Jack here, jbf music and guitar lessons, with a concept for you
here which can really help make your playing sing; adding vibrato to bends.
In this quick guitar tricks we’re looking at some tips for adding vibrato to your bends.
Ok, if you tried this before and it sounded like a whale serenading a cat in heat,
as voyeur seagull gaze on, skewing in excitement- you’re not alone! I certain put off trying this
for years, because it took a while to get to grips with! Now, everyone has a different
way of fretting the neck, so you might need to adjust these to spec. With that in mind,
by the end of this you should be able to add vibrato to your bends, or at least have the tools
to tackle the job. Timestamps and chapters for each tip below, let’s just crack on, eh?
Tip 1; Don’t dip!
What I mean is don’t hold the bend, dip down, then return to pitch as a standard form of vibrato.
Now! Before the keyboard warriors come at me in full force. If you want to try this
way- bend to the target pitch, dip the note a little, then re-bend; repeat this while making
sure to keep the amount you dip by consistent and always returning to the correct target pitch . If
it’s not fairly reliable, then you’ll get that aforementioned whale/cat thing
Which, again, I’m not gonna lie, in the right context can actually sound really cool.
I mean, this dip vibrato is a total legit technique;
especially if you want to be in time with the beat.
But if you want that smoother sound, in my experience, it’s not going to deliver the
goods. This method tends to be pretty common in rock and metal, maybe note so much in
blues and while I still use it, I’m slowly phasing it out of being my “to go” method.
Tip 2; One step beyond! So what I’d suggest instead is to bend to pitch, hold that,
then push the note up a tiny bit, and return it to that bent position to get the vibrato.
If we compare those, hopefully you can hear this version is a bit sweeter, or smoother sounding.
I think there are two factors at play, the first being when you dip down, it’ almost like
a precursor to the vibrato; there’s a hesitation before it comes in. The other is that I suspect
this latter technique has more wiggle room in terms of pitch deviation above and below the
target pitch, so sounds a bit more vocal. As a side note, if you’re getting something from this,
please consider leaving a comment and alike- both are a huge help to the channel
But, Wild and crazy option, try some Phil X style alternating vibrato-
more on that with the “i” up there!
Tip 3; Reinforcements! Reinforce the bend with other fingers,
shares the load, so it’s not all on one finger to make that note sing!
Tip 4; Pull it down! If you can, pull the string down- Now, this isn’t really feasible on the high
e string, maybe on the B for a semi tone. And depending on what comes after the G string,
might it not be ideal either, you know like if its this rock lick
check out the “i” up there for more of those rock clichés. But it will give you way more control
than pushing the string up. Now, the mechanics of physically
doing this lead us nicely to the next idea. Tip 5; Wrist vs finger- Try different techniques.
So with the pulling down thing, I seem to use my fingers more than anything else
you can probably see them sort of wiggling. However, you can move your forearmed in a
more circular motion, or turn your hand left and right; like this; albeit less exaggerated when
applied to vibrato Hopefully clear that time, that my figners are stationary and my arm is doing the
heavy lifting. And
these can both be applied to pushing the string upward as well- fingers And forearm.
As a side note if you find you’re getting some slop or string noise,
check out those muting tips with the little I card up there.
You can hold the note and move the guitar-
less hard work for your hand, but brings in a pretty unpredictable element, worth a pop though!
The wild and crazy option is to manipulate the string from behind
your fretting hand While way more flash than practical there are some
other things you can do with this trick; like the lick with the I up there.
Tip 6; Thumbs the word- You might also have noticed I tend to be a thumb over the top bender;
try out keeping it on the far side of the neck, behind the neck,
and even floating off it as well. Tip 7; A bit like how I’m approaching renovating
my legato; using Tom Quayle’s method as a model- more on that with the video in the I up there.
How much of the tip of your finger you use is a factor. Not enough and it will be very hard to add
any vibrato at all too much and the string might slip away- having said that I’d recommend
trying to use as much of the tip of your finger as you can- if you try this for a few minutes
you’ll probably hear and feel why!
Tip 8; Start slow- rather than trying to walk before you can run,
bend the note to pitch and bring in a slow, smooth and controlled vibrato-
this will let you build muscle memory for the more wild stuff.
Tip 9; Go wulde, Zachh, wylde! Haha, if you want that wide vibrato synonymous with
Mr. Zakk Wilde as some point you have to trust the muscle memory if there and just go for it
And if you’re still with me , and haven’t yet subscribed, might as well give that a click and
do that notification thing- if you already have, shout out to the lick squad elite, you guys rock!
Tip 10; This is the practical side; less string tension will let you do this stuff with
less effort, but there’s more room for error in that smaller moves or inconsistencies have more
of an impact. More string tension= more physical effort to sustain and bend and add vibrato.
It’s a case of finding the best of both worlds of your personal sweet spot. The most obvious ways
in which you can change string tension with a different gauge of strings, down tuning,
changing the spring configuration on the back of you’re guitar
or adjusting the truss rod. Now, if you’re not comfortable doing this stuff, then don’t.
But most of us have at some point probably already experimented with these setups tweaks.
If you’ve got something from this, you’ll probably appreciate these warm up tips,
this has been quick guitar tricks, that’s the playlist there. But yeah, hit subscribe
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