Hi Ben,

I saw your new lesson (and welcome to GMC again). This lesson is fantastic mainly because this horizontal vibrato technique is something I never knew. I have seen few other guitarists do it but I thought it was more like trilling or something. I tried to move my fingers horizontally, even tried without resting my thumb on the neck. While I can get the movement, the sound doesn't change a pitch.. Its just like one note is ringing and no vibrato. I have seen the videos and it looks like you are just moving your finger horizontally.. now whats the secret here?

Can we go into more detail on how the actual fingers should be moved? Please help me understand this technique.

Thanks,
Chandra

I can't tell you what I first thought when I read the subject of this post. I'm eager to see if the moderators change it

Me too, it certainly made me raise my eyebrow and wonder what sort of message I was giving off !

At first I didnt think of that I see you guys are familiar with this stuff Just kidding

... thats how we welcome new instructors to gmc

Hi Chandra,

First of all, thank you for your kind welcome and I'm really happy that you've shown an interest in this lesson.

Ok... I remember that I had the same sort of problem with this vibrato when I first tried it. The key here is pressure. To get the vibrato, you have to apply quite a lot of pressure.. more than you may first think.

When I do it, the force comes all the way from my elbow, through my forearm and hand... and then to the fingers. If you try moving the fingers on their own, then it probably won't do much. Also, the other important thing is to use your idle fingers (the ones that are not playing the note) to push against the finger that is on the note... this adds more strength and allows you to add more pressure.

Which fingers have you tried using to play the vibrato ? Try using your 3rd finger to play the note. Then use your 1st and 2nd finger to push against your 3rd finger. This means that your 3rd finger is not 'on its own'. You can combine the strength of more than one finger.

Ok.. so to recap... allow the force to come all the way through your arm and to your hand. Almost imagine that your arm is applying the vibrato.. and your fingers are just holding the string in place, and stopping it from escaping

Don't worry if you have a little difficulty at first. It took me a while to be able to use this type of vibrato... so just experiment with adding more pressure and using the strength of your whole arm. Think of it as a combination of arm & fingers.. rather than wrist. The wrist doesn't really do much with classical vibrato. All the wrist needs to do is be a steady point between arm and fingers.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask again though if you'd like more help

Take care and good luck

Ben



Excellent... thank you

OOOPs sorry guys.. that wasn't intentional.. I just saw it now LoL!...

Thanks Ben.. I have tried with all fingers (as you mentioned / pushing together with idle fingers). I will experiment with adding pressure and see how it comes out.. I guess thats the only thing I haven't tried. It does tend to cut the fingers (feeling) though.. like sliding your finger on a knife (at least the pinky finger on the 1st string. OUCH! )

Thanks again all.. I hope if someone searches for vibrator now on google, GMC is gonna get some traffic..

EDIT: OH YEA!! I hear it now.. cool.. that is quite an intensive pressure we need to apply.. hmm!! nice!

Hi Chandra,

Haha... yes, regarding the accidental traffic.. maybe we should put that idea to Kris ?

That's brilliant.. I'm really glad you've noticed a result. Yes, your fingertips are just not used to doing it yet.. but the skin will harden and you'll be a vibrato wizard in no time !! You'll really notice how it opens the door to adding more expression, especially on those higher notes on the 1st string which are difficult to add vibrato to.

Let me know how you progress... I'm always glad to help in any way !

Take care

Ben

Thanks Ben,

I will keep testing it and your lesson, lets see if I can get all that perfect.

+1 I hate to say I thought the same thing.




hahaha

I think "Vibrato Question for Ben Higgins" would've been a better title!

haha.. the secret here is you must own one to give that lesson a try..

in addition to pressure, I'd suggest another note: remove any of that RIDICULOUS fastfret stuff if you want this classical vibrato.

lol

I dont get this, was it a woman who started this thread????

//Staffay

LoL Staffay! I bet you are jealous