I was just wondering whether you guys thought it was totally necessary to use your wrist with every type of vibrato that you do? I only use my wrist now and then usually on the higher frets when i'm using like 3 fingers to do bigger bends and stuff but other than that i mainly just use my finger muscles.

I noticed that people like Marcus use the wrist all the time. I had a look at how he was doing vibrato on the first lead of the nocturnal vision lesson and the first note on the G string he was using his wrist a lot. I also noticed that guys like Zakk Wylde do the same but i just can't seem to be able to do that. Or at least i can do it a bit but its hellishly slow, i can do it fine using my fingers but i just wondered if this is considered bad practice for whatever reason

Use your ears!

How you do it doesn't matter.

But, of course, it doesn't hurt exploring the options.

Using the wrist is a must for a nice natural, wide, good controlled vibrato. It's all about technique there, and therefore practice. Approach bending like every other practice you do, and vibrato will come out very nice.

I'm not sure about how i'm meant to be moving my wrist. I've tried watching players wrists as they do it but it just doesn't seem to work with me. Sometimes i'll move my wrist and the string doesn't move at all. How can i make sure i'm using my wrist and if you use your wrist are you not supposed to use your fingers at all?

Go for the wrist as often as possible,
with fingers only you cannot get that steady vibrato.

Ok well i will practice it but i don't know where i'm doing it right or not. I've tried doing vibrato with just the wrist and the string doesn't move the finger just goes upwards somewhere. Are you meant to do vibrato with both wrist and finger?

Angus doesn't have a steady vibrato?



I haven't gotten my vibrato where I'm happy with it yet. But I do have something to add here...

With the wrist motion, I think you need to keep your fretting fingers in place relative to your hand/wrist rather than the strings and frets when you're doing this. If you're moving your hand around but your fingers are staying where they are, you're not doing anything. Vibrato raises and lowers the pitch, so to do it you need to get that string moving.

I see what you mean now, with a little messing around i noticed that especially on the lower frets (around 5th) i have to stretch my arm out away from my body so that my wrist and fingers are straight, is this normal? That way it seems to move. However i also notice that the more fingers you put on the harder it is to do this, with just one fingers its ok but i can't do it very fast at all, any excersises i could try?

Just like that,your arm has to go a bit out
specially at lower frets to do good vibrato, no worries there.
On the other hand I found it much easier with more
fingers on the string,feels like powerful stand.

Sorry Muris what i meant was when i have more fingers on it is harder to twist my wrist in that direction. Also should i be twisting my wrist round as if shaking it left or right or should my wrist be going outwards away from me. So when i'm doing wide bends and vibratos should i be pushing up with my fingers as well?

Up and down vibrato is actually like few small bends
so focus to rotate your wrist like when you're doing bends.
Maybe it's frustrating for you atm but it'll come natural after a while.

Before when i did bends i wouldn't use my wrist i just pushed my fingers up, it seemed to work fine but if using my wrist will benefit me then i'll try and get out of the habit.

I am still trying to perfect my vibrato... But, you said yours was a bit slow. I would practice with a metronome... That really helps build strength and speed, although speed isn't something you really want to "overdo" with vibrato. Using a tuner is also a good tip to make sure that you get the right sound you desire. You would use the tuner to make sure the height of the bend isn't too much or too little.

Always with wrist, my 2 cents

Yeah i'll try using just wrist from now on, going to be difficult taking out the old habits though. I'll need to start slowly but does your wrist sort of naturally get strongers over time? Using my wrist doesn't allow me to do very wide or fast vibrato which i like to play

It surely takes some time,just like everything else,
just don't give up and work hard.

Definitely! Don't worry about that!

there's a nice video on Youtube where Jani Liimatainen "duels" syu from Galneryus. There you can see and feel the difference from Jani's "finger vibrato" and Syu "wrist vibrato". Imo, Jani's vibrato is dead, Syu's alive

Cool oxac i'll search for that video in a minute unless you have the link?

I was looking on the net last night for some tips to getting a better wrist vibrato and so i'm starting to write myself a practice schedule for this. I was thinking something on the lines of using first finger on first fret and doing vibrato up and then down on all the strings (exceptions being E) and then moving up a fret at a time and doing the same thing. Then do the same with 2 fingers then 3 however its only going to be shallow vibrato because i can't do big bends with my wrist, only with my fingers. Good idea or not?

Muris is right, just practice a lot of bends and vibrato will come in hand in hand with that.

Also while practicing be sure to make your fingers steady and not curve the fingers. Keep them solid, and get as much support from other fingers behind it as you can. Also when practicing, first see where you are vibrating too, wetter it is half step or whole step, and then VERY SLOWLY go up-down, up-down, while keeping the fingers steady.

Hmm it doesn't seem so bad after all, i'm already getting used to it. The only issue i'm having at the moment (apart from control and speed and strength ok so there's a few haha) or worry if you like is sometimes i can't tell whether my bend is all in the wrist or whether i'm naturally pushing with my fingers as well. I'm trying my hardest to keep my fingers relaxed and in a locked position.

Ivan i'm afraid i didn't understand what you mean by don't curve your fingers as they have to curve to go round the fretboard.

Sorry man my english is not great

I meant keep them locked as you said, and they do need to be curved, but couldn't find the right expression so I wanted to write something with a meaning "don't change the curve while you bend" if you know what I wanted to say. I hope this makes sense...

It seems to me that you spotted on the right way to do it, it's all down to practice now. Cheers mate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4sg-nzKFIQ...feature=related

That Syu has a killer vibrato! Wow

yea, that's exactly what I mean. His vibrato has soul, it's controlled and it sounds great! but Janis... he just whizz his fingers around and hopes for the best... it sounds terrible in comparison.

Well, now I know why my attempts at vibrato look like a girl playing a violin.

I agree!
I haven't heard much of Jani before though, but he looks a little nervous in this vid. Maybe his vibrato usually is better?

I sure hope so, but you can really see his motion. That won't change, just the amount of control. One thing I disslike about Syu is that his picking isn't perfect, I mean, it's clean and cool... but it's too bright and a tad too scratchy. Well, he's badass anyway, he can shred with soul and he's a good songwriter But you can really tell the difference a good vibrato makes in that video. It's a lot more important than Jani playing 32 note triplets and syu going for 32 notes maximum or something like that.

Vibrato is just one of those things that is preference, i don't belive there is a wrong way as long as you can get it to sound the way you want.

Me personally i take a third approach to vibrato, i like to move the guitar in conjunction with finger vibrato, it gives it a kind of elipitical vibrato that is not quite like circular vibrato, but it isnt up and down either. Its more like vibrato used on a cello as opposed to a violin.


Daniel