up a full note. When I do this, I do it by shaking my arm, this tightens my left arm. I try to keep the tension below the elbow, in the forearm only. But still, this goes against the always be relaxed type of principle, which I'm sure Hendrix nor Stevie really thought about when playing. But anyway, how other people do vibrato while in full bend?
2 words: gary moore. check out his live performences, he'll blow you away with his vibrato.

[mattblack850]

. These guys put a lot of vibrato on notes while they are bent up a full note. When I do this, I do it by shaking my arm, this tightens my left arm.
Rather than 'shaking' your arm, it's more of a controlled rolling motion on the finger-tip (from nut to bridge in direction), this slightly changes the tone of the note whilst holding the bend and so causes the 'vibrato'. As with everything it's practice, but it's also a very subjective thing, in as much as it's finding the most comfortable way for you!

[Mateo150]

Rather than 'shaking' your arm, it's more of a controlled rolling motion on the finger-tip (from nut to bridge in direction), this slightly changes the tone of the note whilst holding the bend and so causes the 'vibrato'. As with everything it's practice, but it's also a very subjective thing, in as much as it's finding the most comfortable way for you!Yes, I do this now, as I said in my later posts. I would call it a see-saw/pendulum motion with the anchor/fulcrum on the bottom of the neck. Its basically regular blues style vibrato, done from the same postition and such, except you bend first. Thats not typically how I did my bends, but its not that uncomfortable now that I've done it a couple times. The downside of this type of bend is that it lacks tone and power in my opinion. But I'm going to shake my arm, its better, for full bends and do the pendulum vibrato for lesser bends. I downloaded a video of SRV playing Voodoo Child, he shakes his arm or uses a the whammy bar. I'd be glad to post the video if anyone wants to see it. I'm ditching all that technique crap, Stevies pinky postition is like mine (but better of course) in most cases and not in that "perfect" position with it always adjacent to the ring finger. On a lot of occasions, it tucks under a bit. I'd like to see vid clips of technical type guys doing this sort of thing, such as voodoo child if anyone is willing to upload it.

Please, no more written advice, vid clips only.
Please remember I'm talking about vibrato in full bend, not JUST vibrato.

[LarryJ]

http://www.vai.com/LittleBlackDots/84/vibrato.html

you're lucky if people post videos, they're quite a chore to make and its asking alot.